Setting up Firewall rules using AWS Network Firewall

Posted on by Panther

Introduction

Firewalls are an essential component of network security. They help to protect your network and applications from malicious attacks by filtering incoming and outgoing traffic, based on predefined rules. AWS Network Firewall is a highly available, fully managed firewall service that makes it easy to deploy and manage firewall rules across your AWS infrastructure. In this tutorial, we will go over the process of setting up firewall rules using AWS Network Firewall.

Prerequisites

Before we get started, there are a few things you need to have:

  • An AWS account
  • Access to the AWS Management Console
  • Understanding of networking concepts and the OSI model
  • Understanding of IP addresses and CIDR notation
  • Basic knowledge of AWS Security Groups and VPCs

Setting up AWS Network Firewall

The first thing we need to do is set up an AWS Network Firewall. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the AWS Management Console.
  2. Navigate to the Network Firewall service page.
  3. Click on the “Create firewall” button.
  4. Select a VPC and a subnet to deploy your firewall in.
  5. Choose a Availability Zone for your firewall.
  6. Select the “Stateful rule group” option for your firewall.
  7. Choose a pre-configured rule group or create a custom one.
  8. Click on the “Create firewall” button.

Once your firewall is created, you should see it in the list of firewalls on the Network Firewall console. You can now start creating rules for your firewall.

Creating Firewall Rules

To create firewall rules for your AWS Network Firewall, you can follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Network Firewall console.
  2. Click on the name of the firewall you just created.
  3. Select the “Rules” tab.
  4. Click on the “Create rule” button.
  5. Select the type of rule you want to create.
  6. Choose a source and destination IP address.
  7. Specify your rule settings, such as the protocol, port, and action.
  8. Click on the “Create rule” button.

You can also create rule groups, which are collections of rules that you can apply to your firewall. To create a rule group, simply follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Network Firewall console.
  2. Click on the name of the firewall you just created.
  3. Select the “Rule groups” tab.
  4. Click on the “Create rule group” button.
  5. Choose a type of rule group, such as a stateful rule group or a stateless rule group.
  6. Specify your rule settings, such as the protocol, port, and action.
  7. Click on the “Create rule group” button.

You can then apply the newly created rule group to your firewall.

Implementation

Now that we have gone over the basics of setting up and creating firewall rules in AWS Network Firewall, let’s walk through an example implementation.

In this example, we will create a firewall rule to allow incoming traffic on port 80 to our web server. We will assume that we already have a VPC with a subnet and a web server running in that subnet.

Step 1: Create a Firewall

First, we need to create a firewall. In the AWS Management Console, navigate to the Network Firewall service page and click on the “Create firewall” button. Select the VPC and subnet in which your web server is running, and choose an Availability Zone for your firewall. For the rule group type, select the “Stateful rule group” option.

You can then choose a predefined rule group or create a custom one. In this example, we will choose the “AWSPredefined/AWSCommonWeb” rule group, which includes rules to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic.

Click on the “Create firewall” button to create your firewall.

Step 2: Create a Rule

Next, we will create a rule to allow incoming traffic on port 80 to our web server. In the Network Firewall console, click on the name of the firewall you just created and select the “Rules” tab. Click on the “Create rule” button and select the “Custom rule” option.

In the “Source” section, select “IP address” and enter the CIDR block for the IP address or range that you want to allow traffic from. For example, if you want to allow traffic from any IP address, you can enter “0.0.0.0/0”.

In the “Destination” section, select “IP address” and enter the IP address of your web server.

In the “Rule options” section, select “HTTP” for the protocol and “80” for the port. For the action, select “Allow”.

Click on the “Create rule” button to create your rule.

Step 3: Test your Rule

To test your firewall rule, you can try to access your web server from a different network. If the rule is configured correctly, you should be able to access your web server over HTTP.

Conclusion

Firewalls are an essential component of network security, and AWS Network Firewall makes it easy to deploy and manage firewall rules across your AWS infrastructure. By following the steps in this tutorial, you can create firewall rules to secure your AWS resources and applications. As always, be sure to follow AWS security best practices and stay up-to-date with the latest security threats.

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