NETGEAR FVS318N

IPv4 Firewall Protection
108
ProSafe Wireless-N 8-Port Gigabit VPN Firewall FVS318N
can flow between the two networks. Unlike simple NAT routers, a firewall uses a process
called Stateful Packet Inspection to protect your network from attacks and intrusions. NAT
performs a very limited stateful inspection in that it considers whether the incoming packet is
in response to an outgoing request, but true Stateful Packet Inspection goes far beyond NAT.
Administrator Tips
Consider the following operational items:
1. As an o
ption, you can enable remote management if you have to manage distant sites
from a central location (see Configure Authentication Domains, Groups, and Users on
page 247 and Configure Remote Management Access on
page 278).
2. Although
rules are the basic way of managing the traffic through your system (see Rules to
Block or Allow Specific Kinds of Traffic on
page 108), you can further refine your control
using the following features and cap
abilities of the wireless VPN firewall:
- Gro
ups and hosts (see Manage IPv4 Groups and Hosts (IPv4 LAN Groups) on
page 59)
- Services (see Service-Based Rules o
n page 109)
- Sched
ules (see Set a Schedule to Block or Allow Specific Traffic on page 146)
- Allo
wing or blocking sites (see Configure Content Filtering on page 142)
- Source MAC filterin
g (see Enable Source MAC Filtering on page 147)
- Port triggerin
g (see Configure Port Triggering on page 151)
3. Some
firewall settings might affect the performance of the wireless VPN firewall. For more
information, see Performance Management on p
age 270.
4. Th
e firewall logs can be configured to log and then email denial of access, general attack,
and other information to a specified email address. For information about how to configure
logging and notifications, see Configure Logging, Alerts, and Event Notifications on
page 293.
Rules to Block or Allow Specific Kinds of Traffic
Firewall rules are used to block or allow specific traffic passing through from one side to the
other. You can configure up to 300 inbound rules plus up to 300 outbound rules on the
wireless VPN firewall (see the following table). Inbound rules (WAN to LAN) restrict access
by outsiders to private resources, selectively allowing only specific outside users to access
specific resources. Outbound rules (LAN to WAN) determine what outside resources local
users can have access to.
A firewall has two default rules, one for inbound traffic and one for outbound. The default
rules of the wireless VPN firewall are:
• Inbound.
Block all access from outside except responses to requests from the LAN side.
• Outbound.
Allow all access from the LAN side to the outside.