Configuring the Firewall
Configuring Access Rules
Cisco RV180/RV180W Administration Guide 78
4
 
• Schedules as to when the router should apply rules.
• Keywords (in a domain name or on a URL of a web page) that the router 
should allow or block.
• MAC addresses of devices whose inbound access to your network the 
router should block.
• Port triggers that signal the router to allow or block access to specified 
services as defined by port number.
• Reports and alerts that you want the router to send to you.
You can, for example, establish restricted-access policies based on time-of-day, 
web addresses, and web address keywords. You can block Internet access by 
applications and services on the LAN, such as chat rooms or games. You can block 
just certain groups of PCs on your network from being accessed by the WAN or 
public network.
Inbound (Internet to LAN) rules restrict access to traffic entering your network, 
selectively allowing only specific outside users to access specific local resources. 
By default, all access from the insecure WAN side is blocked from accessing the 
secure LAN, except in response to requests from the LAN or DMZ. To allow 
outside devices to access services on the secure LAN, you must create a firewall 
rule for each service.
If you want to allow incoming traffic, you must make the router's WAN port IP 
address known to the public. This is called “exposing your host.” How you make 
your address known depends on how the WAN ports are configured; for the 
Cisco RV180/RV180W, you may use the IP address if a static address is assigned 
to the WAN port, or if your WAN address is dynamic, a DDNS (Dynamic DNS) name 
can be used.
Outbound (LAN to Internet) rules restrict access to traffic leaving your network, 
selectively allowing only specific local users to access specific outside resources. 
The default outbound rule is to allow access from the secure zone (LAN) to the 
insecure WAN. To block hosts on the secure LAN from accessing services on the 
outside (insecure WAN), you must create a firewall rule for each service.
Configuring Access Rules
Configure access rules to control traffic to and from your network. To configure 
access rules, choose Firewall > Access Rules. All configured firewall rules on the 
Cisco RV180/RV180W are displayed in the Access Rule Table.