FAQ

What can I do in case I have locked myself out?

In case you have locked yourself out of your own installation, you have two alternatives to get back into your Joomla installation:

• If you have access to the database behind Joomla (e.g. via phpmyadmin), then you have several options: To specifically remove the block on your IP address:

  • Either go to the table #__bfstop_bannedip (where #_ must be replaced by your database prefix); there, delete the entry with your IP address.
  • Or go to the table #__bfstop_whitelist and add an entry for your IP there (an entry in the whitelist will override any active block)

  To disable bfstop altogether:

  • Navigate to the table #__extensions (where #__ again needs to be adapted to your database prefix). Locate the entry with name='plg_system_bfstop' and set 'enabled' for this entry to 0.

• Alternatively, if you have FTP access to the server running Joomla!, you can also move the file "bfstop.php" in the folder "plugins/system/bfstop/bfstop.php" to another location, e.g. to "plugins/system/bfstop/bfstop.php.bak". Note that this will disable the whole plugin, though! You can then go to the backend, go to the list of blocked IP addresses (Components -> Brute Force Stop Administration), and unblock yours. Then it's safe to move the bfstop.php file back to its old location.

What can I do if something doesn't work as expected?

It is always worth to take a look at your webserver and php logfile first; if there's nothing there, enable logging on plugin side (see How do I turn on logging? ); repeat the process which leads to the unexpected behavior, and see if something meaningful turns up in the logfile; possibly you can then already resolve the problem yourself. If you find that something is wrong which you don't think you can do anything about, and which is an error in bfstop, then create an issue here: https://github.com/codeling/bfstop/issues.

How do I turn on logging?

• Go to the bfstop configuration (Extensions -> Plugins -> "System - Brute Force Stop")
• In newer versions (starting with 0.9.11):
• Under "Advanced settings", set "Logging" to "Detailed information"
• In versions prior to 0.9.11:
• Under "Advanced settings", set "Logging" to "enabled".

The log file is named "plg_system_bfstop.log.php", and resides in the configured Joomla! log directory. Note that the file only exists if there already were some log entries.

How do I find out what has changed in a new version?

Check the Changelog: https://github.com/codeling/bfstop/blob/master/CHANGELOG

What can I do if I don't get any notifications / email sending fails?

BFStop uses the Joomla! mail configuration. So, first make sure you have configured it correctly. To do so, in your backend, go to "Global Configuration->Server", and verify that everything there is set up correctly, e.g. that your mail server details are entered. See the Joomla Documentation for details on that. Second, make sure you have configured a recipient for the notifications (currently configured in the plugin configuration). Make sure that at least one of the following applies:

• You have entered a valid email address in the respective input field
• You have selected a user
• You have selected user group with at least one member

When that is done, you can test the notification in the "Brute Force Stop Administration" Component under "Settings". On the upper right there is a button to test the current notification settings. It will report any issues it encounters during sending in the messages box. If something after the immediate sending goes wrong, you might have to check your inbox for return messages. Also make sure to check the logs.

Is there a BFStop version for Joomla! 1.5?

Short answer: No there isn't. Long answer: bfstop development started when Joomla 2.5 was the lowest supported version. There were extensive API changes between 1.5 and 2.5, so there would probably be many changes required to get it running on 1.5 (though I haven't tried, as I have no 1.5 installation anymore). Since the official support for Joomla 1.5 has stopped as of 2012 as far as I know, there are no plans on my side to backport it to older versions than 2.5. Due to possible security issues not being adressed in such old versions, I highly recommend to update to a more recent and still supported version of Joomla! In case you are bound to 1.5 for some reasons, feel free to use the existing code to create a fork for Joomla! 1.5.