KNOCK.EXE, Version 0.81
*** Note: knock.exe V0.81 is UNCHANGED from knock.exe V0.8
*** The new revision number is used only to keep the *** rev numbers of 'doormand', 'knock', & 'knock.exe' *** in sync.
Bruce Ward
Saint John, NB, Canada Sept.3, 2005
This is the 'Readme' file for 'knock.exe'. Knock is the client half of of a client-server pair, the other half being 'doormand', the doorman daemon. The doorman is used to help secure Unix/GNU-Linux servers on the wild and wooly Internet by allowing them to run with all TCP ports closed by a firewall.
Knock is used to persuade the doorman to insert a firewall rule which will allow you to make a TCP connection for a particular service. The rule will be kept for a configured time period, and automatically removed if no TCP connection made. If one is made, the connection may be kept indefinitely; when finally broken, the firewall rule is removed.
knock will typically be used like this:
C:\whatver> knock -r"putty myname@%H%" x.myserver.org 22 C:\whatver>
---Installing----------------------------------------------------------
To install knock.exe, simply drop it in any directory which occurs in your PATH variable, then drop knock.cfg in C:\
Read 'knock.txt' and 'knockcfg.txt'; then edit C:\knock.cfg to match the way the server's doorman is configured. You should now be ready to go.
---Running-------------------------------------------------------------
---If you are building for windows------------------------------------
You must first download the 'doorman-X.X.X.tgz' package. Only the 'knock' client may be built for windows. Knock.c can be compiled with Microsoft Visual C++; double-click on 'WINNOCK.DSW', and build as normal.
---Please report bugs--------------------------------------------------
It should be noted that this is 'beta' software; if you find bugs, (which is altogether likely) please, PLEASE report them to: <bward2@users.sourceforge.net>
This includes anything in the documentation which is unclear, dumb, or just plain wrong, and things which don't work the way you think they should.