How To Install iptables on Ubuntu
Posted on April 1, 2023 (Last modified on May 20, 2023 )
2 minutes • 410 words
Introduction
In this tutorial we learn how to install iptables on Ubuntu.
What is iptables
iptables is:
The iptables/xtables framework has been replaced by nftables. You should consider migrating now.
iptables is the userspace command line program used to configure the Linux packet filtering and NAT ruleset. It is targeted towards systems and networks administrators.
This package contains several different utilities, the most important ones:
iptables-nft, iptables-nft-save, iptables-nft-restore (nft-based version)
iptables-legacy, iptables-legacy-save, iptables-legacy-restore (legacy version)
ip6tables-nft, ip6tables-nft-save, ip6tables-nft-restore (nft-based version)
ip6tables-legacy, ip6tables-legacy-save, ip6tables-legacy-restore (legacy version)
arptables-nft, arptables-nft-save, arptables-nft-restore (nft-based version)
ebtables-nft, ebtables-nft-save, ebtables-nft-restore (nft-based version)
There are three methods to install iptables on Ubuntu. We can use apt-get, apt and aptitude. In the following sections we will describe each method. You can choose one of them.
Install iptables Using apt-get
Update apt database with apt-get using the following command.
sudo apt-get update
After updating apt database, We can install iptables using apt-get by running the following command:
sudo apt-get -y install iptables
Install iptables Using apt
Update apt database with apt using the following command.
sudo apt update
After updating apt database, We can install iptables using apt by running the following command:
sudo apt -y install iptables
Install iptables Using aptitude
If you want to follow this method, you might need to install aptitude first since aptitude is usually not installed by default on Ubuntu. Update apt database with aptitude using the following command.
sudo aptitude update
After updating apt database, We can install iptables using aptitude by running the following command:
sudo aptitude -y install iptables
How To Uninstall iptables on Ubuntu
To uninstall only the iptables package we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get remove iptables
Uninstall iptables And Its Dependencies
To uninstall iptables and its dependencies that are no longer needed by Ubuntu, we can use the command below:
sudo apt-get -y autoremove iptables
Remove iptables Configurations and Data
To remove iptables configuration and data from Ubuntu we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get -y purge iptables
Remove iptables configuration, data, and all of its dependencies
We can use the following command to remove iptables configurations, data and all of its dependencies, we can use the following command:
sudo apt-get -y autoremove --purge iptables
Dependencies
iptables have the following dependencies:
References
Summary
In this tutorial we learn how to install iptables package on Ubuntu using different package management tools: apt, apt-get and aptitude.