Reference

fail2ban-client(1)

configure and control the server

NAME

fail2ban-client - configure and control the server

SYNOPSIS

fail2ban-client [OPTIONS] <COMMAND>

DESCRIPTION

Fail2Ban v1.1.1 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>

-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)

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

status --all [FLAVOR]

gets the current status of all jails, with optional output style [FLAVOR]. Flavors: 'basic' (default), 'cymru', 'short', 'stats'

stat[istic]s

gets the current statistics of all jails as table

ping

tests if the server is alive

echo

for internal usage, returns back and outputs a given string

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, SYSTEMD-JOURNAL 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 output style [FLAVOR]. Flavors: 'basic' (default), 'cymru', 'short', 'stats'

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>

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

SEE ALSO

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

History

--async since Debian 10 (Buster); --conf since Debian 11 (Bullseye); --dp since Debian 10 (Buster); --dump-pretty since Debian 10 (Buster); --loglevel since Debian 10 (Buster); --logtarget since Debian 10 (Buster); --pidfile since Debian 11 (Bullseye); --pname since Debian 11 (Bullseye); --socket since Debian 11 (Bullseye); --str2sec since Debian 10 (Buster); --test since Debian 10 (Buster); --timeout since Debian 10 (Buster); -b since Debian 9 (Stretch); -f since Debian 9 (Stretch); -p since Debian 8 (Jessie); -t since Debian 10 (Buster).