UFW and iptables issue with port forwarding

July 30, 2015 5.1k views
Firewall Networking Ubuntu
capey0
By:
capey0

Hi all

I am relatively new to UFW and iptables.

I need the following port forwarding to be permanent:
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 8080 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A PREROUTING -t nat -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-port 8080
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 8443 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A PREROUTING -t nat -i eth0 -p tcp --dport 443 -j REDIRECT --to-port 8443

I have enabled UFW and made settings in there as well.

When rebooting the UFW settings remain but the iptables settings disappear.

How do I make them permanent? Preferably via UFW - if possible.

Thanks

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1 Answer
asb MOD June 10, 2016

UFW is a simple frontend for IPtables, and does not allow you to configure everything that IPtables does. Though it does make many common task easier. If you have more complex firewall rules you need to setup, you can use the files:

/etc/ufw/before.rules
/etc/ufw/after.rules

Placing IPtables rules in before.rules will apply those rules before starting UFW. Likewise, rules placed in after.rules will be applied after UFW has started in case the order matters.

There are also the files:

/etc/ufw/after.init
/etc/ufw/before.init

They behave similarly, except that you can execute any arbitrary script rather than just IPtables rules.

You can find more information on UFW in this tutorial:

How To Set Up a Firewall with UFW on Ubuntu 14.04
by Mitchell Anicas
UFW, or Uncomplicated Firewall, is an interface to iptables that is geared towards simplifying the process of configuring a firewall. While iptables is a solid and flexible tool, it can be difficult for beginners to learn how to use it to properly configure a firewall. If you're looking to get started securing your network, and you're not sure which tool to use, UFW may be the right choice for you. This tutorial will show you how to set up a firewall with UFW on Ubuntu 14.04.
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