I have success.
The iptables-restore file works when its in the /etc directory i.e. /etc/iptables.rules
The command that i got to work was
pre-up iptables.restore < /etc/iptables.rules
The only downside that I see is when you build up the iptables incoming rules. If you use a dyndns.org or similar address is then transcodes it to a line like B5789.net etc.. when you save it to iptables-save it then converts it to an ip address
so when you do a iptables-restore it imports the ip address and not the dns setting. So during the time the box is on, if a user restarts their router and therefore their ip address changes, my box wouldnt allow them on.
The iptables-restore file works when its in the /etc directory i.e. /etc/iptables.rules
The command that i got to work was
pre-up iptables.restore < /etc/iptables.rules
The only downside that I see is when you build up the iptables incoming rules. If you use a dyndns.org or similar address is then transcodes it to a line like B5789.net etc.. when you save it to iptables-save it then converts it to an ip address
so when you do a iptables-restore it imports the ip address and not the dns setting. So during the time the box is on, if a user restarts their router and therefore their ip address changes, my box wouldnt allow them on.