A tool for applying iptables safely: apply_firewall.

Have you ever done something stupid with iptables command which like blocking you self from accessing the SSH?  Yes, I have.  Most of administrator knows that is dangerous to change iptable rules remotely, with a little typo, you might have to restart the machine to access the SSH again.  For applying iptables sfaely, I wrote a simple tool which can be used to apply firewall rules safely.  It backups the original iptables configuration before applying it, and if you don’t type “yes” within specific time period, it will rollback to original iptables automatically.  Here is an example:

It is written in Python, you can install it by

easy_install apply_firewall

Or you can download it here:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/apply_firewall/

I hope this could be helpful for linux administrators 😀