[dhj]

> If you're getting lots of random IPs

That is the problem, it always seems to be random IPs. Thats why failtoban is a losing battle. Failtoban works per IP, but no matter how sensitive the ban rule there always seems to be an endless supply of new IPs.

I do use keys for ssh access so disabling passwords does cover most of the safety concern. I guess it is more of an annoyance than anything. It looks huge in the logs, but network usage wise it probably boils down to once every few minutes.