man > fail2ban-client(1)

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📛 NAME

fail2ban-client - configure and control the server

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
Start server and jails	fail2ban-client start	Starts the fail2ban server and all jails 🚀
Stop server	fail2ban-client stop	Stops all jails and terminates the server 🛑
Check server status	fail2ban-client status	Gets the current status of the server 📊
Ban an IP	fail2ban-client set <JAIL> banip <IP>	Manually ban an IP address in a jail 🚫
Unban an IP	fail2ban-client set <JAIL> unbanip <IP>	Manually unban an IP address in a jail ✅
Unban all IPs	fail2ban-client unban --all	Unban all IP addresses in all jails 🎉
Get banned IPs	fail2ban-client get <JAIL> banned	List banned IPs for a jail 📋
Reload configuration	fail2ban-client reload	Reloads configuration without restarting server 🔄
Test configuration	fail2ban-client -t	Test configuration for errors ✅

📖 SYNOPSIS

fail2ban-client [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

📝 DESCRIPTION

Fail2Ban v0.11.2 reads log file that contains password failure report and bans the corresponding IP addresses using firewall rules.

⚙️ OPTIONS

-c, --conf <DIR> — configuration directory 📁

-s, --socket <FILE> — socket path 🔌

-p, --pidfile <FILE> — pidfile path 🆔

--pname <NAME> — name of the process (main thread) to identify instance (default fail2ban-server) 🏷️

--loglevel <LEVEL> — logging level 📊

--logtarget <TARGET> — logging target, use file-name or stdout, stderr, syslog or sysout 🎯

--syslogsocket auto|<FILE> — syslog socket path 🔧

-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) ℹ️

📟 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) 🎉

banned — return jails with banned IPs as dictionary 🚫

banned <IP> ... <IP>] — return list(s) of jails where given IP(s) are banned 🚫

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 ℹ️

📋 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 dbmaxmatches <INT> — sets the max number of matches stored in database per ticket 🔢

get dbmaxmatches — gets the max number of matches stored in database per ticket 🔢

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> attempt <IP> [<failure1> ... <failureN>] — manually notify about <IP> failure ⚠️

set <JAIL> banip <IP> ... <IP> — manually Ban <IP> for <JAIL> 🚫

set <JAIL> unbanip [--report-absent] <IP> ... <IP> — manually Unban <IP> in <JAIL> ✅

set <JAIL> maxretry <RETRY> — sets the number of failures <RETRY> before banning the host for <JAIL> 🔁

set <JAIL> maxmatches <INT> — sets the max number of matches stored in memory per ticket in <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> 📞

ℹ️ JAIL INFORMATION

get <JAIL> banned — return banned IPs of <JAIL> 🚫

get <JAIL> banned <IP> ... <IP>] — return 1 if IP is banned in <JAIL> otherwise 0, or a list of 1/0 for multiple IPs 🚫

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 pattern used to match date/times for <JAIL> 📅

get <JAIL> usedns — gets the usedns setting for <JAIL> 🌐

get <JAIL> banip [<SEP>|--with-time] — gets the list of of banned IP addresses for <JAIL>. Optionally the separator character ('<SEP>', default is space) or the option '--with-time' (printing the times of ban) may be specified. The IPs are ordered by end of ban. 🚫

get <JAIL> maxretry — gets the number of failures allowed for <JAIL> 🔁

get <JAIL> maxmatches — gets the max number of matches stored in memory per ticket in <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 via Debian bug tracking system http://www.debian.org/Bugs/ .

📚 SEE ALSO

fail2ban-server(1) jail.conf(5)

📛 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📖 SYNOPSIS 📝 DESCRIPTION ⚙️ OPTIONS 📟 COMMAND 📁 FILES 🐛 REPORTING BUGS 📚 SEE ALSO