Admiral Patrick

I’m surprisingly level-headed for being a walking knot of anxiety.

Ask me anything.

Special skills include: Knowing all the “na na na nah nah nah na” parts of the Three’s Company theme.

I also develop Tesseract UI for Lemmy/Sublinks

Avatar by @SatyrSack@feddit.org

  • 39 Posts
  • 179 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 6th, 2023

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  • So, I set this up recently and agree with all of your points about the actual integration being glossed over.

    I already had bot detection setup in my Nginx config, so adding Nepenthes was just changing the behavior of that. Previously, I had just returned either 404 or 444 to those requests but now it redirects them to Nepenthes.

    Rather than trying to do rewrites and pretend the Nepenthes content is under my app’s URL namespace, I just do a redirect which the bot crawlers tend to follow just fine.

    There’s several parts to this to keep my config sane. Each of those are in include files.

    • An include file that looks at the user agent, compares it to a list of bot UA regexes, and sets a variable to either 0 or 1. By itself, that include file doesn’t do anything more than set that variable. This allows me to have it as a global config without having it apply to every virtual host.

    • An include file that performs the action if a variable is set to true. This has to be included in the server portion of each virtual host where I want the bot traffic to go to Nepenthes. If this isn’t included in a virtual host’s server block, then bot traffic is allowed.

    • A virtual host where the Nepenthes content is presented. I run a subdomain (content.mydomain.xyz). You could also do this as a path off of your protected domain, but this works for me and keeps my already complex config from getting any worse. Plus, it was easier to integrate into my existing bot config. Had I not already had that, I would have run it off of a path (and may go back and do that when I have time to mess with it again).

    The map-bot-user-agents.conf is included in the http section of Nginx and applies to all virtual hosts. You can either include this in the main nginx.conf or at the top (above the server section) in your individual virtual host config file(s).

    The deny-disallowed.conf is included individually in each virtual hosts’s server section. Even though the bot detection is global, if the virtual host’s server section does not include the action file, then nothing is done.

    Files

    map-bot-user-agents.conf

    Note that I’m treating Google’s crawler the same as an AI bot because…well, it is. They’re abusing their search position by double-dipping on the crawler so you can’t opt out of being crawled for AI training without also preventing it from crawling you for search engine indexing. Depending on your needs, you may need to comment that out. I’ve also commented out the Python requests user agent. And forgive the mess at the bottom of the file. I inherited the seed list of user agents and haven’t cleaned up that massive regex one-liner.

    # Map bot user agents
    ## Sets the $ua_disallowed variable to 0 or 1 depending on the user agent. Non-bot UAs are 0, bots are 1
    
