Can't get iptables working

baldeagle · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 1:29 pm Post subject: Can't get iptables working

I need help. No matter what I do, I cannot get iptables to work. I get the following error message:

# iptables -L
modprobe: Can't locate module ip_tables
iptables v1.2.8: can't initialize iptables table `filter': iptables who? (do you need to insmod?)
Perhaps iptables or your kernel needs to be upgraded.

This is my first time installing Gentoo, but I've done Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and several different flavors of Linux (RedHat, Debian, Slackware, Caldera, etc.) I'm not a novice, but I'm not a master either.

Some stuff from dmesg:
Linux version 2.4.20-gentoo-r5 (root@cdimage) (gcc version 3.2.3 20030422 (Gentoo Linux 1.4 3.2.3-r1, propolice)) #1 SMP Fri Jul 18 07:32:50 CDT 2003
Detected 299.957 MHz processor.
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 596.37 BogoMIPS
Memory: 188312k/196608k available (2368k kernel code, 6372k reserved, -2896k data, 160k init, 0k highmem)

/etc/make.conf:
grep -v "#" /etc/make.conf

USE="gnome gtk -kde -qt crypt cups pam ssl tcpd opengl X"

CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-march=i686 -O3 -pipe"

CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR=/var/tmp
PORTDIR=/usr/portage
DISTDIR=${PORTDIR}/distfiles
PKGDIR=${PORTDIR}/packages

Things I've done:
read the install doc carefully and repeatedly
read the security doc carefully and repeatedly

emerged both iptables and gentoo-sources numerous times (just did both again last night)

compiled using genkernel --config

compiled using the "manual" method:
make oldconfig
make mrproper
make dep
etc.

# depmod -a returns tons of these errors:
depmod: *** Unresolved symbols in /lib/modules/2.4.20-gentoo-r5/kernel/net/sunrpc/sunrpc.o

# slocate ip_tables.o doesn't return anything. (slocate on any of the expected object files returns their location. I've also rebuilt the db several times - slocate -u)

The system runs fine, has no stability problems, networking works perfectly, every app I've installed works fine *except* iptables.

I can't help but think that I'm missing some ridiculously simply step somewhere, but I'm at a loss to know what it is. Any pointers in the right direction would be gratefully appreciated.
_________________
Paul Schmehl (pauls@utdallas.edu)
Adjunct Information Security Officer
The University of Texas at Dallas
AVIEN Founding Member
http://www.utdallas.edu/

BitJam · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 2:18 pm Post subject:

The simplest problem would be if you didn't have the right kernel options selected. I was stumped when I first tried to find the iptables stuff. So even though you probably already know this, the kernel configuration can be found at http://projectfiles.com/firewall/install.html :

baldeagle · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 5:26 pm Post subject:

siti · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:40 pm Post subject:

Try a kernel other than gentoo sources such as vanilla-sources.

baldeagle · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 11:05 pm Post subject:

vidigiani · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 11:14 pm Post subject:

I had some trouble with iptables earlier today. I found info at this link useful: http://shorewall.sourceforge.net/kernel.html... Now I am still having troubles with Shorewall (going to more closely match the kernel settings outline), but atleast iptables is working.

sschlueter · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 12:06 am Post subject: Re: Can't get iptables working

splooge · l33t Joined: 30 Aug 2002 Posts: 636

I saw that you used 'genkernel' ...

genkernel doesn't add the appropriate modules needed for iptables (netfilter). You'll need to modify your kernel config after executing genkernel or roll your own kernel by hand.
_________________
http://get.a.clue.de

Xiol · Apprentice Joined: 24 Jul 2003 Posts: 209 Location: UK

I had this problem, turning off module versioning in the kernel seemed to fix it. (Also fixed my ALSA problem at the same time...)

Edit: Also re-emerge iptables.