Creating readme to explain contents of this git

README.md

@@ -1,2 +1,71 @@
-# fail2ban-basic
+# Fail2Ban: Basic set up for an exposed system
+
+## Overview
+
+This is a basic set up for Fail2Ban on an system that is directly exposed to the
+internet (i.e. not behind a separate firewall).  In addition to the standard
+SSHd jail, a separate jail that monitors UFW BLOCK reports (i.e. connection
+attempts to closed ports, etc.) is activated.  This should aid in blocking
+'scriptkiddies' and port-scanning attacks, reducing the resources your server
+has to allocate to processing bogus requests.  F2B will automatically create UFW
+rules to drop connections from systems that try to make repeated invalid
+connection attempts and then remove the block automatically after the 'bantime'
+has expired.
+
+## Installing an up-to-date Fail2Ban version
+
+The F2B version available via apt for Debian/Ubuntu is old and does *not*
+support IP6 (as at the time of this document being written).  So let's grab a
+newer version from the source at github.
+
+*Note: Only versions 0.10+ offer IP6 support.*
+
+- Switch to your home directory or somewhere you can work with downloaded files.
+- Get the latest version of Fail2Ban, switch to the created directory and
+  install it using the python installer script.
+
+  ```Bash
+  # get latest fail2ban version
+  git clone https://github.com/fail2ban/fail2ban.git
+  # change to the newly created directory containing f2b
+  cd fail2ban
+  # run the installer
+  sudo python setup.py install
+  ```
+
+- Let's test the installation by running fail2ban-client.  If it displays the
+  help screen, then things are probably set up properly.
+
+  ```Bash
+  fail2ban-client -h
+  ```
+
+- Now, let's configure systemd to load fail2ban automatically on system start-up.
+
+  ```Bash
+  # copy the service file to the correct location
+  sudo cp files/debian-initd /etc/init.d/fail2ban
+  # tell systemd to refresh itself to recognize the new service
+  sudo update-rc.d fail2ban defaults
+  ```
+
+- Let's go ahead and start the service to make sure it doesn't run into any
+  problems.  You shouldn't see any errors reported and should have a pleasant
+  'green dot' showing up.
+
+  ```Bash
+  # start the service
+  sudo systemctl start fail2ban.service
+  # check it's status for any errors
+  sudo systemctl status fail2ban.service
+  ```
+
+- One more test just to be sure everything is set up.  You should see f2b report
+  it's version without any errors being generated.
+
+  ```Bash
+  fail2ban-client version
+  ```
+
+## Customizing your set up