Re: firewall

[Paul Warren <pdw ferret lmh ox ac uk>]

This question is somewhat off-topic for this list - you should ask a
general linux/networking forum.  Here are some answers:

On Sun, 11 Jun 2000, rob smith wrote:

> I am using the firestarter(firewall program)...I get the messages listed below
> can someone explain them to me...please  By the way I checked the site for a faq
> or q/a but couldn't find anything.
> 
> Port       IP of sender        Service           Time
> 78	    23.222.24.1			Bootpc			Jun 11...

bootp is a protocol for booting diskless machines.  They find a server
using broadcast traffic, so this is nothing to get excited about.

> 125	    23.222.0.5	    	Ident			Jun 11...

ident is a service that can be used to determine the username on a remote
box.  On a mulituser machine this is important so that if user A on box X
does something bad to box Y, admin of box Y can write to admin of box X
with the details of the ident returned by X when user A connected to
Y.  Again, this is perfectly normal - expect to see this when you connect
to an FTP server, or other remote services.

> 137	    207.71.92.193		Netbios			Jun 7....

netbios traffic = windows rubbish.  Windows networking is powered by
pumped tonnes of crap out onto the broadcast address.  All this means is
that you are sharing a subnet with a Windows machine.  This is perfectly
normal.

Paul