My IP is blocked. How do I unblock it?

What this is#

You (or someone on your team) can't connect to the VPS from a specific IP, while the VPS itself is up and works from other locations. That pattern almost always means an IP block, and there are four separate layers that can produce one. This page tells you how to identify which layer blocked you, the fastest way to unblock at each, and how to stop it recurring.

The telltale sign of an IP block, as opposed to the VPS being down: it works from somewhere else. Try your phone off Wi-Fi, or run your VPS IP through ping.pe, which tests it from dozens of locations at once. Green everywhere except your location is the blocked-IP signature.

The fast path: run the automated check#

Before diagnosing anything, open My VPS is Down (https://vpsdime.com/myvpsisdown). It checks that the VPS is running, detects whether the connecting IP is banned by our SSH firewall, and unblocks it on the spot. It fixes the most common cause of this page in under a minute, with no ticket needed.

Layer 1: our SSH bruteforce firewall (the most common)#

Our network bans IPs that accumulate failed password logins on port 22 of Linux VPS. The usual victim is not an attacker, it's the owner or their developer retrying an outdated password, or a saved session, deployment script, or SFTP client doing it for them in the background.

• Signature: SSH to port 22 times out or is refused from one IP, everything else works, and the block appeared after failed login attempts.
• Unblock: My VPS is Down auto-whitelists the IP you visit it from. For a teammate's IP (like a developer working from elsewhere), the same page has a whitelist form, you can whitelist up to 10 IPs per VPS.
• Prevent: switch to SSH key authentication, keys never trigger the ban because there are no password failures. Whitelist the IPs your team regularly connects from, and fix any script or client that is still trying an old password.

Layer 2: your VPS's own firewall or fail2ban#

Software on the VPS itself (ufw, CSF, firewalld, iptables, or fail2ban) can ban IPs too, and it doesn't care that the IP is yours. If you run fail2ban, it does exactly what our firewall does but with your own thresholds.

• Signature: the block affects services beyond SSH too (or a custom SSH port), and our troubleshooter says your IP is not banned.
• Unblock: connect through the Console in your client area, which bypasses the network entirely, then remove the ban. For fail2ban: fail2ban-client unban 203.0.113.7 (older versions: fail2ban-client set sshd unbanip <ip>). For CSF: csf -dr <ip> removes the deny entry, csf -a <ip> whitelists it. For plain firewall lockouts, the exact allow commands per firewall are in Commands to allow SSH access in common firewalls.
• Prevent: whitelist your static IPs in the tool you run (ignoreip in fail2ban's jail config, csf -a for CSF), and use SSH keys so failed password attempts stop happening.

Layer 3: cPanel's cPHulk#

On a VPS running cPanel/WHM, cPHulk brute-force protection can lock the account rather than the IP, so the correct root password suddenly fails for both SSH and WHM.

• Signature: cPanel/WHM server, the password is definitely right, and logins fail from everywhere, not just one IP.
• Unblock and prevent: the Console commands to clear the lock, and how to whitelist your IPs in cPHulk, are in cPanel/WHM: root login suddenly fails (cPHulk).

Layer 4: the managed app-port firewall (not actually an IP block)#

If the "block" is about reaching a database, cache, or panel port (MySQL, Redis, MongoDB, and similar) rather than SSH, that's not an IP ban at all. Linux and Storage VPS include a managed firewall that blocks the internet from reaching risky app ports by default, for every IP.

• Signature: SSH works fine, but a specific port refuses connections from outside.
• Fix: whitelist your IP for that app (or globally) on the Firewall tab of your VPS's manage page. If you're not sure whether a port is blocked or simply has nothing listening, see My Port XXX is closed.

Still need help?#

If none of the four layers explains it, you can open a support ticket. So we can help on the first reply, it's worth mentioning:

• the blocked IP and the VPS hostname or IP,
• what exactly fails (SSH, a specific port, a panel) and the exact error or timeout,
• whether it works from other locations, and whether the Console works.

Related questions#

• "My developer's IP is blocked, how do I unblock it?"
• "My IP got banned from my own server."
• "SSH works from my phone but not from my office."
• "How do I whitelist our office IP?"
• "Why does my IP keep getting blocked?"
• "How do I unban an IP in fail2ban or CSF?"