Install Fail2ban

sudo apt install fail2ban

Configure Fail2ban

Note: fail2ban now saves bans persistently in a database, so it’s not necessary to modify /etc/fail2ban/action.d/iptables-multiport.conf:

$ grep ^dbfile /etc/fail2ban/fail2ban.conf
dbfile = /var/lib/fail2ban/fail2ban.sqlite3

1. Create a local configuration file

   sudo vim /etc/fail2ban/jail.local
   

2. Edit the contents as desired

   • To ban for 1 year:

     [DEFAULT]
     bantime = 31536000
     

   • To ban forever:

     [DEFAULT]
     bantime = -1
     

3. Restart fail2ban

   sudo service fail2ban restart
   

Get Fail2ban status

1. Get the list of jails

   sudo fail2ban-client status
   

2. Get the status of a particular jail

   sudo fail2ban-client status sshd