How to Create a Firewall on Kamatera

A firewall is a crucial component of computer security, which acts as a barrier between your network and external networks. On operating systems, a firewall acts as a first line of defense against malicious attacks and unauthorized access. Every Windows operating system comes with a built-in firewall known as Windows Defender firewall, which enables users to manage inbound and outbound connections based on specific rules.

Whether you are a system administrator protecting your organization’s infrastructure or an individual securing your personal computer, it’s important to know how to configure and manage a firewall on Windows, which is essential for maintaining a safe network environment.

First, let’s create a firewall on Windows Sever using Windows Defender Firewall to control inbound and outbound network traffic.

How to create a Windows server in Kamatera

1. Enter your credentials to access the Kamatera management console and click Login.

2. Navigate to My Cloud on left hand side and select Servers. On the left-hand side navigation menu, click on Create New Server or use the Create New Server button on the right-hand side.

3. Choose zone:

Choose the zone according to your requirements.

• Asia
• North America
• Europe 
• Middle East

Depending on the zone you select, the available countries will be displayed. 

Note: For this setup, we used the Asia server domain for the Windows Server.

4. Choose an image:

Kamatera offers a variety of app and server images to help users set up preconfigured resources. Users can explore options such as:

• Server OS images
• Desktop OS images
• App images
• Service images 
• My private images

5. Choose server OS images and select Windows server.

6. In “Choose Version,” select the latest version of Microsoft Windows Server (2022_standard 64-bit). 

7. Upon selecting the version, the license prices are displayed.

8. Toggle the Detailed view button to ‘ON’ to view the detailed description, including the price.

9. Choose Server Specs:

Note: Type- B (General), CPU- 2, RAM- 8 GB, SSD DISC#1- 80 GB are selected.

Toggle the “Daily Backup and Management Services” button to ‘ON’ according to your requirements.

10. Choose networking:

Simple mode:

  Advanced mode:

11. Advanced configuration:

Click “Hide” to hide the advanced configuration. Click “Show” to see the advanced configuration.

12. Finalize settings:

Finalize settings by setting the password, re-validating it, selecting the number of servers, specifying the server’s name, and enabling the Power On Servers option.

13. Billing cycle and pricing:

Once the user enters the details in Finalize Settings, they can select either the Monthly Billing Cycle or Hourly Billing, depending on their requirements. 

After choosing the billing cycle, click on “Create Server.”

Note: The Server Summary displays the location, operating system (including server specifications), add-on services, servers, and pricing.

14. The server will be added to the Tasks Queue.

15. Once the server is created, you will see the status as success. The server will appear under Server Management.

Click Open, and a new screen will open.

16. On the right side, the overview of the Windows Server that you just created is displayed.  Click CONNECT and a new screen will open.

17. In the new screen, under the “Connection Credentials” section: Connection Type, Username and Password are displayed.  In the Remote Console section, click Open Remote Console.  

18. A new tab opens, connecting to the new server and displaying the Server Manager Dashboard. 

Open Server Manager in Windows Server

1. In Windows Server, open Server Manager.

2. Go to Tools-> Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.

3. A new screen will open. On the left pane, you will see:

Inbound Rules: Controls traffic that is allowed to enter the server.

Outbound Rules: Controls traffic that is allowed to leave the server.

Connection Security Rules: Configures IPsec to secure traffic.

Monitoring: Refers to tracking and reviewing the traffic and rules in your firewall configuration.

4. Select Inbound Rules, if you want to control incoming traffic. In the middle pane, look for rules with the specific port number under the Local Port or Remote Port fields to see if they are allowed or blocked. If the port is not listed, you can create a rule to test whether it can pass traffic. 

5. Select Outbound Rules, if you want to control outgoing traffic. In the middle pane, look for rules with the specific port number under the Local Port or Remote Port fields to see if they are allowed or blocked. If the port is not listed, you can create a rule to test whether it can pass traffic. 

6. Once you click on Inbound rules or Outbound Rules, you will see the Actions pane on the right. Select New Rule.

7. A new inbound wizard rule opens. Select the type of firewall rule you want to create (Program, Port, Predefined, or Custom). 

Program: Controls traffic for specific applications.

Port: Controls traffic on a specific port.

Predefined: Controls connections for Windows experience.

Custom: Used for more granular traffic control.

8. For demonstration purposes, we will select Port. 

Click Next.

Follow the on-screen instructions and fill in the required information.

9. Select TCP or UDP.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) are 2 primary protocols for transmitting data over the Internet and other networks. Here, TCP is selected. 

Select All local ports or Specific local ports.

Select Specific local ports and enter the port numbers or port range.

Here 443, 80 are entered.

Click Next.

1. Select Allow the connection, Allow the connection if it is secure, or Block the connection depending on your requirements.

Here, Allow the connection is selected and click on Next.

11. Check all the boxes next to Domain, Private, and Public.

Click Next.

12. Assign a name to the rule and description (optional). 

Click Finish.

13. The rule will be activated immediately controlling traffic as per the conditions. In the middle pane, you will see Ports 443, 80 for Snagit is displayed.

14. To check if the inbound rule for Ports 443, 80 for Snagit is working or not, test the connection by using a few methods.

15. Use Windows PowerShell to test:

Open PowerShell and click Run as Administrator.

Type the command below to check if Port 80 is open or not.

Command: Test-NetConnection -ComputerName localhost -Port 80

If Port 80 is open: you will get TcpTestSucceeded: True in the output.

If Port 80 is blocked: you will get TcpTestSucceeded: False in the output.

16. Use your browser to test:

Type http://localhost in the address bar and press enter.

If the port is open and your rule is working, then you will see a web page otherwise you will see an error message “This site can’t be reached.”

17. Use Telnet to test:

• • Install Telnet Client (If not installed).

• In the start menu, type Control Panel-> Programs and Features.

Select Turn Windows features on or off.

Open Server Manager. Click on Manage in the top-right corner and select Add Roles and Features.

In the Add Roles and Features wizard, click Next.

In the installation type window, select Next.

In the Server Selection window, select Next.

In the Select Server roles window, click Next.

In the Select Features window, check the box next to Telnet Client and then click Next.

Click Install.

Once the feature installation is complete, click Close.

• Type Command Prompt in the start menu and select Run as Administrator.

Type the below command and press Enter.

Command: telnet 

If the installation is successful, you will see the Telnet prompt (Microsoft telnet>) and you can start using Telnet to connect to remote servers.

• Type Command Prompt in the start menu and select Run as Administrator. Type the below command and press Enter.

Command: telnet localhost 80

If the port is open and correctly configured, you will see a blank screen indicating connection is established. Otherwise, you will see the message “Could not open connection to the host”.

18. Check the Firewall logs to test:

If the Windows Firewall Logging is not already enabled, open Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security.

• In the Overview Pane, click Windows Defender Firewall Properties.

• Go to the Domain profile, Public profile, or Private profile. Under the Logging section, click Customize. Select yes for Log dropped packets and Log successful connections.

Copy the Default path for the log file. Click OK.

Open the log file in the notepad or any another text editor and check for the entries related to Port 443 and 80. This will show whether traffic is allowed or blocked on Ports 443 and 80.

Use tools such as ping or Telnet to test how the firewall handles connections.

• Command: ping (destination IP)

If ping is blocked, you will see a DROP entry in the logs.

• Command: telnet (destination IP) (port)

If Telnet fails, check the logs to determine whether the traffic is blocked.

And that’s it! You have successfully created a firewall on your Kamatera cloud server.