diff --git a/config/jail.conf b/config/jail.conf
index c331e914..fb5328c8 100644
--- a/config/jail.conf
+++ b/config/jail.conf
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ findtime  = 600
 # "maxretry" is the number of failures before a host get banned.
 maxretry = 3
 
+# "maxlines" is number of log lines to buffer for multi-line regex searches
+maxlines = 1
+
 # "backend" specifies the backend used to get files modification.
 # Available options are "pyinotify", "gamin", "polling" and "auto".
 # This option can be overridden in each jail as well.
diff --git a/fail2ban/server/filter.py b/fail2ban/server/filter.py
index fe990578..f028b44d 100644
--- a/fail2ban/server/filter.py
+++ b/fail2ban/server/filter.py
@@ -218,8 +218,10 @@ class Filter(JailThread):
 	# @param value the line buffer size
 
 	def setMaxLines(self, value):
-		self.__lineBufferSize = max(1, value)
-		logSys.info("Set maxLines = %i" % self.__lineBufferSize)
+		if int(value) <= 0:
+			raise ValueError("maxlines must be integer greater than zero")
+		self.__lineBufferSize = int(value)
+		logSys.info("Set maxlines = %i" % self.__lineBufferSize)
 
 	##
 	# Get the maximum line buffer size.
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/servertestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/servertestcase.py
index 4a3435b4..bc08c061 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/servertestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/servertestcase.py
@@ -271,6 +271,12 @@ class Transmitter(TransmitterBase):
 		self.setGetTest("maxretry", "-2", -2, jail=self.jailName)
 		self.setGetTestNOK("maxretry", "Duck", jail=self.jailName)
 
+	def testJailMaxLines(self):
+		self.setGetTest("maxlines", "5", 5, jail=self.jailName)
+		self.setGetTest("maxlines", "2", 2, jail=self.jailName)
+		self.setGetTestNOK("maxlines", "-2", jail=self.jailName)
+		self.setGetTestNOK("maxlines", "Duck", jail=self.jailName)
+
 	def testJailLogPath(self):
 		self.jailAddDelTest(
 			"logpath",