Ban by Hostname [Deleted]

[Snog]

Snog submitted a new resource:

Ban by Hostname - Ban hostnames from registering on your site

This add-on will block HOSTNAMES from registering on your site.

While this isn't the preferred way to block registration, it has it's uses and is effective.

Registrations are blocked in the following order..

1) If the IP Address is the same as the HOSTNAME (must enable option to activate)

Example: If the IP Adress is 111.111.111.111 and the hostname is 111.111.111.111 the user will not be able to register.
​

2) If the HOSTNAME supplied by the IP Address is in the list...

Read more about this resource...

 

[silence]

Since XF uses an external IP lookup system, why not do the same and integrate using http://domainapi.com/ or an equivalent service?

 

[Snog]

Since XF uses an external IP lookup system, why not do the same and integrate using http://domainapi.com/ or an equivalent service?

For the most part, that is what this does when you have Whois enabled.

 

[silence]

For the most part, that is what this does when you have Whois enabled.

Yeah but it's less files lol.

 

[Snog]

Yeah but it's less files lol.

Yeah, but my way is free.

I don't mind suggestions, and I've looked at domainapi.

I can find no place to register for the username and password that are required to access the API. I can find links to different departments, including a 'sales' department. That leads me to believe there is a charge for using the API.

I could be wrong, but gaining access appears to be hidden or has a cost. There aren't even instructions on how to get a username/password from them anywhere on the site.

 

[silence]

Yeah, but my way is free.

I don't mind suggestions, and I've looked at domainapi.

I can find no place to register for the username and password that are required to access the API. I can find links to different departments, including a 'sales' department. That leads me to believe there is a charge for using the API.

I could be wrong, but gaining access appears to be hidden or has a cost. There aren't even instructions on how to get a username/password from them anywhere on the site.

Oh I thought it was free. My bad!

 

[Snog]

Oh I thought it was free. My bad!

LOL, it may very well be free. But they certainly don't make it easy to register. Either that or I'm blind.

 

[Snog]

I just realized something that might be a problem for some people.

DO NOT put a space between the comma and the hostname/word you want to ban.

I'll release an update that strips any stray spaces once it's been out there a while and people have had a chance to use it.

 

[Rho Delta]

Can you add domain extensions as an option? Like all .RU email addresses? All of my users are American, so anyone with a foreign email is most likely a spammer or spambot.

 

[Snog]

Can you add domain extensions as an option? Like all .RU email addresses? All of my users are American, so anyone with a foreign email is most likely a spammer or spambot.

This doesn't ban by email address, it bans by hostname. There's a difference between those two. If a hostname is banned, they won't even get to the registration page to enter an email address.

If the .ru is in the hostname you can already do that. Put .ru in the list. But that could also ban a host that's named 'red.ruby.com'. Unlikely, but still possible.

 

[Snog]

Snog updated Ban by Hostname with a new update entry:

Update 1.0.1

This update fixes the following issues found in version 1.0.0:

• Spaces in hostname list causes system to not see hostname.
• Error in lacnic.php file.
• 'Unknown' error for some IP Addresses.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Adam Howard]

I have a lot hosting bots such as softlayer.com that seem to browse up and down the site.

For example

5.10.83.51-static.reverse.softlayer.com

So I added softlayer to just block anything with that in there. Seems to have no affect.

 

[Snog]

I have a lot hosting bots such as softlayer.com that seem to browse up and down the site.

For example

5.10.83.51-static.reverse.softlayer.com

So I added softlayer to just block anything with that in there. Seems to have no affect.

They can browse, the mod stops them from registering.

 

[Adam Howard]

They can browse, the mod stops them from registering.

This really should be extended with the option to ban by hostname (as the title suggest)

 

[Snog]

This really should be extended with the option to ban by hostname (as the title suggest)

Actually I ran nearly a year long test doing what you suggest on my vB site using the vB version of this mod, and just recently killed that option.

Everything was running as expected until I checked some pages on Google. Evidently Google uses other server hosts to spider pages. I had several pages showing the message 'The system you are using is not allowed to view this site' in Google. When I saw that, I immediately killed the option since I had no idea which host Google was using.

Beside that, checking every IP that visits your site becomes very server intensive and could eat up precious server resources. Without a fairly powerful dedicated server, that could be a major issue.

 

[Snog]

Snog updated Ban by Hostname with a new update entry:

Ban by Hostname 1.0.2

Due to many errors with the GNU phpwhois code, this update replaces the phpwhois code for a more reliable method of checking IP addresses.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Tom_]

Still working? Any updates?

 

[Snog]

Still working. No updates.

 

[adwade]

Quick newbie question: Why is localhost one of the default banned host names?

 

[Xon]

Quick newbie question: Why is localhost one of the default banned host names?

There are a number of dodgy ISPs who set the reverse DNS of IPs they control to be 'localhost'.