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firewall session state question

can someone explain me the meaning of if firewall is capable of maintaining session state information.
attached a screenshot of a test i have done using hping, is my firewall capable of maintaining session state? of not capable how will the results will be?

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Rich Rumble

Session state is referring to a connection having the ability to pick up where you left off. The firewall won't know anything about a session typically, but does know about a connections state. Here is a good explanation of Session: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_%28computer_science%29
Here is one for State(ful): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stateful_firewall
A session you can think of as you calling someone on the phone, they pick up and you both say hello. If you hang up the phone, and the other person does not right away, and you pick up your phone again you and the person you called could again talk to each other because the connection was never completely terminated.
A connection state is similar, you pick up the phone and dial a number, the person picks up- the state is connected. If you dial a number and they don't pickup or someone calls you and you don't pick up there is no state. Most firewalls allow call from inside to the outside, when the server your "calling" pick up, you have a stateful connection. If a server "calls" your firewall it probably won't "pick up" so the connection is denied. If your firewall has an open port like http, then a connection will probably be made.
-rich

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AbhisekSanyal

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