Ragnar Beer
To secure my machine as good as possible from the outside world I have closed all the ports that I don't need. So the only ports left open are ssh, http and https. Above that - does it make any sense to install a firewall on the _same_ machine (I can't afford another one at the moment)?
With the configuration you describe a firewall will probably not give you much more protection against incoming connections. However, you have some more options with a firewall, e.g., - additional logging (e.g., to detect attempts to access disabled services on your machine), - blocking outgoing connections (e.g., to prevent programs on your machine from making unwanted transmissions), - blocking ICMP trafic. If such points (there may be some more) are of interest for you, it could make sense to install a firewall. Eilert -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eilert Brinkmann -- Universitaet Bremen -- FB 3, Informatik eilert@informatik.uni-bremen.de - eilert@tzi.org - eilert@linuxfreak.com http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~eilert/