Installation

This section provides detailed instructions for installing nFW on your Linux system.

Installation from Packages

Pre-built packages for many Linux distributions are available in the repository.

  1. Install the repository by following instructions at http://packages.ntop.org/

  2. Install the nfw package.

License Installation

nFW requires a valid license file to operate. The license file should be placed in one of these locations:

  • nfw.license (current directory)

  • /etc/nfw.license (system-wide)

License Management Commands

# Verify installation
nfw --version

# Display system ID for license generation
nfw --show-system-id

# Check license validity
nfw --check-license

# Check maintenance status
nfw --check-maintenance

Contact ntop.org or visit http://shop.ntop.org/ to obtain a commercial license.

Post-Installation Steps

After installing nFW, perform these configuration steps:

  1. Verify Installation

    nfw --version
nfw --help

  2. Configure Netfilter

    Set up iptables rules (see Netfilter Setup for details):

    # For bridge mode
sudo /usr/share/nfw/scripts/bridge_setup.sh lan0 wan0

# For single interface mode
sudo /usr/share/nfw/scripts/default_setup.sh eth0

  3. Install License

    Copy your license file:

    sudo cp nfw.license /etc/nfw.license
nfw --check-license

  4. Test Basic Operation

    Run nFW with minimal configuration:

    sudo nfw -q 0 -v

    Press Ctrl+C to stop. You should see nFW start successfully.

Next Steps

Uninstallation

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get remove nfw
sudo apt-get purge nfw  # Also remove configuration files

CentOS/Rocky:

sudo yum remove nfw

Remove Configuration

sudo rm -rf /etc/nfw
sudo rm -f /etc/nfw.license