    map $http_user_agent $ua_disallowed {
        default 		0;
        "~PerplexityBot"	1;
        "~PetalBot"		1;
        "~applebot"		1;
        "~compatible; zot"	1;
        "~Meta"		1;
        "~SurdotlyBot"	1;
        "~zgrab"		1;
        "~OAI-SearchBot"	1;
        "~Protopage"	1;
        "~Google-Test"	1;
        "~BacklinksExtendedBot" 1;
        "~microsoft-for-startups" 1;
        "~CCBot"		1;
        "~ClaudeBot"	1;
        "~VelenPublicWebCrawler"	1;
        "~WellKnownBot"	1;
        #"~python-requests"	1;
        "~bitdiscovery"	1;
        "~bingbot"		1;
        "~SemrushBot" 	1;
        "~Bytespider" 	1;
        "~AhrefsBot" 	1;
        "~AwarioBot"	1;
    #    "~Poduptime" 	1;
        "~GPTBot" 		1;
        "~DotBot"	 	1;
        "~ImagesiftBot"	1;
        "~Amazonbot"	1;
        "~GuzzleHttp" 	1;
        "~DataForSeoBot" 	1;
        "~StractBot"	1;
        "~Googlebot"	1;
        "~Barkrowler"	1;
        "~SeznamBot"	1;
        "~FriendlyCrawler"	1;
        "~facebookexternalhit" 1;
        "~*(?i)(80legs|360Spider|Aboundex|Abonti|Acunetix|^AIBOT|^Alexibot|Alligator|AllSubmitter|Apexoo|^asterias|^attach|^BackDoorBot|^BackStreet|^BackWeb|Badass|Bandit|Baid|Baiduspider|^BatchFTP|^Bigfoot|^Black.Hole|^BlackWidow|BlackWidow|^BlowFish|Blow|^BotALot|Buddy|^BuiltBotTough|
    ^Bullseye|^BunnySlippers|BBBike|^Cegbfeieh|^CheeseBot|^CherryPicker|^ChinaClaw|^Cogentbot|CPython|Collector|cognitiveseo|Copier|^CopyRightCheck|^cosmos|^Crescent|CSHttp|^Custo|^Demon|^Devil|^DISCo|^DIIbot|discobot|^DittoSpyder|Download.Demon|Download.Devil|Download.Wonder|^dragonfl
    y|^Drip|^eCatch|^EasyDL|^ebingbong|^EirGrabber|^EmailCollector|^EmailSiphon|^EmailWolf|^EroCrawler|^Exabot|^Express|Extractor|^EyeNetIE|FHscan|^FHscan|^flunky|^Foobot|^FrontPage|GalaxyBot|^gotit|Grabber|^GrabNet|^Grafula|^Harvest|^HEADMasterSEO|^hloader|^HMView|^HTTrack|httrack|HTT
    rack|htmlparser|^humanlinks|^IlseBot|Image.Stripper|Image.Sucker|imagefetch|^InfoNaviRobot|^InfoTekies|^Intelliseek|^InterGET|^Iria|^Jakarta|^JennyBot|^JetCar|JikeSpider|^JOC|^JustView|^Jyxobot|^Kenjin.Spider|^Keyword.Density|libwww|^larbin|LeechFTP|LeechGet|^LexiBot|^lftp|^libWeb|
    ^likse|^LinkextractorPro|^LinkScan|^LNSpiderguy|^LinkWalker|msnbot|MSIECrawler|MJ12bot|MegaIndex|^Magnet|^Mag-Net|^MarkWatch|Mass.Downloader|masscan|^Mata.Hari|^Memo|^MIIxpc|^NAMEPROTECT|^Navroad|^NearSite|^NetAnts|^Netcraft|^NetMechanic|^NetSpider|^NetZIP|^NextGenSearchBot|^NICErs
    PRO|^niki-bot|^NimbleCrawler|^Nimbostratus-Bot|^Ninja|^Nmap|nmap|^NPbot|Offline.Explorer|Offline.Navigator|OpenLinkProfiler|^Octopus|^Openfind|^OutfoxBot|Pixray|probethenet|proximic|^PageGrabber|^pavuk|^pcBrowser|^Pockey|^ProPowerBot|^ProWebWalker|^psbot|^Pump|python-requests\/|^Qu
    eryN.Metasearch|^RealDownload|Reaper|^Reaper|^Ripper|Ripper|Recorder|^ReGet|^RepoMonkey|^RMA|scanbot|SEOkicks-Robot|seoscanners|^Stripper|^Sucker|Siphon|Siteimprove|^SiteSnagger|SiteSucker|^SlySearch|^SmartDownload|^Snake|^Snapbot|^Snoopy|Sosospider|^sogou|spbot|^SpaceBison|^spanne
    r|^SpankBot|Spinn4r|^Sqworm|Sqworm|Stripper|Sucker|^SuperBot|SuperHTTP|^SuperHTTP|^Surfbot|^suzuran|^Szukacz|^tAkeOut|^Teleport|^Telesoft|^TurnitinBot|^The.Intraformant|^TheNomad|^TightTwatBot|^Titan|^True_Robot|^turingos|^TurnitinBot|^URLy.Warning|^Vacuum|^VCI|VidibleScraper|^Void
    EYE|^WebAuto|^WebBandit|^WebCopier|^WebEnhancer|^WebFetch|^Web.Image.Collector|^WebLeacher|^WebmasterWorldForumBot|WebPix|^WebReaper|^WebSauger|Website.eXtractor|^Webster|WebShag|^WebStripper|WebSucker|^WebWhacker|^WebZIP|Whack|Whacker|^Widow|Widow|WinHTTrack|^WISENutbot|WWWOFFLE|^
    WWWOFFLE|^WWW-Collector-E|^Xaldon|^Xenu|^Zade|^Zeus|ZmEu|^Zyborg|SemrushBot|^WebFuck|^MJ12bot|^majestic12|^WallpapersHD)" 1;
    
    }
    
    
    deny-disallowed.conf
    # Deny disallowed user agents
    if ($ua_disallowed) { 
        # This redirects them to the Nepenthes domain. So far, pretty much all the bot crawlers have been happy to accept the redirect and crawl the tarpit continuously 
    	return 301 https://content.mydomain.xyz/;
    }
    







  • I’ll have to check for that.

    For work, the only thing I typically configure via the console is the iDRAC settings and do everything else from there. But in my homelab, I’ve got a bunch of late model Optiplex USFF PCs (rising electricity rates forced me to downsize from the PowerEdges I used to run). Configuring a recent batch of those was a complete exercise in frustration, and I don’t recall seeing anything like an advanced mode listed, but TBH, I wasn’t looking for it either.



  • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgtomemes@lemmy.worldIt's gotten so flashy
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    3 days ago

    First of all, take my upvote because the meme is funny and I’m definitely the old guys at the bottom.

    As for modern UEFI config utilities, they are, IMO, a huge step backwards in usability. Yeah, modern UEFI configuration utilities look flashy and provide more context / capabilities / help info, but most are a nightmare to actually use and practically force you to use a mouse.

    Which would be…fine, I guess, if all mice were treated equally or consistently. Most don’t respond to the scroll wheel, so you’re dragging the scroll bar like a neanderthal. Some mice work fine, others will only move the cursor around a small area of the screen, some only move in the Y axis, some only in the X axis, some mice move the cursor at a glacial pace, others zoom it at something approaching light speed and basically just teleport the cursor from one edge of the screen to the other. And a mouse that works fine to configure a Dell may or may not work fine with an HP or even a different Dell. It’s just an obnoxious crapshoot that shouldn’t exist when we have standardized HID specs for input devices like mice.

    Even on laptops, the UEFI config is often a PITA to use with the built-in pointing device(s). e.g. My ThinkPads treat the touchpad and trackpoint very differently, and neither is comfortable to use, just differently awkward.

    Using the keyboard is also annoying since it’s similar to navigating in a regular GUI and having to tab through every checkbox to get to the next settings section. And (at least) Dell UEFI designers freaking love their massive arrays of checkboxes.

    To wrap up my “old man yells at cloud” diatribe, I’ve always appreciated function over form and generally prefer a good TUI to a flashy GUI.