Features

Current features

Here is a list of the main features available in Fail2ban.

Highly configurable.
Parses log files and looks for given patterns.
Executes a command when a pattern has be detected for the same IP address for more than X times. X can be changed.
After a given amount of time, executes another command in order to unban the IP address.
Uses Netfilter/Iptables by default but can also use TCP Wrapper (/etc/hosts.deny) or others firewalls.
Handles log files rotation.
Can handle more than one service (sshd, apache, vsftpd, etc).
Resolves DNS hostname to IP address.
Can send e-mail notifications.
Runs as a daemon.
Multiple logging targets (syslog daemon, stdout, stderr, files).