Do you use Webmin to configure iptables and also run fail2ban? Don’t forget to do this!

April 30, 2011 at 1:52 pm · Filed under Linux, software, Trixbox ·Tagged Firewalls, Iptables, Linux, Security, Webmin

For many Linux users this will be a “Thank you, Captain Obvious” type of post, but it’s one of those things that some Webmin users might not realize.  If you use Webmin’s “Linux Firewall” configuration page to configure the iptables firewall in Linux, and you click “Apply Configuration”, it will remove fail2ban‘s rules from your active iptables configuration.  So, you must go to a Linux command prompt and enter service fail2ban restart — UNLESS you make a small change in the Webmin “Linux Firewall” configuration.

From the Webmin “Linux Firewall” main page, click Module Config, then on the configuration page, in the “Configurable options” section, look for the line “Command to run after applying configuration.” Click the button next to the text box on that line, and in the text box enter service fail2ban restart and then click the Save button at the bottom of the page. That’s all you need — now every time you make a firewall change and click “Apply Configuration”, it will automatically restart fail2ban for you.

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