Gentoo-Firestarter

From Grokdoc

Perhaps I should have my friend do this, since he told me to use Firestarter, but I'm a Linux newbie, and this is what I had to do. If anyone had different experiences, edit this.

Firestarter is probably the easiest firewall to setup because of its easy graphical interface and very handy first-time walkthrough. However, the Gentoo kernel has to be compiled to completely use netfilter FIRST. Configuring the kernel to use netfilter is the most confusing part, and I still have to guess on most of it. Therefore this description assumes that netfilter has already been set up. Note: Firestarter does complain if you miss any of the configuration of the kernel, though.

First I did the standard things for installing any Gentoo software:

    su (password)

    emerge firestarter

After that, I ran the program from the console:

    firestarter

The nice little setup wizard appeared, and I followed the instructions for setting up a personal desktop, by following all the instructions they give. It was all point and click, easier than Zone Alarm for Windows, IMHO. It also showed all the ports as designated by usage i.e. WWW, FTP, etc., but also told me what the default setting should be if I'm setting up a home computer, which I was. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have known which ports, services, etc. to allow. After the firewall was running, I went to the in-depth manual, which was very good at other questions, with lots of screenshots. Firestarter Manual

Afterwards I went to a security site like www.sygatetech.com to check the firewall, and it seemed to have plugged all the right stuff. The reason I wanted to say this is, for a newbie coming from Windows 98, I would recommend this program for setting up a first firewall.