--- Daniel Chemko <dchemko@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > As you can see, there is no reference to either > the > > mangle table or filter table... > > The filter table is always implied if not explicitly > stated otherwise Perfect, thank you. > >so where does the > > system append the rule? An obvious answer might > be > > that the system appends the rule in both FORWARD > > chains, (if there is two chains). > > Nope (thankfully) I know now that there are two FORWARD chains, mangle.FORWARD and filter.FORWARD. They have the same name and are the same chain structure, they will contain completely different rules. > The MANGLE table's are not for filtering data. > Mangle's are typically > used for inline parameter modifications like > changing the TOS/MSS/etc... Yep, I got that much so far > The order on any given chain is > raw/mangle/filter/nat. I thought the order for a forwarded packet was mangle/nat/mangle/filter/mangle/nat >Not all tables > are run on each chain. Eg. FORWARD table only has > mangle/filter. Ok, you must mean "not all the chains are used in each table", right? "The FORWARD chains only appear in the mangle and filter tables", yes? > > For a really good refreence on iptables in general, > check out > http://iptables-tutorial.frozentux.net/ Right, this document is the source of some my confussion, for several reasons but mainly because it never mentioned that although the chains have the same name and have the same function, they are in fact different chains. I think this is because use of the mangle.FORWARD chain would be a rare occurance and most of the time it is going to be empty. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/