Nft

Nft is the successor to iptables.

There is only one book on the market I could find (08/2022) that currently deals with Nft, and that is Linux Firewalls by Steve Suehring (this page references the 4th edition).

Usage

First, you should know there is the handy tool

iptables-translate

which can convert an iptables rule to nft. Used like so:

iptables-translate -I INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j DROP

and it will give the nft equivalent.

Second, you should know that in order to block ipv4 and ipv6, you should use: inet. Some rules, will have nft insert rule ip bla bla bla or nft insert rule ip6 bla bla bla. If you use inet instead of ip or ip6 it will cover both protocols. (Page 84). Any example rule online that only uses ip is incorrect.

Third:

-I is nft insert
-A is nft add

Terrible... Add should be append. As with iptables, the order in which you execute the rules is important.

Fourth: you have to make your own tables, AND chains because f&*$ you that's why. What a mess.

Allow/Block a single port

Block the wan from accessing port 80:

nft insert rule inet filter INPUT tcp dport 80 counter reject

Allow the lan to access port 80:

nft insert rule inet filter INPUT ip saddr 192.168.1.0/24 tcp dport 80 counter accept

iptables vs nft: which is easier for the sysadmin?

I'm still undecided which is better. One thing to remember with nft is that the rules will start identical most of the time.

So a rule that is:

nft insert rule inet filter INPUT tcp dport 80 counter reject

Always has

nft insert rule inet

Which means you have to remember that part, cut it out, then focus on the rest of the rule. So all that matters is:

filter INPUT tcp dport 80 counter reject
vs:
-I INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -J REJECT

Which is better?