Firewall rules control how the firewall protects computers from malicious incoming traffic and applications. The firewall checks all incoming packets and outgoing packets against the rules that you enable. It allows or blocks the packets based on the conditions that you specify in the firewall rule.

Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition installs with a default firewall policy that contains default rules. When you create a new firewall policy, Symantec Endpoint Protection Small Business Edition provides default firewall rules. You can modify any of the default rules or create new firewall rules if your administrator permits it, or if your client is unmanaged.

You must have at least one rule in a policy. But you can have as many rules as you need. You can enable or disable rules as needed. For example, you might want to disable a rule to perform troubleshooting and enable it when you are done.

Table: Managing firewall rules describes what you need to know to manage firewall rules.

See Managing firewall protection