storing ip adresses

[runnerjp]

would it be wise to store a list of users who have logge din and their ip address for security reasons or is it a waste of time?

[haku]

As long as its nothing that has to be 100% reliable, there is no harm in doing it. But if you are doing it to ban a person from a site, its not going to work. If you are doing it to record who posted something on a site or uploaded a file or whatnot, its a good idea - it gives you some form of traceability in the future if you need it.

[runnerjp]

ok so would i gether there ip on sign up and use it form there or what>>

[haku]

Personally, anytime a new row is created in a table, I add the person's IP address. I get it right then and there, as IP addresses are dynamic. I use the following function to get them:

 

function get_ip_address()
{
	if($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'] != "")
	{
		return $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'];
	}
	$ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
	return $ip;
}