FAIL2BAN-SERVER(1)

📦
version 1.1.1 · 5 versions
, in arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

💅 fail2ban-server — the manual, but make it make sense

okay so bestie, welcome to the fail2ban-server(1) page 💖 this is a User Commands manual, and it's about the actual server part of fail2ban — the little backend gremlin that does the banning while fail2ban-client gets all the credit. iykyk.

✨ NAME ✨

fail2ban-server — start the server 👑

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

fail2ban-server [OPTIONS]

that's it. that's the whole vibe. server, options, go. 🦋

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so Fail2Ban v1.1.1 reads log files that contain password failure reports (yes, the "oops i tried 400 passwords" kind 📖) and bans the corresponding IP addresses using firewall rules. it's giving bouncer-at-the-club energy. no cap. 🔥

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -c, --conf DIR — configuration directory. this is where your config lives, point it there 🗂️
  • -s, --socket FILE — socket path. the server's little hangout spot 🔌
  • -p, --pidfile FILE — pidfile path. where the process ID gets written down so everyone can find it 📝
  • --pname NAME — name of the process (main thread) to identify instance. the default is fail2ban-server, so if you don't set it, congrats, it's the default 🏷️
  • --loglevel LEVEL — logging level. how chatty do we want this thing 🗣️
  • --logtarget TARGET — logging target, use file-name or stdout, stderr, syslog or sysout. pick your output bestie 🎯
  • --syslogsocket auto|FILE — the syslog socket, either auto or a file path. literally just those two shapes 🫶
  • -d — dump configuration. For debugging. messy but useful 🐛
  • --dp, --dump-pretty — dump the configuration using more human readable representation. for when raw dumps are giving chaos 🌈
  • -t, --test — test configuration (can be also specified with start parameters). vibe check your config before you commit, always 🧪
  • -i — interactive mode. come talk to it 💬
  • -v — increase verbosity. more words, more lore 📢
  • -q — decrease verbosity. shhh, minimal noise 🤫
  • -x — force execution of the server (remove socket file). the "move, i'm here now" option 💀
  • -b — start server in background (default). it's the default, so it's already doing this 🧍‍♀️
  • -f — start server in foreground. main character energy, stays right in front of you 👀
  • --async — start server in async mode (for internal usage only, don't read configuration). ⚠️ internal only, and it does not read configuration, so don't come for me if you use it and things get weird
  • --timeout — timeout to wait for the server (for internal usage only, don't read configuration). same deal: internal only, and no config reading. flagged 🚩
  • --str2sec STRING — convert time abbreviation format to seconds. e.g. turn your cute little time shorthand into a raw number ⏱️
  • -h, --help — display this help message. the classic 911 for lost girlies 🙋‍♀️
  • -V, --version — print the version (-V returns machine-readable short format). short and machine-readable, so robots can read it too 🤖
💜 quick reminder bestie: the two "for internal usage only" flags are genuinely not for casual reading — they don't read configuration. respect the label, periodt.

💀 REPORTING BUGS 💀

found a bug? Report bugs to https://github.com/fail2ban/fail2ban/issues — and be nice about it 🫶

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

and that's the whole page, queen 👑 — this was Fail2Ban v1.1.1, dated August 2026, from the FAIL2BAN-SERVER(1) manual, User Commands section. go ban some IPs responsibly, ily, bye! 🎀✨💖

📦 where this page comes from