HOWTO Seek Help

There are 3 channels to find help/support for Fail2Ban. Depending on the level/urgency you might like to use:

• IRC: #fail2ban channel on Freenode network
• Mailing list: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fail2ban-users
• Issues tracker: https://github.com/fail2ban/fail2ban/issues

Recommended steps to troubleshoot problems

1. Verify that issue you are experiencing is not already reported on the issue tracker
   1. if known - on the corresponding issue page you might find existing workarounds, or a pull-request to try, or submit a new comment or even a pull request to address the problem
2. Collect information needed to be shared for effective troubleshooting
   1. Fail2Ban version
      1. if your fail2ban is outdated:
         1. try testing a new release -- the issue might have already being fixed in development
         2. if you can't test for some reason -- read the ChangeLog if no similar issues have been fixed in recent releases
   2. Your OS (with its release version) and either you are using stock fail2ban or the one provided by the distribution through a package manager
   3. Your configuration (/etc/fail2ban), in particular any customizations you have done
   4. Relevant parts of /var/log/fail2ban.log file, preferably obtained while running fail2ban with loglevel = 4 (set it in [Definition] section of /etc/fail2ban/fail2ban.conf or /etc/fail2ban/fail2ban.local). Send lengthy (or with long lines) as attachment (see next one)
   5. Relevant log lines -- as attachment, to avoid line-wrapping forbidding easy/reliable testing
3. If you encountered a bug -- submit a new issue to Issue tracker and provide collected above information
4. If you just need help with your setup -- report to IRC or the mailing list, once again with the above information

Without providing adequate details you are unlikely to be helped, since noone has a mind reading machine, although some Fail2ban authors are working on it ;-)