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Michael S. Mimoso, Editorial DirectorThe short answer is no. I personally believe that host, or in this case server-based software, firewalls are good as a backup but not as a primary line of defense. You are much better off having a firewall separate from your server. The reason for this is that if your firewall is part of the server it is protecting, attacks are reaching the machine. If it is a separate firewall, you have the chance to stop the attack before it ever gets to the server.
If you are still going to look for a software-based firewall, I would look into the NetFilter project (http://www.netfilter.org). Another good piece of software is the Okena StormSystem series (http://www.okena.com). While not a firewall per se, it is an intrusion-prevention system.
You might also want to investigate some of the DSL/cable router/firewall boxes from Linksys, D-Link or NetGear. They may have sufficient capability to allow access on ports 80 and 443 only (if you provide only Web services). That alone is not good enough though. You need to ensure that you still have the latest patches for your server software. You need to ensure that none of your CGI scripts can be exploited and much more. Firewalls are just the start.
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This was first published in March 2003