OS X Server: About the Firewall service

Learn about how the Firewall service is controlled in OS X Server.

OS X Yosemite

In OS X Server (Yosemite) you can use the Access pane to control which networks have access to your server. This method of access control is also referred to as the Firewall service.

You can create default access rules and custom rules for specific services. For more information about configuring access, see “Manage your server” in Server Help. Note: access from an IPv6 address is only affected by the default access rules, not custom access rules.

You can also enable the Adaptive Firewall, which dynamically generates a firewall rule if a user or an IP address generates 10 consecutive failed login attempts. See these resources for more information:

• Apple Support article "OS X Server: How to enable the adaptive firewall"

• “About the adaptive firewall” section of OS X Server: Advanced Administration.

Previous versions of OS X Server

In OS X Mavericks and Mountain Lion, the Firewall service is not controlled by OS X Server. If you want to manually configure firewall rules, use the pfctl binary. For instructions, please see man pfctl.

In Lion Server and Snow Leopard Server, the Firewall service is managed in Server Admin.