Setting up fail2ban

fail2ban will work right out the gate to do what we want it for security purposes. Let's get it installed:

Basic Installation

1

Install fail2ban

sudo apt update
sudo apt install fail2ban

2

Copy default config file

sudo cp /etc/fail2ban/jail.conf /etc/fail2ban/jail.local

3

Configure (optional)

You can choose to edit some of the configurations, but the default works well.

sudo nano /etc/fail2ban/jail.local

4

Restart fail2ban

When you've applied your changes, you can restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart fail2ban

Troubleshooting:

Here are some errors you may encounter.

Failed to access socket path:

It appears that fail2ban is not currently running on your server, which is why you're encountering the following error.

1

Check the status of fail2ban

sudo systemctl status fail2ban

Interpreting the Output

• Active (running): fail2ban is running correctly.

• Inactive (dead): fail2ban is installed but not running.

• Failed: There was an error starting fail2ban.

2

If inactive, Start fail2ban

sudo systemctl start fail2ban

3

If failed, you may have an error in your config file