Firewall

How it is used

A daily word for network and security teams. Engineers add, change and remove firewall rules, open or close a port on the firewall, and ask whether the firewall is blocking something when an application can't connect.

Example sentences

1. The application can't reach the database because the firewall is blocking port 5432.

2. Please raise a change request before adding a new firewall rule.

Common collocations

• firewall rule
• open a port on the firewall
• next-generation firewall
• firewall policy
• blocked by the firewall

Related terms

• ACLShort for access control list: an ordered list of rules on a router, switch or firewall that permits or denies traffic based on things like source, destination, protocol and port.
• DMZShort for demilitarised zone: a separate network segment between the internet and the internal network, where public-facing servers such as web or mail servers are placed.
• VPNShort for virtual private network: an encrypted connection over a public network such as the internet, used to link sites securely or to let remote staff reach internal systems.
• portEither a physical socket on a device where a network cable is plugged in, or a number from 0 to 65535 that identifies a particular service on a host, such as 443 for HTTPS.
• DDoS attackAn attack in which huge amounts of traffic from many compromised devices are sent to a target at the same time, so that its links or servers are overwhelmed and real users cannot get through.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• firewall · Software Engineering
• firewall · Cybersecurity