Reset/Unblock/Unban ssh IP ban by denyhosts (openSuse 13.1)

March 2016

• Too many bad ssh login attempts got me banned by hostdeny deamon/service.
• I can still access your computer from console or different IP as a backup.

• This information is based on openSuse 13.1 although it may be generally applicable to other distributions or versions.
• denyhosts 2.6-7.1 installed from OBS network:utilities repository which can be added from
  http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/network:/utilities/openSUSE_13.1
• Configuration for denyhost lives in: /etc/denyhosts.conf
  log file is located in location: DAEMON_LOG = /var/log/denyhosts
  banned host database location: WORK_DIR = /var/lib/denyhosts
• Init daemon in 13.1 is Systemd. If you use init please use /etc/init.d/denyhosts to start/stop the service.

1. Login to your computer either from the console or different IP address.
2. Check the log file (as per DAEMON_LOG) for your host being denied:
   grep 'new denied hosts' /var/log/denyhosts | less
   Search for the date and time or IP to verify that you are actually banned.
3. Stop denyhosts service and verify that it is stopped:
   systemctl status denyhosts.service
systemctl stop denyhosts.service
systemctl status denyhosts.service

4. Remove your banned host (as per WORK_DIR) from /var/lib/denyhosts/hosts
   Make sure to remove your host by IP and also by name. The name and IP should be following lines.
5. Remove your banned host from /etc/hosts.deny
   Make sure to remove your host by IP and also by name, including preceding comment lines. The name and IP should be following lines.
6. Try to login from previously banned IP. It should now work.
7. Start denyhosts service:
   systemctl stop denyhosts.service
systemctl status denyhosts.service

8. Try to login from previously banned IP. It should now work.

• DenyHosts: Remove / Delete an IP address