Request for help: Debian firewall, and maybe some kernel upgrade tips

[Jared]

I need some firewall help, for starters.

At present, all I need open is SSH, WWW, and FTP.

I tried this:
http://www.rexx.com/~dkuhlman/iptables_install.html
but I'm installing on 3.0r1 with 2.2 kernel and
got several error messages regarding incompatible
kernel when I tried to start the firewall.

I'd like to upgrade to a newer kernel, but can't
seem to find any help on how to do this easily using
apt-get. I think if I'm using 2.4 or 2.6 my problem
with the firewall will go away. I do not have physical
access to the box I'm working on, so need to be able
to do all of this without physical intervention, or
even the risk of it. What's the safest way to upgrade
a Debian kernel?

Also. Is there any sort of firewall that is real
easy to configure, something like this:

[SuperEasyFirewall]
Open=22,80,23
Blocked=22.23.34.43:[22,80]
Closed=EverythingElse

I don't understand why a firewall config has to be
four miles long and so dern complicated!

-Jared