IP access restriction

[Pasha]

Rick Lim wrote:

> I have a friend that has a few boxes directly on the internet, which 
> he thinks are being access by unwanted “visitors”.
>
> These machine still have to have routable IP address but should have 
> limited access from external IP subnets.
>
> What would be suitable for limiting IP subnet access to these address?
>
> Would a ‘firewall’ like machine with IPTABLES be able to accomplish 
> this, that is without changing the IP address passed through the 
> ‘firewallish’ machine?
>
IIRC since kernel 2.6 it is possible to use iptables with bridging. So 
you can setup a linux box to bridge packets from internet to his network 
and to serve as a firewall.