Bot-Trap Mod

Bot-Trap
Summary	Creates a honeypot or trap to block bots that do not adhere to robots.txt standards
Validation
Mod Updated	23 Jul 2018
Download link	for TNG 14.0 TNG 13.0 TNG 12.0 Bot-trap_v12.0.0.5.zip Bot-trap_v10.1.0.4.zip for TNG 10.1.0 - 11.1.2 Bot-trap_v10.1.0.1.zip TNG All
Download stats	View download statistics
Author(s)	Bryan S. Larson Based on the Bot-Trap tool by Daniel M. Webb
Homepage	Bot-Trap Mod (this page)
Mod Support	Support for Bot-Trap
Contact Developer	Support for Bot-Trap
Latest Mod	See download links
Min TNG V	7.1.0
Max TNG V	13+
Files modified	meta.php .htaccess robots.txt bot-trap/settings.php bot-trap/.htaccess bot-trap/forbid.php bot-trap/functions.php bot-trap/index.php bot-trap/pixel.gif bot-trap/unban.php
Related Mods
Notes

Introduction

The Bot-Trap mod places a link on every page of your site that is invisible to humans, but which machines can see. Clicking on the link automatically blocks the visitor by adding an .htaccess restriction for the offending IP address. If a human is curious enough to find and visit the link, there is an easy mechanism to get removed from the list of banned IP addresses.

The way Bot-Trap works is that it adds an entry to robots.txt (and creates the file if it does not already exist) which instructs bots to avoid the bot-trap directory. If a bot does follow the robots.txt protocol, as good bots do, it will know not to visit the trap. Bad bots that do not follow robots.txt standards will see the link and visit it; thereby getting blocked via an entry to .htaccess.

The mod has optional parameters to allow webmasters to enter an email address and be alerted any time the trap is triggered and/or any time a human escapes from the trap using the escape mechanism.

This mod was originally developed using TNG V10.1, but version 10.1.0.1 should work with any version of TNG. Bot-trap version 10.1.0.2 and higher requires at least TNG V10.1.0 to work.

Developer

• The TNG Bot-Trap Mod was developed and is maintained by Bryan S. Larson

• Beta testing of the original mod was done by Ken Roy and Rick Bisbee.

Requirements

• A working TNG installation.
• A backup of the TNG meta.php file.
• An installed current version of the Mod Manager.
• A server that supports .htaccess (most do).

For Bot-trap v10.1.0.2 and newer

TNG version:

≥ 10.1.0

• A working TNG installation.
• Footer must be using stdsitecredit.php
  • If you have modified your footer (TNG 10.1.0 and later), you may need to adjust the code in the mod to work on your site
  • Alternately, you may use the older version of the bot-trap
• An installed current version of the Mod Manager.
• A server that supports .htaccess (most do).

Installing Bot-Trap Mod

First time installation:

1. Download the appropriate zip file for the Mod Manager configuration file
2. Extract all the files in bot-trap zip file
3. Upload the configuration file and the entire bot-trap folder to your mods folder.
4. IMPORTANT: In many cases, the mod manager will give an error indicating that the mod cannot be installed. THIS IS NORMAL.
   • You must click on the "Run Checks" button BEFORE installing the mod. This step creates the files and folders needed for the mod to work if they are not already present.
5. Follow the normal automated installation for Mod Manager, as shown in the example Mod Manager - Installing Config Files to install the bot-trap file.

Optional Parameters

This mod has 4 optional parameters which can be modified using the Mod Manager Edit capability.

1. Send an email alert when a new IP address is ADDED to the bot-trap: When enabled, this option causes an email to be sent to the specified email address any time a new bot is added to the IP block list. This is enabled by default, but will not work unless a valid email address is entered.
2. Send an email alert when a new IP address is REMOVED to the bot-trap: When enabled, this option causes an email to be sent to the specified email address any time a blocked IP address is removed from the block list via the escape mechanism. This is enabled by default, but will not work unless a valid email address is entered.
3. Email bot-trap alerts TO the following address: This is the email address where you wish to have bot-trap alerts sent.
4. Email bot-trap alerts FROM the following address: This is the email address you wish to have bot-trap alerts sent from. Normally, both email addresses would be the same, but in some cases it makes sense to differentiate them.

