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

How does it work?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....&postcount=381

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

Tested on vb3.7.x, vB3.8.x , vB4.x.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, Hook changed extra logging and statistics added by Ozzy47 (Chris)
18th December 2014 Version 3.1.1 uploaded, prevented spiders being counted when mod turned off.
17th December 2014 Version 3.1.2 uploaded, due to rogue code from another mod
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

[ozzy47]

Yeah I would try and stay away from ip blocking totally.

Ha Ha Ha, I have been testing this out for the past 10hrs or so Simon, to early to tell yet, but so far looking good.

[princesspepper]

Installed on VB4.2.2 PL2.

One question that I can't seem to find in the first few posts of this thread that usually explain stuff.... Why would you choose to redirect the bot back to itself? What function does this have over redirecting to a url?

[ozzy47]

It really makes no difference where you send them, it is just user choice.

[Simon Lloyd]

Originally Posted by princesspepper

Installed on VB4.2.2 PL2.

One question that I can't seem to find in the first few posts of this thread that usually explain stuff.... Why would you choose to redirect the bot back to itself? What function does this have over redirecting to a url?

For me it was giving them a taste of their own medicine, they drain our resources so we send them back to drain theirs

[ozzy47]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

The hook is style_fetch, you can try changing the hook for one of the others that loads before all the others but you may not see the result your looking for, doesn't hurt to try

Originally Posted by ozzy47

Ha Ha Ha, I have been testing this out for the past 10hrs or so Simon, to early to tell yet, but so far looking good.

Well so far it seems to be going as planned, I will wait another 24 - 48 hrs, and if it is working, I'll let you know exactly what i did. Which hook I used, and what additional plugin I added.

[Gadget_Guy]

Whoot!

Looking forward to your findings Ozzy!

D.

[CAG CheechDogg]

Originally Posted by Simon Lloyd

banning by .htaccess is fine if you only have a few things in it because it is read with every single server request, so if you have 10 blocks in your .htaccess and lets say you have a web page with 30 elements (icons, css, containers, includes.....etc) then each one of those that tries to access that page has 30 checks made just to load that page.

Now consider your own landing page and check how many things load to make that page up and you'll soon see why having a lot of bans in your .htaccess can be detrimental particularly if you are on shared hosting or limited vps.

@Gadget_Guy & Max Taxable
The hook is style_fetch, you can try changing the hook for one of the others that loads before all the others but you may not see the result your looking for, doesn't hurt to try

I have had the ip blocks in my htaccess for over 5 years my Man and I haven't ran into any problems in those 5 years ..

If an IP is blocked on your server it's not allowing the page or any page to load, so I am a bit confussed about "so if you have 10 blocks in your .htaccess and lets say you have a web page with 30 elements (icons, css, containers, includes.....etc) then each one of those that tries to access that page has 30 checks made just to load that page."


As a matter of fact, when I didn't have these IP blocks in my htaccess file I was constantly getting emails from my host that my site was being suspended ... by blocking these IPs I am keeping them from even accessing anything on my website or forums ...thus the usage of resources went down ...

[Max Taxable]

Originally Posted by princesspepper

Installed on VB4.2.2 PL2.

One question that I can't seem to find in the first few posts of this thread that usually explain stuff.... Why would you choose to redirect the bot back to itself? What function does this have over redirecting to a url?

Just don't redirect to any of your own pages - feedback loop danger.

EDIT TO ADD: I was right about the hook conflict with some other mod(s) Ozzy?

[ozzy47]

I would not say a conflict, but perhaps a better hook to execute the mod. That is if the testing continues to provide the desired results.

[Simon Lloyd]

Originally Posted by CAG CheechDogg

I have had the ip blocks in my htaccess for over 5 years my Man and I haven't ran into any problems in those 5 years ..

If an IP is blocked on your server it's not allowing the page or any page to load, so I am a bit confussed about "so if you have 10 blocks in your .htaccess and lets say you have a web page with 30 elements (icons, css, containers, includes.....etc) then each one of those that tries to access that page has 30 checks made just to load that page."


As a matter of fact, when I didn't have these IP blocks in my htaccess file I was constantly getting emails from my host that my site was being suspended ... by blocking these IPs I am keeping them from even accessing anything on my website or forums ...thus the usage of resources went down ...

I agree in part, when you didnt have the block they were calling on every resource...php, mysql, cpu and ram, with the block they pretty much are just using ram as cpu and php time and response is minmal and as you are not loading anything else the ram isn't being maxed either. If you have whole country blocks that doesn't take as much checking as full octet ips like 192.161.0.1, if you have plenty of those then they are checked against each request, if you are blocking just 192.161 then its just one check against each request.

Im probably not explaining myself too well (it reads much better in my head ).