How to configure ufw to forward port 80/443 to internal

server hosted on LAN

cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-configure-ufw-to-forward-port-80443-to-internal-server-hosted-on-lan

February 4, 2017

I am using UFW to protect my network. How do I forward TCP HTTP port # 80 and 443 to
an internal server hosted at 192.168.1.100:80 and 192.168.1.100:443 using UFW on
Ubuntu Linux server?

UFW is an acronym for uncomplicated firewall. It is used for managing a Linux firewall and
aims to provide an easy to use interface for the user. In this tutorial, you will learn how to
forward incoming traffic to your server running ufw on port 80/443 to port 80/443 on
another internal server hosted in your LAN/VLAN.

Our sample setup

Let us say you want to forward requests going to {80,443} to a server listening on
192.168.1.100:{80,443}:

Fig.01: How to configure ufw to redirect http traffic to another IP:port

All request for 202.54.1.1 port 80 and 443 need to redirect to another internal server.

DNAT
If you have a server on your internal network that you want make available externally, you
can use the -j DNAT target of the PREROUTING chain in NAT to specify a destination IP
address and port where incoming packets requesting a connection to your internal service
can be forwarded. The syntax is:

/sbin/iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -p tcp -d {PUBLIC_IP} --dport 80

-j DNAT --to {INTERNAL_IP}:80

1/3
OR
/sbin/iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -p tcp -d { PUBLIC_IP} --dport
443 -j DNAT --to {INTERNAL_IP}:443

Postrouting and IP Masquerading

To allow LAN nodes with private IP addresses to communicate with external public
networks, configure the firewall for IP masquerading, which masks requests from LAN
nodes with the IP address of the firewall’s external device such as eth0. The syntax is:
/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
OR
/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 192.168.1.0/24 ! -d 192.168.1.0/24 -
j MASQUERADE

How to configure ufw to setup a port forward

You need to edit /etc/ufw/before.rules file, enter:
$ sudo vi /etc/ufw/before.rules
Next configure ufw to redirect http traffic to another (LAN) IP:port. At the top file, append:

*nat
:PREROUTING ACCEPT [0:0]
# forward 202.54.1.1 port 80 to 192.168.1.100:80
# forward 202.54.1.1 port 443 to 192.168.1.100:443
-A PREROUTING -i eth0 -d 202.54.1.1 -p tcp --dport 80 -j DNAT --to-destination
192.168.1.100:80
-A PREROUTING -i eth0 -d 202.54.1.1 -p tcp --dport 443 -j DNAT --to-destination
192.168.1.100:443
# setup routing
-A POSTROUTING -s 192.168.1.0/24 ! -d 192.168.1.0/24 -j MASQUERADE
COMMIT

Save and close the file. Edit /etc/sysctl.conf:

$ sudo vi /etc/sysctl.conf
Set/edit as follows:

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

Save and close the file. Reload changes:

$ sudo sysctl -p
Finally, restart the firewall to enable routing:
$ sudo systemctl restart ufw
Make sure port 80 and 443 is allowed, otherwise ufw will block the requests that are
redirected to internal 192.168.1.100:{80,443}:
$ sudo ufw allow proto tcp from any to 202.54.1.1 port 80
$ sudo ufw allow proto tcp from any to 202.54.1.1 port 443
Verify new settings:
$ sudo ufw status
$ sudo iptables -t nat -L -n -v
Finally, make sure your domain has DNS type ‘a’ set to 202.54.1.1.

This entry is 3 of 7 in the Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) series. Keep reading the rest of
the series:
1. How to install UFW firewall on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS server
2/3
 2. How to open ssh port using ufw on Ubuntu/Debian Linux
3. How to configure ufw to forward port 80/443 to internal server hosted on LAN
4. How to block an IP address with ufw on Ubuntu Linux server
5. How to limit SSH (TCP port 22) connections with ufw on Ubuntu Linux
6. How To: Ubuntu Linux Firewall Open Port Command Using UFW
7. How to open DNS port 53 using ufw on Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Official Linux Foundation Certifications and Training - 15% Off

Get 15% off on Linux Foundation certified SysAdmin, Progamming, Kubernetes/Containers
and Open Stack certification & course. Use "CYBER15" coupon code.
training.linuxfoundation.org

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a
trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on
SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email
newsletter.

3/3