A list of IP ranges and actions depending on the visitor IP - how?

[ionicle]

Hey there, php freaks. I'm trying to whip up a script that is supposed to do the following:

 

I have a list of certain IP address ranges and single IP addresses that I would like to use as an array in a separate file. Whenever someone visits the webpage, I want, depending on whether the visitor's IP address matches any of the IP ranges/IPs in the array, one of two actions to be executed:

 

1. Visitor's IP address is not found on the IP list - show a certain html code ( page variation 1 )

 

2. Visitor's IP address matches one of the entries on the list - show another html code ( page variation 2 ).

 

How would I go about doing that? Do I have to use "ip2long" for the IP ranges? Also, since my IP list will include both single IP addresses and IP ranges, how should I go about checking for both?

 

 

<?php

$start_range = ip2long( "x.x.x.x" );
$end_range = ip2long( "x.x.x.x" );
$user_ip = ip2long( $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] );

if ( $user_ip >= $start_range && $user_ip <= $end_range) { /* html code */}


?>

 

 

That should do the trick, but I want to define the database with the IP ranges in a separate file, not directly in the php code, since there are quite a few of them. The database with the IP ranges should be a simple TXT file, not a SQL db.

Edited June 17, 2013 by ionicle

[DavidAM]

If you are using a database at all, I would definitely put this in a table in the DB.

 

If you are not using a database, I would consider using one for this.

 

In any case I would recommend that all "single" IP addresses be stored as a range -- the start and end of the range is the same value. This way you have one "table" (or file) with a consistent record structure. With a database you could then do:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM IPTable WHERE 'visitorsIP' BETWEEN startIP AND endIP

You should get a result of zero or one -- one meaning they are in the list.

 

You can use ip2long() if you want, but unless there are going to be a large number of them, I'm not sure I would.

 

If you use a file, follow a few simple "rules":

1. Always store all of the addresses as 15 characters -- use leading zeros: 010.002.123.003.

2. Use a standard delimiter between the two elements of the range: space or tab

3. Always sort the file after making changes.

 

You are going to have to process each line in the file one at a time. If you have it sorted, then once you reach a range that is greater than the visitor's address, you can stop checking because all of the remaining entries are also greater.