Rails - Aug 2006 - Authenticate with an IP address : LoginGenerator

Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address? I''m using the 
LoginGenerator, but would like to bypass the "before_filter 
:login_required
" if a user is in a correct IP range...

Anyone know of a solution?

Thanks!


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JM wrote:
> Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address? 
I believe you can get the user''s IP with the remote_ip method on the 
request object in your controller.

def index
 ip = request.remote_ip
 # now you can check this ip against a table, or a range, etc.
end

Jeff
softiesonrails.com



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Jeff Cohen wrote:
> JM wrote:
>> Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address? 
Sorry, just realized you were asking about LoginGenerator.

Never mind :-)

Jeff

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Jeff Cohen wrote:
> Jeff Cohen wrote:
>> JM wrote:
>>> Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address? 
> 
> Sorry, just realized you were asking about LoginGenerator.
> 
> Never mind :-)
> 
> Jeff

Anyone else have any ideas? To me, it''d seem like getting the
user''s IP
address, comparing it to a range, and then use a statement that gives 
the user a correct password and login automatically.

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JM wrote:
> Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address? I''m using the 
> LoginGenerator, but would like to bypass the "before_filter 
> :login_required
> " if a user is in a correct IP range...
> 
> Anyone know of a solution?
> 
> Thanks!
Wouldn''t it be easier to use a firewall?

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Francis Cianfrocca wrote:
> JM wrote:
>> Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address? I''m using
the
>> LoginGenerator, but would like to bypass the "before_filter 
>> :login_required
>> " if a user is in a correct IP range...
>> 
>> Anyone know of a solution?
>> 
>> Thanks!
> 
> Wouldn''t it be easier to use a firewall?
The site is on a remote server, not hosted internally. Would a firewall 
still be possible?

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JM wrote:
> Francis Cianfrocca wrote:
>> JM wrote:
>>> Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address? I''m
using the
>>> LoginGenerator, but would like to bypass the "before_filter 
>>> :login_required
>>> " if a user is in a correct IP range...
>>> 
>>> Anyone know of a solution?
>>> 
>>> Thanks!
>> 
>> Wouldn''t it be easier to use a firewall?
> 
> The site is on a remote server, not hosted internally. Would a firewall 
> still be possible?
I''m inferring from your prior mails that what you want to do is
restrict
your site so that it may only be accessed by people coming from a 
specific part of the internet (identified by source-IP range). I''m 
assuming you''re NOT trying to give people different authorizations
based
on where they are coming from. If I guessed right, you need a firewall 
to solve this problem. You may be able to diddle iptables on your remote 
server if you can. If you can''t, and your hosting provider
doesn''t give
you a firewall, you need a new hosting provider.

If you''re trying to actually authorize people based on source-IP 
addresses, I''d recommend you not do that.

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Francis Cianfrocca wrote:
> JM wrote:
>> Francis Cianfrocca wrote:
>>> JM wrote:
>>>> Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address? I''m
using the
>>>> LoginGenerator, but would like to bypass the
"before_filter
>>>> :login_required
>>>> " if a user is in a correct IP range...
>>>> 
>>>> Anyone know of a solution?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks!
>>> 
>>> Wouldn''t it be easier to use a firewall?
>> 
>> The site is on a remote server, not hosted internally. Would a firewall
>> still be possible?
> 
> I''m inferring from your prior mails that what you want to do is
restrict
> your site so that it may only be accessed by people coming from a 
> specific part of the internet (identified by source-IP range). I''m
> assuming you''re NOT trying to give people different authorizations
based
> on where they are coming from. If I guessed right, you need a firewall 
> to solve this problem. You may be able to diddle iptables on your remote 
> server if you can. If you can''t, and your hosting provider
doesn''t give
> you a firewall, you need a new hosting provider.
> 
> If you''re trying to actually authorize people based on source-IP 
> addresses, I''d recommend you not do that.

I was actually trying to authorize people based on their IP. It''s a
site
that needs very minimum security so it''s not a huge problem.

Does Textdrive offer a firewall?

