How To Set Up a Firewall with UFW on Ubuntu 20.04

🛡️ How To Set Up a Firewall with UFW on Ubuntu 20.04

UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) is a user-friendly interface for managing iptables firewall rules. This guide covers essential UFW commands to secure your server.

1Check UFW Status

sudo ufw status

2Set Default Policies

sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing

3Allow SSH Connections

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Always allow SSH before enabling UFW or you may lock yourself out!

sudo ufw allow ssh

Or by port:

sudo ufw allow 22

4Enable UFW

sudo ufw enable

5Allow Other Services

sudo ufw allow 80
sudo ufw allow 443

Or use application profiles:

sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'

6Check Status

sudo ufw status verbose

Useful Commands

  • sudo ufw deny 3306 – Deny MySQL port
  • sudo ufw delete allow 80 – Remove a rule
  • sudo ufw reset – Reset all rules
  • sudo ufw disable – Disable firewall

🎉 Your Ubuntu server is now protected with UFW firewall!