Cybersecurity

Sigh...

I use denyhosts for security. Been great for months, but today my butterfingers have managed to lock myself out of the server.

The denyhosts FAQ lists ways to edit the files to erase your IP, but...I'm locked out, so how can I edit the files?

dheian,
At the boot prompt use the single-user-mode that is for recovery
Mount the partitions rw and edit the file /etc/hosts.deny
It would work
Otherwise at the grub menu(hope you are using grub)
edit the vmlinuz entry
and change s/ro/rw and append init=/bin/bash
apparently you would get a shell, mount the filesystem containing (aka / on whichever /dev/sd[x]
and edit the file /etc/hosts.deny.
it would work fine.
regards.

Thanks for the fast reply...

Unfortunately, this is a web server and the only way I can access it is via SSH, which of course has locked me out.

Sadly the instructions in the denyhosts FAQ are like saying, "If you've lost your house key, enter your home and find your spare, then unlock the door."

dheian.
all right so you need the master key for that.. hmmm.
what about the file /etc/hosts.allow. I am sure its empty as its a webserver and you want clients from all ends.
so log into through a different host. su to root .and edit the /etc/host.deny
Do reply
Regards.

After pulling my hair out tonight, I realized that I can just head to a coffee shop tomorrow and SSH in from there to do the file edits. Still, the wait's killing me.

Excellent. That's the way to do it ......