How do I whitelist Watchful IP addresses and user agent?

If you are are experiencing connection or validation issues on numerous sites, particularly on the same server, the Watchful IP Address may be blocked/blacklisted by any of the following:

• your DNS firewall
• your server firewall
• a software firewall on your website

Below, we will walk you through whitelisting the following IP Addresses and the Watchful User-Agent:

• User-Agent
  • WebsiteOps (websiteops.io)
• IP Address

If you are a developer you can view the Watchful IP Addresses using the link below. This is useful for automating whitelisting on your server firewall or other tools requiring whitelisting:

• https://app.watchful.net/ip-v4.txt

Whitelisting the User-Agent

The User-Agent that Watchful uses to monitor website uptime is WebsiteOps (websiteops.io). 

Contact your hosting provider or IT department to whitelist the User-Agent.  

Whitelisting IP Addresses in your DNS firewall

Domain name server (DNS) service providers often manages their own firewall. Follow the instruction below to whitelist Watchful's IPs at Cloudflare and Sucuri.

A similar procedure may be used at other DNS providers. 

Cloudflare Firewall

1. Login to your account and navigate to your domain.
2. Click on the Firewall button at the top, then the Tools tab.
3. Enter first IP address (above) into the field as shown below.
4. Ensure the Whitelist option is selected.
5. Select the All websites in account option if all your websites will be added to Watchful.
6. Enter Watchful in the notes area.
7. Cllick the Add button.
8. Repeat for the other two IP addresses (above).

Sucuri Firewall - Adding IP's

• Login to your account and navigate to your domain.
• Click on the Access Control link at the top. 
• Ensure that Whitelist IP Addresses is selected at the left.
• Add the first IP addresses (above) to the Add new IP field as shown below.
• Ensure the Permanently option is selected.
• Click the Whitelist button.
• Repeat for the other two IP addresses (above).

Whitelisting IP Addresses in your server firewall

For many site owners, the easiest way to add IP addresses to your server firewall is to contact your hosting provider, provide the IPs (above), and ask them to whitelist. But if you have root or WHM access to your server, you can do this yourself.

How to whitelist IP address in Linux via the CLI

1. Login to your linux server using root or sudo user.
2. Go to the path /etc/csf/.
3. Inside the CSF directory, edit the file called csf.allow.
4. Add the three IP addresses (above) and save the file.
5. Use the csf -r command to restart the firewall.

How to whitelist IP address in Linux via WHM

Many website owners are using WHM/cPanel to manage their hosting account. If you have WHM access:

1. Login into WHM with the root account.
2. In the search bar at the top-left, enter firewall.
3. Select ConfigServer Security & Firewall from the Plugins area on the left.
4. Scroll down until the csf - Quick Actions area is visible.
5. Add the first IP addresses (above) to the Allow IP address field as shown below.
6. Click the Quick Allow button.
7. Repeat for the other two IP addresses (above).
8. If prompted, click the Restart csf+lfd button.

Whitelisting IP Addresses in your WordPress firewall

WordFence

The Whitelisting options in Wordfence can be found in the WordPress backend under WordFence > All Options > Firewall Options > AdvancedFirewall Options. Simply enter Watchful's IP Address (above) and click the Save changes button at the top-right. 

Whitelisting IP Addresses in your Joomla firewall

Akeeba Admin Tools Pro

The Whitelisting options can be found in Components > Admin Tools > Web Application Firewall > Configure Exceptions from Blocking tab. Add the three IP addresses (above) — separated by commas — and click the Save & Close button. 

RS Firewall

The Whitelisting options can be found in Components > RSFirewall > Blacklist/Whitelist. 

OSE Anti-Hacker

The Whitelisting options can be found in Components > OSE Anti-Hacker > IP Management. 

SecurityCheck

The Whitelisting options can be found in Components > Securitycheck > Main menu > Web Firewall Configuration > Lists. Add the three IP addresses (above) —one per line — and click the Save & Close button.