How do I get started with firewall service control? Find out how it prevents hackers from accessing sensitive information or damaging your computer.
Firewall Service Control
Firewall Service Control is a tool that ships as part of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It is a security feature that allows you to manage the services that make up the Windows Firewall. Since it allows you to enable and disable services and configure the level of access for each service.
For example, you can configure a service to allow full access from your local subnet, but only allow anonymous access from the Internet. When using Windows XP Service Pack 2, Firewall Service Control is installed by default on Windows XP Professional computers. Also, when using Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Firewall Service Control is installed by default on all computers.
This should be running Windows Server 2003. Moreover, the firewall service is composed of a list of services that are enabled or disabled. This allows incoming connections or limits them based on specific criteria. Administrators can use Firewall Service Control to enable or disable these services individually or in groups.
Windows Firewall Service Components
The firewall service and its associated services are listed in the Services snap-in under the name “Windows Firewall.” Also, the “Windows Firewall” service contains three separate components. These are Inbound Connection, Outbound Connection, and Domain Profile Connection.
All three components allow an administrator to specify services for inclusion in the firewall list and define them. That is whether incoming connections should be allowed or blocked. But this is based on criteria such as source IP address and application.
New in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1. So, each component has its tab that lists the individual services that make up each component. Also, this provides an additional level of clarity for configuring each component individually.
Each tab contains a list of services that provide information about the service, including:
1. Name of the service.
2. Service status.
3. Name of the executable file that starts the service.
4. The application description for the service.
Configuring Services for each Component
When you click on a component in Firewall Service Control, you can configure individual service access levels to incoming connections. To do this, click on the “Services” tab and select a service from the list. You can then choose a group of services to configure and click on either “Block” or “Allow.”
A dialog box appears that allows you to choose whether or not to block or allow both inbound and outbound connections for that service. Further, you can select the IP address ranges that are allowed to connect to this service. Also, this specifies whether anonymous access will be allowed.
Moreover, you can also choose which Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 connection profiles will apply to this service. For example, what if you choose to allow incoming connections from all IP addresses? Then you can also choose to allow anonymous access from all IP addresses.
In addition, this component has a port network monitoring that lets an administrator specify when the firewall will prompt for user input. That is before allowing an outbound connection over TCP/IP (such as when closing an application). If left enabled, users will be prompted before sending traffic over TCP/IP if they have set any specific port.