A firewall - out of principle - can only protect the network behind it, not the system it runs on itself *) and there are only two roles for any given network node, which are absolutely distinct: firewall or host. If a node acts as a firewall it must not work as a host and if it acts as a host it must not work as a firewall - period.
Having said this you might be looking for firewall software installable on AIX. There are several choices:
- IPSec has already been mentioned and is available since AIX 4.x. It is part of AIX and available for free.
- SecureWay was a firewall product for AIX 4.x and - i believe - for AIX 5L (as part of the Global Security Kit). It has been distributed by IBM and there is a redbook at IBM Redbooks.
- Commercial Products like the Check Point FireWall-1, for which also exists an IBM redbook.
I hope this helps.
bakunin
______
*) Corollary: all the "personal firewalls" sold with some popular graphical interrupt-handler (which misrepresents itself as an operating system) are simple packet filters, which do nothing to enhance any security but everything to enhance their vendors bank accounts. These "firewalls" just add some - utterly false - sense of security to the users experience. Stay away from those firewalls, the users of these and the underlying code waste dumps as well.
08-20-2010
Hi,,