FAIL2BAN-CLIENT

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: October 2018
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NAME

fail2ban-client - configure and control the server

SYNOPSIS

fail2ban-client [,OPTIONS/] ,<COMMAND>/

DESCRIPTION

Fail2Ban v0.10.4 reads log file that contains password failure report and bans the corresponding IP addresses using firewall rules.

OPTIONS

-c <DIR>: configuration directory
-s <FILE>: socket path
-p <FILE>: pidfile path
--loglevel <LEVEL>: logging level
--logtarget <TARGET>: logging target, use file-name or stdout, stderr, syslog or sysout.
--syslogsocket auto|<FILE>
-d: dump configuration. For debugging
--dp, --dump-pretty: dump the configuration using more human readable representation
-t, --test: test configuration (can be also specified with start parameters)
-i: interactive mode
-v: increase verbosity
-q: decrease verbosity
-x: force execution of the server (remove socket file)
-b: start server in background (default)
-f: start server in foreground
--async: start server in async mode (for internal usage only, don't read configuration)
--timeout: timeout to wait for the server (for internal usage only, don't read configuration)
--str2sec <STRING>: convert time abbreviation format to seconds
-h, --help: display this help message
-V, --version: print the version (-V returns machine-readable short format)

COMMAND

: BASIC
start: starts the server and the jails
restart: restarts the server
restart [--unban] [--if-exists] <JAIL>: restarts the jail <JAIL> (alias for 'reload --restart ... <JAIL>')
reload [--restart] [--unban] [--all]: reloads the configuration without restarting of the server, the option '--restart' activates completely restarting of affected jails, thereby can unban IP addresses (if option '--unban' specified)
reload [--restart] [--unban] [--if-exists] <JAIL>: reloads the jail <JAIL>, or restarts it (if option '--restart' specified)
stop: stops all jails and terminate the server
unban --all: unbans all IP addresses (in all jails and database)
unban <IP> ... <IP>: unbans <IP> (in all jails and database)
status: gets the current status of the server
ping: tests if the server is alive
echo: for internal usage, returns back and outputs a given string
help: return this output
version: return the server version
: LOGGING
set loglevel <LEVEL>: sets logging level to <LEVEL>. Levels: CRITICAL, ERROR, WARNING, NOTICE, INFO, DEBUG, TRACEDEBUG, HEAVYDEBUG or corresponding numeric value (50-5)
get loglevel: gets the logging level
set logtarget <TARGET>: sets logging target to <TARGET>. Can be STDOUT, STDERR, SYSLOG or a file
get logtarget: gets logging target
set syslogsocket auto|<SOCKET>: sets the syslog socket path to auto or <SOCKET>. Only used if logtarget is SYSLOG
get syslogsocket: gets syslog socket path
flushlogs: flushes the logtarget if a file and reopens it. For log rotation.
: DATABASE
set dbfile <FILE>: set the location of fail2ban persistent datastore. Set to "None" to disable
get dbfile: get the location of fail2ban persistent datastore
set dbpurgeage <SECONDS>: sets the max age in <SECONDS> that history of bans will be kept
get dbpurgeage: gets the max age in seconds that history of bans will be kept
: JAIL CONTROL
add <JAIL> <BACKEND>: creates <JAIL> using <BACKEND>
start <JAIL>: starts the jail <JAIL>
stop <JAIL>: stops the jail <JAIL>. The jail is removed
status <JAIL> [FLAVOR]: gets the current status of <JAIL>, with optional flavor or extended info
: JAIL CONFIGURATION
set <JAIL> idle on|off: sets the idle state of <JAIL>
set <JAIL> ignoreself true|false: allows the ignoring of own IP addresses
set <JAIL> addignoreip <IP>: adds <IP> to the ignore list of <JAIL>
set <JAIL> delignoreip <IP>: removes <IP> from the ignore list of <JAIL>
set <JAIL> ignorecommand <VALUE>: sets ignorecommand of <JAIL>
set <JAIL> ignorecache <VALUE>: sets ignorecache of <JAIL>
set <JAIL> addlogpath <FILE> ['tail']: adds <FILE> to the monitoring list of <JAIL>, optionally starting at the 'tail' of the file (default 'head').
set <JAIL> dellogpath <FILE>: removes <FILE> from the monitoring list of <JAIL>
set <JAIL> logencoding <ENCODING>: sets the <ENCODING> of the log files for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> addjournalmatch <MATCH>: adds <MATCH> to the journal filter of <JAIL>
set <JAIL> deljournalmatch <MATCH>: removes <MATCH> from the journal filter of <JAIL>
set <JAIL> addfailregex <REGEX>: adds the regular expression <REGEX> which must match failures for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> delfailregex <INDEX>: removes the regular expression at <INDEX> for failregex
set <JAIL> addignoreregex <REGEX>: adds the regular expression <REGEX> which should match pattern to exclude for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> delignoreregex <INDEX>: removes the regular expression at <INDEX> for ignoreregex
