FirewallBuilder

The User library that comes with Firewall Builder is all you need if you are the only person administering firewalls in your enterprise. If you have several administrators, however, each with a different workstation, then you may want to create a user library that you can distribute. That way, user-defined objects can be created once, by one person.

Let's create and distribute a simple user-defined library. Start by selecting the New Object/New Library option from the Object menu.

The library pull-down menu switches to New Library. This library is empty by default except for the standard folders.

Figure 5.137. A New, Rmpty User-Defined Library

Click the New Library icon to bring up the library dialog.

Figure 5.138. Library Dialog

The Library dialog has three controls: Name, Color, and Comments. Enter a new name for the library in the Name field. (Here we are calling it ACME Library.) If you want, you can also specify a color for the library. This helps you easily distinguish one library from another when you are working. In this case, we have set the color to a shade of blue.

Figure 5.139. ACME Library with Blue Background

Use the normal object creation procedures to create objects in the library. Here we have created two Address objects that represent web servers, a host object with two interfaces that matches an email server and a network object to match the local LAN.

Figure 5.140. Library with User-Created Objects

Click File/Save to save the object file.

To export the library to a file, select File/Export Library. The following dialog appears:

Figure 5.141. Export Your Library

If you want to make the library read-only, leave the Make exported libraries read-only checked. Otherwise, uncheck it.

Click OK.

A file system Save dialog appears. Here you can specify a name and location for the file. Be sure the file has a .fwl file extension.

Figure 5.142. Save Dialog Box

You can now move or e-mail the library to someone else.

To load a library, copy the file to the directory where you have Firewall Builder store your object files. Then, select Import Library from the Firewall Builder File menu. (You may have to restart Firewall Builder to get it to locate the file. Until then, the "Import Library" option may be grayed out.)

You can now use this library like any other library. Keep in mind that changes to one copy of the user-defined library has no effect on other copies. To propagate changes, you have to redistribute the library.