Iptables in linux

Question

Please explain me the use of bold character below

iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 443 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT

-A -i -p -m state --state -j

Answer 1

man iptables will tell you most of this and has an extensive list of examples.

-t Specify the table to add the rule to (by default, the filter table)

-A Append the rule to the specified chain of rules (as opposed to -I for insert at the beginning).

-i Set the interface for this rule to match on (default of * or all)

-p match on the protocol of the packet

-m Use an extended packet matching module as specified, in you case packet states.

--state For the state extended module, match any NEW or ESTABLISHED packets (via ip_conntrack - ip connection tracking info stored in memory)

-j "Jump" the packet to the specified target, the builtin ACCEPT is to allow the packet through

For some of these concepts it helps to know how packets traverse iptables as well:

Each of the square boxes is a table (-t) The columns are chains (what you append/insert/delete rules in)

Image from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Communication_Networks/IP_Tables

Answer 2

i -specifies the interfaces on which a packet was received

p - indicates the protocol as tcp, udp or icmp

The -A a parameter does not mean ACCEPT but append the rule to the end of the iptables INPUT chain

-m state - specifies a match to use here it loads the state module and allow only NEW and ESTABLISHED connections

-j - specifies the jump target (what to do if the packet matches it) here to ACCEPT the connection

other targets are DROP, DENY, LOG

Answer 3

-A = ACCEPT

-i = Interface

-p= Protocol

I have read this while I am trying to learn

http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2011/01/iptables-fundamentals/