---
title: Enable Firewall
url: https://docs.vultr.com/products/compute/instances/cloud-compute/networking/enable-firewall
description: Learn how to activate a Vultr Firewall Group on your Cloud Compute instance to control network traffic.
publish_date: 2024-09-23T20:19:56.113215Z
last_updated: 2026-05-26T18:43:07.304976Z
---

# How to Enable a Vultr Firewall Group on a Vultr Cloud Compute Instance

Vultr Firewall groups allow you to create rules that filter incoming network traffic to an instance. Firewall rules define the network ports and services to control, filter, and secure network connections to the instance.

Follow this guide to enable a Vultr Firewall group on a Vultr Cloud Compute instance using the Vultr Console, API, CLI, or Terraform.

=== "Vultr Console"

    1. Navigate to **Products** and click **Compute**.
    1. Click your target Vultr Cloud Compute instance to open its management page.
    1. Navigate to the **Settings** tab.
    1. Click **Firewall** on the left navigation menu.
    1. Click the **Firewall** drop-down to select a new firewall group.
    1. Click **Update Firewall Group** to enable the firewall group on the instance.

=== "Vultr API"

    1. Send a `GET` request to the [**List Instances** endpoint](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/instances/operation/list-instances) and note your target instance's ID.

        ```console
        $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances" \
          -X GET \
          -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"
        ```

    1. Send a `GET` request to the [**List Firewall Groups** endpoint](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/firewall/operation/list-firewall-groups) to list all available firewall groups.

        ```console
        $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/firewalls" \
          -X GET \
          -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"
        ```

    1. Send a `PATCH` request to the [**Update Instance** endpoint](https://www.vultr.com/api/#tag/instances/operation/update-instance) to attach a firewall group to the instance.

        ```console
        $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/instances/{instance-id}" \
          -X PATCH \
          -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}" \
          -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
          --data '{
            "firewall_group_id" : "<firewall-id>",
          }'
        ```

=== "Vultr CLI"

    1. List all available firewall groups and note the target firewall group's ID.

        ```console
        $ vultr-cli firewall group list
        ```

    1. List all available instances and note your target instance's ID.

        ```console
        $ vultr-cli instance list
        ```

    1. Attach the firewall group to the instance.
        
        ```console
        $ vultr-cli instance update-firewall-group --instance-id <instance-id> --firewall-group-id <firewall-id>
        ```

=== "Terraform"

    1. Open your Terraform configuration for the existing Cloud Compute instance.

    1. Create or reference a `vultr_firewall_group` resource and attach it to the instance.

        ```terraform
        # Create a firewall group
        resource "vultr_firewall_group" "web" {
            description = "Web server firewall group"
        }

        # Add example rules to the group
        resource "vultr_firewall_rule" "allow_http" {
            firewall_group_id = vultr_firewall_group.web.id
            protocol          = "tcp"
            ip_type           = "v4"
            subnet            = "0.0.0.0"
            subnet_size       = 0
            port              = "80"
        }

        resource "vultr_firewall_rule" "allow_https" {
            firewall_group_id = vultr_firewall_group.web.id
            protocol          = "tcp"
            ip_type           = "v4"
            subnet            = "0.0.0.0"
            subnet_size       = 0
            port              = "443"
        }

        # Attach the firewall group to the instance
        resource "vultr_instance" "cc" {
            # ...existing fields (region, plan, os_id, label, etc.)

            firewall_group_id = vultr_firewall_group.web.id
        }
        ```

    1. Apply the configuration and observe the following output:

        ```
        Apply complete! Resources: 3 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.
        ```