RHEL Linux - Red Hat System Administration Practice Exam

What is the default firewall configuration tool in RHEL?

1. firewalld

2. iptables

3. ufw

4. nftables

The correct answer is: firewalld

The default firewall configuration tool in RHEL is firewalld. This tool provides a dynamic way of managing firewall rules and is designed to be easier to use than previous options. Firewalld uses zones to define the level of trust that should be applied to network connections and interfaces, allowing administrators to manage their firewall policies more effectively. It also supports both IPv4 and IPv6 packet filtering and offers integration with NetworkManager, making it simpler to manage firewall settings in varying network environments without requiring a restart of the firewall service. Unlike iptables, which operates with static rules and requires administrative expertise to handle complex configurations, firewalld abstracts many of these details, enabling a more user-friendly command-line interface and graphical management options. Although other tools like iptables and nftables are important in the context of networking and firewall management, they do not serve as the default management interface in RHEL systems. Iptables was previously the standard method for firewall management, but firewalld has become the preferred tool for its dynamic capabilities. Ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall) is primarily associated with Ubuntu and is not typically used in RHEL environments, which reinforces firewalld's position as the default tool. Nftables is a newer framework that is intended