EMERGENCY - need to secure my server against an ongoing SPAMMER

[Bob Brennan]

> As a final thought, messing directly with your iptables setup is fun but
> can become a distracting and wasteful time burner.  If you are, or can
> get comfortable with any of the GUI based firewall setup tools on Fedora
> I urge you use them.  They are not as flexible as direct manipulation
> but they are less error prone and, unlike the advice I give above, they
> are not based on someone else's iptables assumptions, which when unknown,
> (as in this case), will eventually bite you.

Thanks again for the great advice Jeff - I will read and re-read the
link you sent until something sinks in. In the meantime I have been
(not comfortably) using the iptables command but would rather use one
of the "GUI based firewall setup tools on Fedora" you mention above. I
did try all of the logical system-config-xxx commands I could find but
none that show me a neat list of iptables. Tips-for-Dummies, or better
links-for-dummies here would help. Dabblers in an area like this can
do more damage than good - like someone who provides an open relay to
the entire spam world without knowing it.....  :-(    ...for instance.

thanks,
bob