Revision History

Version	Date	Contents
12.0.0.5	23 Jul 2018	This update corrects an error in the bot-trap pages as well as some updates for TNG V12 Mod Manager changes.
10.1.0.4	22 Aug 2017	Small update to better recognize TNG installations that are not in the web root. Also an update for better compatibility with modern versions of php.
10.1.0.3	30 Nov 2016	Small fix in check file; it was not checking for .htaccess as it should have been. Corrected.
10.1.0.2	8 Nov 2016	Update to use footer rather than meta.php. This resolves validation problems associated with previous version of mod.
10.1.0.1	6 Mar 2015	Initial release of the Bot-Trap Mod.

Sites using this mod

If you download and install this mod, please add your TNG site to the table below

Our Family Histories	Bryan S. Larson	Mod developer	12.0.0.5	12.0.3	EN
WMGS Member Trees	Roger Moffat	Public Site	13.0.0.5	13.1.0	EN
Ryken and Rosenau Famly Tree	Paul RYKEN	Public Site	13.0.0.4	13.0.4	EN
Our Family Links	Chuck Filteau	Public site	10.1.0.1	10.1.2	EN
Our Roy and Boucher Families	Ken Roy	Beta tested the mod for Bryan	12.0.0.5	13.0.4	EN, FR
Bobbyfamilytree	Bobby		10.1.0.1	10.1.0	EN
Hooley Family Links	Rick Hooley	Public/Private	See Here	See Here	EN
A Bisbee Family History	Rick Bisbee		10.1.0.1	10.1.0	EN
Kemp(e) Family History	Andrew Kemp		see User:Kempons	see User:Kempons	EN
MOTYER Family Genealogy	John Mark Motyer	Public site	See here	See here	EN
Robison and Blythe Genealogy	Jeff Robison	Public Site	10.1.0.1	10.1.2	EN
Martius Family History	Hendrik Martius	Half-public site	10.1.0.4*	12.0.1	DE,EN,FR,NL
Kleinmann Genealogy	John Kleinmann		12.0.0.5	14.0	EN
R G Strong Family Genealogy	Russell G Strong	Modified the mod to validate at XHTML 1.0 Transitional	12.0.0.5	14.0.2	EN,DE,FR,NL
Extended Craxford Family Genealogy Magazine	Alan D Craxford	Using Russell's XHTML1.0 Transitional mod (may interfere with favicon)	10.1.0.1/2	11.0.2	EN
The Duttons of New England	Darrin Dutton	Pubic / Private	12.0.0.5	14.0.1	EN
Crawford County Genealogy Gateway	Frank Bernosky	Pubic Site	10.1.0.1	11.1.	EN
Our Acadian Family	Randal Suire	Public/Media Private	10.1.0.4	11.1.2	EN, FR
McCarty-McCoy Family	Kelly Booth	Public	10.1.0.4	11.0.2	EN
Genealogy of the Weir and Drain Families	Beverley Stimpson	Public Site	10.1.0.4	11.1.2	EN
tobbes familje sidor	Torbjörn Åkerman	Public site	10.1.0.4	11.1.2	SE, EN, FI
The Cole / Tanner Family Tree	David Cole	Public/Private	see here	see here	EN, DE, FR, ES, NL
Racines Luxo-hennuyères	Michel Kirsch	Public site (registration)	12.0.0.6	13.0.3	FR/EN/GE/NL
Family Trees worldwide	Hans Weebers	Public-, Private Site	10.1.0.4	12.0.1	Nl, DE, EN, FR
Current info on my user page	JPB	Public Site	see here	see here	De, En, Fr
The Severijns / Timmer Familytree	Rob Severijns	Public / Private	12.0.0.5	14.0.2	NL, EN
Genealogy of a Dutch Community Losser	Peter Heerink	Public	12.0.0.5	13.1.2	NL, EN, GE
Familieboekonline	Janneke Helling	Private	12.0.0.5	13.1	NL, EN
Your Roots are Showing	Harold Craswell	Public / Private	See Here	See Here	EN
The Annals of a Humble Race	Gerald Apperly	Public / Private	12.0.0.5	14.0.1	EN
Osage County Cousins	Larry G Banks	Public/Private	12.0.0.5	14.0	EN
Solem Genealogy	Jan-Thore Solem	Private	12​.0​.0​.5	14.0.2	EN, NO
GénéaKat	Katryne	Public & Private	v12.0.0.5	14.0.3	FR,EN

https://swedenmark.dk Søren Wendt Public 12.0.0.5 14.0.2 EN, DK, DE, FR, NL, IT