I wanted to see if I could install fail2ban (there are many pages that give varying instructions for doing so, unfortunately none are specifically for use with Elastix). Many of the pages say to use
yum install fail2ban
to install the program, but that doesn't work under Elastix. Why? (I am logged in as root when I try this, in case anyone is wondering).

I know it's possible to install it manually but I'm always afraid of messing something up, and besides, when you install it using yum then you can use yum to keep it updated.

can you attach the error to read it here?

rafael wrote:
can you attach the error to read it here?

[root@phoneserver ~]# yum install fail2ban
Loading "fastestmirror" plugin
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* base: pubmirrors.reflected.net
* updates: mirror.anl.gov
* addons: centos.mirrors.tds.net
* elastix: repo.elastix.org
* extras: holmes.umflint.edu
base 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
updates 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00
addons 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00
elastix 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
extras 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
Excluding Packages from CentOS-5 - Base
Finished
Excluding Packages from CentOS-5 - Updates
Finished
Excluding Packages from CentOS-5 - Addons
Finished
Excluding Packages from Elastix RPM Repository for CentOS
Finished
Excluding Packages from CentOS-5 - Extras
Finished
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
No package fail2ban available.
Nothing to do
[root@phoneserver ~]#

I finally decided to install it without using yum, just don't like doing that because it won't update when I update everything else.

I believe fail2ban are not included on the default centOS distribution and you should enable dag repositories to install it via yum. To enable dag repositories first install this rpm:

rpm -Uvh dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/rpmforge-rel....6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm

That would install a file inside /etc/yum.repos.d/ that would configure yum to enable dags repos. Then you can install or update fail2ban with yum.

Hope this helps.

regards,

Rafael

Thanks, Rafael. As I said I had already installed it, but this is good to know for future reference.

I might suggest that fail2ban would be another of those packages that would be good to have in a default Elastix installation, particularly if it came pre-configured (or had a small configuration utility or script) to impede brute force attacks via SIP and IAX. The main thing would be to make sure it never accidentally bans anyone on the local subnet (or at least not the system administrator!), and it would also be nice to be able to remove a ban via the GUI (in case you are at a remote location and accidentally plug in a device with a misconfigured user ID or password), as well as do other basic configuration.

Anyway, I think at some point we are all going to have to be a bit more security conscious because there are bad people out there, and fail2ban is one relatively easy way to at least slow them down to the point where it might take them more than one lifetime to crack your system!

rafael wrote:
To enable dag repositories first install this rpm:

rpm -Uvh dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/rpmforge-rel....6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm

That would install a file inside /etc/yum.repos.d/ that would configure yum to enable dags repos. Then you can install or update fail2ban with yum.


Rafael[/quote]

did not work for me, I had to use the following instead:

rpm -Uhv apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/i386/rpmforge/RP....6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm

I think adding repositories is a scarry thing to do as it could update a lot of things you may not want to do. Be sure that the repository is disabled by default. Then if you want to use it do yum --enablerepo=some_repo install blabla. This will keep yum from using all the repos and maybe updating things that could break stuff. Be careful out there.

Don