People are getting unbanned without reason

[Bryantdl7]

So my staff have been telling me that people they ban have been coming on the server the next day even though they are still banned. The first thought was they were hacking somehow. However I'm starting to wonder if it is because of how I have them do a ban.

What I want my staff to do, is make the longest duration ban one year. I don't really like the idea of permanent bans as people change a lot in a year, anyways I am digressing.

Has anyone else encountered bans vanishing if you have too many bans with a set duration already existing?

Should I avoid having thousands of duration-set bans?

Thanks in advance.

[Caustic Soda-Senpai]

Why the heck do you have thousands of year-long bans...?

In response, however, are the bans actually writing to the ban.cfg (whatever the source ban file is called) and are the unbans taking place after a server restart?

[Bryantdl7]

Why the heck do you have thousands of year-long bans...?

In response, however, are the bans actually writing to the ban.cfg (whatever the source ban file is called) and are the unbans taking place after a server restart?

I have thousands of year long bans because my server is in the top 8% of all garrysmod servers. Lots of people come on trying to crash the server, usually 5-15 people a day.

I would assume that the bans are not taking place after a restart, because my server automatically restarts once a day, and my staff have been reporting the issue usually a day after they ban the person.

[Bryantdl7]

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Timmy]

All active bans should be stored in garrysmod/data/ulib/bans.txt. If the file is no longer being updated, the server might be having trouble writing to it. Incorrect file permissions, perhaps?

[Bryantdl7]

All active bans should be stored in garrysmod/data/ulib/bans.txt. If the file is no longer being updated, the server might be having trouble writing to it. Incorrect file permissions, perhaps?

Should I contact my host about that?

[Timmy]

Should I contact my host about that?

If you've confirmed that the server indeed cannot write this file, your host should be able to help you out.

You may confirm that bans.txt has correct file permissions by running the following command in your dedicated server console:

Code: [Select]

lua_run if file.Open("ulib/bans.txt", "r", "DATA") then print("Read OK") else print("Read FAILED") end if file.Open("ulib/bans.txt", "w", "DATA") then print("Write OK") else print("Write FAILED") end
You should get the following output:

Code: [Select]

Read OK
Write OK
If that's all good, you may also test if bans are actually persisting after map changes:
Ban my steamid:

Code: [Select]

ulx banid STEAM_0:0:57225082 120 Timmy is mean
Confirm that the ban is currently active:

Code: [Select]

lua_run if ULib.bans["STEAM_0:0:57225082"] then print("Ban is active") else print("Ban is NOT active") end
Now change the map:

Code: [Select]

changelevel gm_construct
Confirm that the ban is still active now:

Code: [Select]

lua_run if ULib.bans["STEAM_0:0:57225082"] then print("Ban is active") else print("Ban is NOT active") end