Hi, Alright. I was right about the reverse lookup thing. And I already thought about that "allow from .myispdomain.com" and also thought that it wouldn't be good idea because i would be allowing the entire IP address space of my ISP. I think i'll probably just write a script that will resolve the hostname of my dyndns pc and just replace my "allow from IP".htaccess. Though I'm still wondering if there is a way to tell apache to just skip reverse resolving before evaluating the "allow from hostname" rule... Thanks > The first question is whether you should not just > implement a simple > authentication for your server. It's really easy if > you do not have > many users. Then you get rid of the IP-based > control. > Look here : > http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/en/mod/mod_auth_basic.html > and > <Location /> > AuthType Basic (or Digest) > AuthName "pirates be gone" > AuthUserFile /web/users > Require valid user > </Location> > and look up htpasswd to create the users. > > -- next, about what you are asking above -- > > I think you have the reasoning almost right, but not > 100%. > When your httpd server receives the request, it > knows only from which IP > it is coming, it doesn't know any name (yet). > When it encounters your "Allow from (domain)" > line(s), it will try a DNS > reverse lookup with the IP, to check if this IP > corresponds to any of > the domains given. > This reverse DNS lookup however will (at best) give > back the name given > to this IP address by the dynamic address allocation > system of your > provider, e.g. something like > "tip2345.dialup-timbuctu.myisp.net". > This will not match the domain in the Allow > directive, thus will be > rejected. (Or worse, your ISP does not do reverse IP > registration, and > the request will return "NXdomain", and it will > still not match in Apache). > > Not recommended solution : > If it's not very critical, and you are quite sure > that your server is > well-configured, and you notice that the DNS name > your ISP is giving you > always ends in the same thing (like > "dialup-timbuctu.myisp.net"), you > could always put a directive "Allow from > dialup-timbuctu.myisp.net", but > understand what it does first, and don't tell anyone > I told you to do > that. It basically restricts the IPs allowed to > access your server from > several million to several tens of thousands. > So don't do this at work. > And forget I even mentioned that. > > Better : > If you only need to do this occasionally, and have > full control over the > server, then find out your current IP address and > replace your "Allow > from (name)" by "Allow from (ip-address)" and > restart Apache. You'll > have to redo this each time your IP changes. > > If you do need this more often and find the above a > pain, but still can > restart your server whenever you want, then the > simplest way may be a > small script which will find out your IP address, go > modify the Allow > line above in httpd.conf, and restart your server. > Then make this an > icon on your desktop, so you can just click on it. > Perl is your friend for things like that. > > If it's more permanent, then there might be another > way, if you have a > DNS domain at which you can ask for changes : > It is possible to register a name in your own > domain, and tell the DNS > server to go look up the dyndns.org name that you > registered to get the > current IP address (*). Then your own domain's DNS > server can answer > reverse DNS queries (and you'll have to make sure > that your httpd server > is asking it first). > Then instead of saying "Allow from xyz.dyndns.org", > you would say "Allow > from xyz.mydomain.com". > If your httpd server is at work, buy a beer to the > DNS guy. > Of course, you will still have to make sure that the > dyndns IP > registration is kept current when your real IP > changes, but I suppose > you already do that. > > And finally, if you're really adventurous, you could > write a mod_perl > add-on module for Apache (as a PerlAccessHandler), > that will do all this > dynamically for you each time you connect. Then > maybe the DNS guy will > buy you a beer, because he could use it too. > But maybe go check the CPAN first, someone else may > have preceded you. > > There might be smarter ways to do this, and I'm sure > other people have > better ideas. But maybe then, you should tell on > which platform you > are, with which version of Apache. > > André > > (*) essentially, you are telling your own DNS server > that > "xyz.mycompany.com" is an alias for > "xyz.dyndns.org". > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > The official User-To-User support forum of the > Apache HTTP Server Project. > See <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/userslist.html> for > more info. > To unsubscribe, e-mail: > users-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > " from the digest: > users-digest-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > For additional commands, e-mail: > users-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- The official User-To-User support forum of the Apache HTTP Server Project. See <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/userslist.html> for more info. 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