iptables block access to port 8000 except from IP address

Question

I've never used iptables, and the documentation online seems a bit opaque.

I'd like to block all requests to port 8000 on my server except those coming from a specific IP address. How do I do that using iptables?

Answer 1

This question should be on Server Fault. Nevertheless, the following should do the trick, assuming you're talking about TCP and the IP you want to allow is 1.2.3.4:

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8000 -s 1.2.3.4 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8000 -j DROP

Answer 2

Another alternative is;

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8000 -s ! 1.2.3.4 -j DROP

I had similar issue that 3 bridged virtualmachine just need access eachother with different combination, so I have tested this command and it works well.

Edit**

According to Fernando comment and this link exclamation mark (!) will be placed before than -s parameter:

sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 8000 ! -s 1.2.3.4 -j DROP

Answer 3

You can always use iptables to delete the rules. If you have a lot of rules, just output them using the following command.

iptables-save > myfile

vi to edit them from the commend line. Just use the "dd" to delete the lines you no longer want.

iptables-restore < myfile and you're good to go.  

REMEMBER THAT IF YOU DON'T CONFIGURE YOUR OS TO SAVE THE RULES TO A FILE AND THEN LOAD THE FILE DURING THE BOOT THAT YOUR RULES WILL BE LOST.