Packet Filter Firewall

Rather than impersonating an application, network-level firewalls examine the packets of information sent at the transport level to determine whether a particular packet should be blocked. Each packet is either forwarded or blocked based on a set of rules defined by the firewall administrator.

A common configuration for network-level-filtering firewalls is to allow all connections initiated by machines inside the firewall, and to restrict or prohibit all connections made by machines outside the firewall. For most programs, this works well since they usually only establish a single outbound TCP connection.

However, RealOne Player and Helix Universal Proxy (or Helix Universal Proxy and Helix Universal Server) maintain two simultaneous connections: a TCP connection for sending commands and a UDP connection to stream the actual media according to the instructions received from TCP. The TCP connection initiated by the player for controlling the connection will work through a packet filter firewall. Since network-level filters block UDP as a matter of course, the UDP stream sent by the Helix Universal Server or by Helix Universal Proxy will be deflected off the firewall and never reach the player that made the request.

Stateful Packet Filtering Firewall

A stateful packet filtering firewall monitors the communication between the client and the Internet to ensure that inbound packets are being sent at the request of a client inside the firewall. Similar to packet filters, it may include additional options that allow more sophisticated actions to be taken with individual packets.

These firewalls should be configured to permit RTSP and PNA traffic.