What is the default firewall tool in RHEL?

The default firewall tool in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is firewalld. Firewalld is a dynamic firewall management tool that provides a more flexible and easy-to-use interface for managing firewall rules compared to its predecessor, iptables.

Firewalld allows administrators to define rules based on zones, which are predefined sets of rules tailored to specific network environments (e.g., public, internal, trusted). It also supports runtime changes without disrupting existing connections, making it well-suited for dynamic network environments.

Some key features of firewalld include:

• Zone-Based Configuration: Firewalld organizes firewall rules into zones, each with its own set of rules. Administrators can assign interfaces to zones and define default rules for incoming and outgoing traffic.
• Service-Based Filtering: Firewalld supports filtering based on predefined network services (e.g., SSH, HTTP, FTP) rather than having to specify individual ports.
• Rich Rule Sets: Firewalld allows administrators to define rich rule sets using more complex criteria such as source and destination IP addresses, ports, protocols, and packet states.
• Dynamic Updates: Firewalld supports dynamic updates to firewall rules, allowing administrators to add, remove, or modify rules without restarting the firewall or dropping existing connections.
• Integration with NetworkManager: Firewalld integrates with NetworkManager, Red Hat's network configuration tool, providing seamless management of firewall settings alongside network configuration.