Thanks Ray and yes I agree with you about the software companies.

Yes I am using NAT with Ipchain rules.

I did find this on the net about ACCEPT'ing everything

ipchains -F input && ipchains -P input ACCEPT
ipchains -F output && ipchains -P output ACCEPT
ipchains -F forward && ipchains -P forward ACCEPT

ran each line at the prompt of the box and still was not able to connect, so
I am now thinking it is a software feature.

I even used a dial-up internet access account to try that and still no luck
with uploading. Guess it is time to find another vendor or way to e-file my
taxes.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ray Olszewski [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2003 3:13 AM
To: Kevin; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [leaf-user] Help with Taxcut uploading


At 10:19 PM 2/7/03 -0500, Kevin wrote:
>I am having problems with uploading TaxCut. Help desks states I have to
>disable the firewall to have it complete. Does anyone have a quick way to
>disable the firewall to allow the upload then turn the firewall back on?
>
>Running Dachstein firewall - two floppy disk system
>
>thanks for any help or directions....

I'm not familiar with the product TaxCut, but your question prompts me to
remind you that "firewall" has more than one meaning.

In the context of LEAF, a firewall (or, more exactly, a router/firewall) is
a device separate from your workstation that provides security for an
entire LAN. But the other (related) meaning of firewall is a piece of
software that runs on your workstation and provides security against
threats coming from the network. Instructions from the ninnies who staff
product "help" desks don't make the distinction clear, but they usually
refer to the second sort of firewall.

Depending on the details of your connection to the Internet, you may not be
able to "disable the firewall" in the first (LEAF)  context, specifically
not if your LAN is NAT'd. The firewall code is what handles IP Masquerading
and thereby allows the hosts on a NAT'd LAN to share a single, public IP
address.

If your workstation is on a LAN that has real IP addresses, and your LEAF
router only routes and firewalls, but does not NAT, then a little reading
in the Ipchains HowTo will equip you to temporarily remove your firewall
protections. (Set your default input, output, and forward policies to
ACCEPT, then clear the chains of rules.)

If it is NAT'd, your only way of accommodating the software provider may be
temporarily to connect your workstation directly to your Internet
connection, bypassing the LAN and LEAF router entirely.

Were it me, I would do neither of these things. I'd find different tax-prep
software, or tell TaxCut to send a CD. Software companies shouldn't  use
delivery or installation methods that rely on people being trusting (or, I
would say, naive) enough to think that it is safe to turn off their
firewalls when asked to.


--
-------------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"--------
Ray Olszewski                                   -- Han Solo
Palo Alto, California, USA                        [EMAIL PROTECTED]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---




-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.NET email is sponsored by:
SourceForge Enterprise Edition + IBM + LinuxWorld = Something 2 See!
http://www.vasoftware.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------
leaf-user mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-user
SR FAQ: http://leaf-project.org/pub/doc/docmanager/docid_1891.html

Reply via email to