Knock on ports to open a port to a service (ssh for example) and knock again to close the port. You have to install knockd.

See example config file below.

[options]

logfile = /var/log/knockd.log

[openSSH]

sequence = 3000,4000,5000

seq_timeout = 5

command = /sbin/iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -s %IP% -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

tcpflags = syn

[closeSSH]

sequence = 5000,4000,3000

seq_timeout = 5

command = /sbin/iptables -D INPUT -i eth0 -s %IP% -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

tcpflags = syn