Understanding Your Firewall - NETGEAR RangeMax WPN824N User Manual

Understanding Your Firewall

Your Wireless-N 150 Router Model WPN824N contains a true firewall to protect your network
from attacks and intrusions. A firewall is a device that protects one network from another while
allowing communication between the two. Using a process called Stateful Packet Inspection, the
firewall analyzes all inbound and outbound traffic to determine whether or not it will be allowed to
pass through.
By default, the firewall allows any outbound traffic and prohibits any inbound traffic except for
responses to your outbound traffic. However, you can modify the firewall's rules to achieve the
following behavior:
• Blocking sites. Block access from your network to certain Web locations based on Web
addresses and Web address keywords. This feature is described in
Internet Sites" on page
• Blocking services. Block the use of certain Internet services by specific computers on your
network. This feature is described in
• Scheduled blocking. Block sites and services according to a daily schedule. This feature is
described in "Scheduling Blocking" on page
• Allow inbound access to your server. To allow inbound access to resources on your local
network (for example, a Web server or remote desktop program), you can open the needed
services by configuring port forwarding as described in
Your Network" on page
• Allow certain games and applications to function correctly. Some games and applications
need to allow additional inbound traffic in order to function. Port triggering can dynamically
allow additional service connections, as described in
page 5-9. Another feature to solve application conflicts with the firewall is Universal Plug and
Play (UPnP), described in
Safeguarding Your Network
RangeMax Wireless-N 150 Router WPN824N User Manual
3-1.
"Blocking Access to Internet Services" on page
3-5.
5-1.
"Using Universal Plug and Play" on page
v1.0, February 2010
"Blocking Access to
"Allowing Inbound Connections to
"Configuring Port Triggering" on
5-12.
3-3.
2-23