{{Admon/note | Take Note | Each chain has a default policy. In my example here the default policy is ACCEPT. This means that if data packets are checked and there is no rule that matches that packet in the chain the data will be allowed to pass to it's destination. Conversely, if the policy is set to DROP then the packet will be dropped if there is no match.

See the MAN page for <code>iptables </code> for detailed information on switches and options.}}