Randall

A firewall is a software or hardware appliance that protects computer networks by blocking or filtering network traffic. Firewalls are classified as either stateful or stateless.

Stateful firewalls keep track of which packets are authorized and then allow them to pass through the firewall. Stateless firewalls just allow anything that is not blocked to pass through the firewall.

The main difference between stateful and stateless firewalls is that stateful firewalls keep track of which packets are authorized and then allow them to pass through the firewall.

This can be a problem if you want to allow a specific application, such as an FTP server, through the firewall. A stateless firewall would just allow any traffic to pass through, which would include the FTP traffic.

A stateful firewall would not allow the FTP traffic to pass through because it is not authorized. .

Stateful firewalls are usually more expensive than stateless firewalls, but they can be more effective at protecting networks.