Miscellaneous Hacks - Ban Spiders by User Agent

What this mod does
With this mod you can enter User Agents to watch or ban, you can also recieve emails or have an Output.txt created and updated with time and date of visits. It doesn't just have to be spiders, you can watch, log or ban any useragent!

How to install
Simply import the product ban_spider, the mod is active by default but none of the other options are turned on.

What is a UserAgent?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent

Understanding a UserAgent string
http://user-agent-string.info/parse

Genuine User Getting Blocked?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=105

Tools to help
http://whatsmyuseragent.com/SwitchingUserAgents.asp
http://www.botsvsbrowsers.com/SimulateUserAgent.asp

FAQ
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=137

What's a bot?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spambot

How do i ban a bot?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=318
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....7&postcount=51

Where's output.txt located?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=216

Bad bot lists
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=259
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=224
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=281

VB4.x Version of Ban Spiders By User Agent

Tested on vb3.7.x, vB3.8.x but should work on any version.

__________________________________________________ __________________
Special thanks to:
Lior
KH99
BoP5
for helping me sort out a few issues

...and beta testers
ForceHSS (Special thanks to Force for latest testing)
ozzy47
GreyHost

If you use this please mark as INSTALLED

History
9th June 2011 Orginal xml added
12th June 2011 Added both email notification and text file logging
22nd June 2011 Version 2.0.0, Added create thread on activity

1. Added match facility you can now use something like Yandex and it will match MOZILLA/5.0 (COMPATIBLE; YANDEXBOT/3.0; +HTTP://YANDEX.COM/BOTS)
2. Added clickable link to visited thread

22nd September 2011 added user redirect url selection
08th October Beta testing started for thread creation.
20th October Beta testing started for emailing.
21st October Beta testing complete Ver 3.0.0 uploaded
29th October minor fix added to cope with empty userid on thread creation
30th October Beta testing automatic redirection to spiders/bots IP
31st October New xml uploaded with automatic redirect to IP
25th November Minor fix for blank forumid fixed
26th November 2011 Fixed version check & create thread Off by default
17th December 2014 Version 3.1.0 uploaded, Extra logging and statistics added by Ozzy47 (Chris)
18th December 2014 Version 3.1.2 uploaded, due to rogue process from other mod
18th December 2014 Version 3.1.3 uploaded, due to previous one being VB4 mistakingly uploaded

The Bad Bots list is now included in the product
Please prune out all those that you wish to be able to see your site (i suggest you definately prune out "DA" and "Custo" :

Support will now only be given to those who have this mod marked as INSTALLED

[Midohash]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

Midohash, i'll pm you later with some other way of helping against this.

Thanks a lot Simon, I have received your PM and sent a reply

[Simon Lloyd]

I'm looking for feedback guys!
Would it be beneficial to automatically ban bots that exceed x number of bots at any one time?

So, the likes of Baiduspider send around 200 at any one time, so if i entered say 150 (in place of x) in a settings box then they would automatically get added to the ban list, let me know your views as i'm not going to work on something nobody feels is needed

[Midohash]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

I'm looking for feedback guys!
Would it be beneficial to automatically ban bots that exceed x number of bots at any one time?

So, the likes of Baiduspider send around 200 at any one time, so if i entered say 150 (in place of x) in a settings box then they would automatically get added to the ban list, let me know your views as i'm not going to work on something nobody feels is needed

Your mod is highly needed Simon and has helped me significantly when I was on shared hosting in reducing the server load and saving bandwidth when bad bots used to hit heavily and unnecessarily my site :up:

However I have two queries here:

1- How the mod would differentiate between good bots like Google for instance and bad bots if they send higher than the threshold you have already set?

2- What is the difference between banning bad bots through this mod and that through the .htaccess?

Thank you

Mido

[Simon Lloyd]

Ok, firstly i'd incorporate a safe bot list where you can add bots that you dont want to be banned. The difference with this and .htaccess is, with .htaccess the bots don't even get to call any page on your site but having a lot in your .htaccess list can cause your server to load and slow down, this mod allows the call of a page...etc but as soon as they do it never completes for them as they are then redirected straight away and as you've experienced they quickly drop off and so does your server load and you save tons of bandwidth.

[Midohash]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

Ok, firstly i'd incorporate a safe bot list where you can add bots that you dont want to be banned. The difference with this and .htaccess is, with .htaccess the bots don't even get to call any page on your site but having a lot in your .htaccess list can cause your server to load and slow down, this mod allows the call of a page...etc but as soon as they do it never completes for them as they are then redirected straight away and as you've experienced they quickly drop off and so does your server load and you save tons of bandwidth.

Good idea :up: ... I didn't know that blocking bad bots through .htaccess could increase the server load ... I thought the reverse! ... Thanks for the explanation ... When do you expect the new modifications in your mod to take place?

[Simon Lloyd]

Well im waiting on more votes from people saying that they'd think it was a good idea and use it so give it a week or two.

[Midohash]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

Well im waiting on more votes from people saying that they'd think it was a good idea and use it so give it a week or two.

OK I'll wait for the new modifications ... Just a quick question ... Can I use this phrase to ban the bad bot in your mod?

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Bot\ mailto:craftbot@yahoo.com [OR]

Or I have to change it to craftbot alone?

Thank you

[Simon Lloyd]

You need to understand how the mod works, take a look here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=381 should explain it for you.

[Midohash]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

You need to understand how the mod works, take a look here https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=381 should explain it for you.

Thanks, I got the point meaning!

[hotshot]

Isn't this supposed to reduce the number of Bot registations too? I have this mod installed and I still get hundreds of bot registrations that are blocked by vbStopForumSpam.