set <JAIL> findtime <TIME>: sets the number of seconds <TIME> for which the filter will look back for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> bantime <TIME>: sets the number of seconds <TIME> a host will be banned for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> datepattern <PATTERN>: sets the <PATTERN> used to match date/times for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> usedns <VALUE>: sets the usedns mode for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> banip <IP>: manually Ban <IP> for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> unbanip <IP>: manually Unban <IP> in <JAIL>
set <JAIL> maxretry <RETRY>: sets the number of failures <RETRY> before banning the host for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> maxlines <LINES>: sets the number of <LINES> to buffer for regex search for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> addaction <ACT>[ <PYTHONFILE> <JSONKWARGS>]: adds a new action named <ACT> for <JAIL>. Optionally for a Python based action, a <PYTHONFILE> and <JSONKWARGS> can be specified, else will be a Command Action
set <JAIL> delaction <ACT>: removes the action <ACT> from <JAIL>
: COMMAND ACTION CONFIGURATION
set <JAIL> action <ACT> actionstart <CMD>: sets the start command <CMD> of the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> action <ACT> actionstop <CMD> sets the stop command <CMD> of the: action <ACT> for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> action <ACT> actioncheck <CMD>: sets the check command <CMD> of the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> action <ACT> actionban <CMD>: sets the ban command <CMD> of the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> action <ACT> actionunban <CMD>: sets the unban command <CMD> of the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> action <ACT> timeout <TIMEOUT>: sets <TIMEOUT> as the command timeout in seconds for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
: GENERAL ACTION CONFIGURATION
set <JAIL> action <ACT> <PROPERTY> <VALUE>: sets the <VALUE> of <PROPERTY> for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
set <JAIL> action <ACT> <METHOD>[ <JSONKWARGS>]: calls the <METHOD> with <JSONKWARGS> for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
: JAIL INFORMATION
get <JAIL> logpath: gets the list of the monitored files for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> logencoding: gets the encoding of the log files for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> journalmatch: gets the journal filter match for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> ignoreself: gets the current value of the ignoring the own IP addresses
get <JAIL> ignoreip: gets the list of ignored IP addresses for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> ignorecommand: gets ignorecommand of <JAIL>
get <JAIL> failregex: gets the list of regular expressions which matches the failures for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> ignoreregex: gets the list of regular expressions which matches patterns to ignore for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> findtime: gets the time for which the filter will look back for failures for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> bantime: gets the time a host is banned for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> datepattern: gets the patern used to match date/times for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> usedns: gets the usedns setting for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> maxretry: gets the number of failures allowed for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> maxlines: gets the number of lines to buffer for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> actions: gets a list of actions for <JAIL>
: COMMAND ACTION INFORMATION
get <JAIL> action <ACT> actionstart: gets the start command for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> action <ACT> actionstop: gets the stop command for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> action <ACT> actioncheck: gets the check command for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> action <ACT> actionban: gets the ban command for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> action <ACT> actionunban: gets the unban command for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> action <ACT> timeout: gets the command timeout in seconds for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
: GENERAL ACTION INFORMATION
get <JAIL> actionproperties <ACT>: gets a list of properties for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> actionmethods <ACT>: gets a list of methods for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>
get <JAIL> action <ACT> <PROPERTY>: gets the value of <PROPERTY> for the action <ACT> for <JAIL>

FILES

/etc/fail2ban/*

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to https://github.com/fail2ban/fail2ban/issues