Can Abyss X2 read in a list of IPs into Denied IP Addresses?

[JMMotyer]

Hello, folks,

I have a PHP script that I am running on one of my X2 hosts. This script has been running great for years.

There is an add-in that I added to that script, which detects Bots, and adds the Bots' IP addresses to an .htaccess file in the root of that host (the add-in created that .htaccess file when I installed the add-in). Yes, I know that Abyss does not use, and ignores, .htaccess files. But that add-in was written for Apache 2.4 websites, and therefor writes the IP addresses of the Bots to that .htaccess file, so that Apache 2.4 websites can block those Bots.

A sample of the pertinent information in that .htaccess file looks like this:

[tfh]

I haven't tried this, but... all the IP address that you block in the "Denied IP Addresses" list end up in your abyss.conf in the following section:

<ipcontrol>
<rules>
<rule>

</rule>
</rules>
</ipcontrol>

You can find multiple entries for every host. Maybe you can make a script that add's the IP address there? You might have to stop the server, update the file, restart the server though.
And I woul suggest trying this on a backup first before you kill your config ;-)
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[JMMotyer]

My apologies for not posting this reply until now...

I am aware that Abyss places each IP in its separate <rule></rule> section, so if I were to add 100 different IPs to be denied, I would have 100 separate <rule></rule> items, which would each need to be added separately.

I tried copying all the IPs into Abyss' Denied IP Addresses field, with each IP address separated first by spaces and then by commas, but neither method worked. I realize that in Abyss' User Guide, Appendix C: IP Addresses and Ranges Format, it does not mention anything about entering multiple IP addresses together, but it was worth a try :-).

Thanks anyway, and have yourself a great day.

Regards,
John

[pkSML]

Just thinking out loud here...

Is this a problem you could address with a firewall? That might be more script-able. This would block bots from establishing another TCP connection with the server, which would greater preserve your server resources than blocking in Abyss.

Are you running Linux? If so, firewalling with ufw would be pretty simple. You'd just want to run the script regularly so it stays updated.

Otherwise, you're looking at tfh's solution -- directly modifying the abyss.conf file, which would require you to stop the server, update the ruleset, and restart the server. This could easily be done at low traffic times, but you'd need a lot of logic. You'd want to make a backup conf file and make sure Abyss restarts properly with the new config. Otherwise roll back to the previous working config.
_________________
Stephen
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[JMMotyer]

Hi, Stephen, thanks for your thoughts.