General Information on Rule Templates

The IBM Firewall is shipped with a set of predefined rule templates. You can select from this list of preexising templates and you can also create your own. Rules on the Firewall are used to screen traffic passing through the Firewall. Rules can be set up to either allow or disallow traffic on the basis of certain criteria. The rule template function itself allows you to customize, add to, copy or delete existing rules. These rules, in turn, can be used to define Services. The figure below illustrates how rule templates are combined to make up services and how services can be components of connections.

Further Information

Using the Configuration Client to Create Rule Templates
Controlling Traffic Through the Firewall

Rule Template List (Selection)

The list shows the current values used by the Firewall for this function. To select, click on the desired row and then select an action by clicking a button on the right.

Note: There can be more than one instance of the same rule added to the Rule Object list in the Open Service panel. This is because it is possible that an administrator would want to use the same rule template twice, and assign a different value for the "Flow" field. Use caution when selecting rule templates so that you do not select the same instance of a template more times than what you intended.


Open

After selecting an item on the list, press the "Open" button to view or modify that item. To add a new item, select "NEW" item on the list and press "Open".

Copy

The "Copy" button helps save time when adding new items to the list. After selecting an item on the list, press the "Copy" button to create an item that is similar to the selected item. Pressing the "Copy" button will open a new item that will copy field values from the item that was selected on the list. You will then be able to modify field values as needed for the new item.

OK (Selection)

Press the "OK" button to populate the field on the previous panel with your current selection and to close the window.

Apply

Press the "Apply" button to populate the field on the previous panel with your current selection. The "Apply" button will not cause the window to disappear. (Note that Apply will not appear if the to-be-populated field on the previous panel holds only one item.)

Cancel

Press the "Cancel" button to close the window without saving any changes.