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Admin Tools User's Guide

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Akeeba Ltd

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the appendix entitled "The GNU Free Documentation License".

Abstract

This book covers the use of the Admin Tools site security component, module and plugin bundle for Joomla!™ -powered web sites. Both the free Admin Tools Core and the subscription-based Admin Tools Professional editions are completely covered.


Table of Contents

1. Getting Started
What is Admin Tools?
Disclaimer
The philosophy
Server environment requirements
Installing Admin Tools
Installing or manually updating the extension
Install from URL
Upload and install.
Manual installation
Troubleshooting the installation
The installation / update broke my site!
Upgrading from Core to Professional
Automatic updates
Troubleshooting the update
Addressing server issues
Check the validity of your Download ID
Check your subscription status
Multiple Professional edition Akeeba extensions with different Download IDs
Entering or changing your Download ID after an update is available
Updates are showing after installing the latest version
Updates not showing despite having an older version
Check the update site
Refresh the update cache
Miscellaneous troubleshooting and information
The update fails to download
Updating with a third party service fails
Manual update
Update installation problems
Entering your Download ID
Requesting support and reporting bugs
Uninstalling Admin Tools
Quick Setup
2. Using Admin Tools
The Control Panel
The component Options
Fixing the permissions of files and directories
Configuring the permissions of files and directories
Emergency Off-Line Mode
Protect your administrator back-end with a password
The .htaccess maker
Basic Security
Server protection
How to determine which exceptions are required
Custom .htaccess rules
Optimisation and utility
System configuration
The NginX configuration maker
Basic Security
Server protection
How to determine which exceptions are required
The Kitchen Sink (Expert Settings)
Optimisation and utility
System configuration
The web.config maker
Basic Security
Server protection
How to determine which exceptions are required
Optimisation and utility
System configuration
Web Application Firewall
Configure
Basic Features
Request Filtering
Hardening Options
Cloaking
Project Honeypot
Exceptions
Auto-ban
Logging & reporting
Customisation
Troubleshooting (I got locked out of my site)
WAF Exceptions
WAF Deny List
Administrator Exclusive Allow IP List
Site IP Disallow List
Anti-spam Bad Words
Blocked Requests Log
List of blocking reasons
Auto IP Blocking Administration
Auto IP Blocking History
Email templates
Database tools
The PHP File Scanner
How does it work and what should I know?
Configuration
Scanning and administering scans
Reading the reports
Automating the scans (CRON jobs)
Automating the scans (front-end scheduling URL)
SEO and Link Tools
URL Redirection
Cleaning your temporary files directory
Protecting Admin Tools with a password
Import and Exporting Settings
Access Control
The "System - Admin Tools" plugin
Rescue Mode
Troubleshooting guide
Administrator password protection issues
New Super Users are blocked and deactivated after login
Can not create or edit Managers, Administrators, Super Administrators using Admin Tools (403 error thrown)
Locked out of my site after applying a .htaccess using Admin Tools' .htaccess Maker
Admin Tools' Web Application Firewall (WAF) locked you out of your site
My components, modules or templates stopped working after using Admin Tools .htaccess Maker and how to determine and apply exceptions
I created a .htaccess file on my main site and I can't access my other domains on the same account
The administrator secret URL parameter is not working
There are too many security exceptions. Should I be worried?
A. GNU General Public License version 3
B. GNU Free Documentation License