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JM wrote:
> Francis Cianfrocca wrote:
>> JM wrote:
>>> Francis Cianfrocca wrote:
>>>> JM wrote:
>>>>> Is there a way to authenticate with an IP address?
I''m using the
>>>>> LoginGenerator, but would like to bypass the
"before_filter
>>>>> :login_required
>>>>> " if a user is in a correct IP range...
>>>>> 
>>>>> Anyone know of a solution?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks!
>>>> 
>>>> Wouldn''t it be easier to use a firewall?
>>> 
>>> The site is on a remote server, not hosted internally. Would a
firewall
>>> still be possible?
>> 
>> I''m inferring from your prior mails that what you want to do
is restrict
>> your site so that it may only be accessed by people coming from a 
>> specific part of the internet (identified by source-IP range).
I''m
>> assuming you''re NOT trying to give people different
authorizations based
>> on where they are coming from. If I guessed right, you need a firewall 
>> to solve this problem. You may be able to diddle iptables on your
remote
>> server if you can. If you can''t, and your hosting provider
doesn''t give
>> you a firewall, you need a new hosting provider.
>> 
>> If you''re trying to actually authorize people based on
source-IP
>> addresses, I''d recommend you not do that.
> 
> 
> I was actually trying to authorize people based on their IP. It''s
a site
> that needs very minimum security so it''s not a huge problem.
> 
> Does Textdrive offer a firewall?
I can''t speak for TextDrive but I have only heard bad things about
them.
But I was wrong- if you want to authorize people based on theiir source 
address (for example, showing them different content if you infer that 
they are coming from one company as opposed to another) then a firewall 
isn''t enough to solve the problem.

What''s wrong with Jeff Cohen''s suggestion from
upthread:
>>>>>I believe you can get the user''s IP with the
remote_ip method on the
request object in your controller.<<<<<

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> Anyone else have any ideas? To me, it''d seem like getting the 
> user''s IP address, comparing it to a range, and then use a 
> statement that gives the user a correct password and login 
> automatically.
Are you sure your users will have unchanging IP addresses? Proxies and
load balancers can wreak havoc on IP-based authentication. Many ISPs
will assign different IPs each day, and some are even worse. AOL, for
example, may have a different IP address for each *request* from one of
their users'' browsers.

But if you''re OK with that, you can get the IP in an action directly
from the environment hash:

  ip_addr = request.env["REMOTE_IP"]

Hmm... But I just looked it up and there is a more robust method:

  ip_addr = request.remote_ip

that specifically checks for well-behaved proxies, so it will work in
more (but not all) situations.

- Mark.

>> I was actually trying to authorize people based on their IP.
It''s a site
>> that needs very minimum security so it''s not a huge problem.
>> 
>> Does Textdrive offer a firewall?
> 
> I can''t speak for TextDrive but I have only heard bad things about
them.
> But I was wrong- if you want to authorize people based on theiir source 
> address (for example, showing them different content if you infer that 
> they are coming from one company as opposed to another) then a firewall 
> isn''t enough to solve the problem.
> 
> What''s wrong with Jeff Cohen''s suggestion from upthread:
>>>>>>I believe you can get the user''s IP with the
remote_ip method on the
> request object in your controller.<<<<<
Nothing, but that would just be getting me the IP, I was wanting to know
how to use a User''s IP to autheticate through the LoginGenerator.

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On 8/3/06, JM <toobreat@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Anyone else have any ideas? To me, it''d seem like getting the
user''s IP
> address, comparing it to a range, and then use a statement that gives
> the user a correct password and login automatically.
I know that others have kind-of hinted around this, but just to be
really clear...

You do realize that IP addresses are easily faked, right?  They are a
horrible choice for defining who a user is, or what rights that person
should have.

Jm wrote:
> 
>>> I was actually trying to authorize people based on their IP.
It''s a site
>>> that needs very minimum security so it''s not a huge
problem.
>>> 
>>> Does Textdrive offer a firewall?
>> 
>> I can''t speak for TextDrive but I have only heard bad things
about them.
>> But I was wrong- if you want to authorize people based on theiir source
>> address (for example, showing them different content if you infer that 
>> they are coming from one company as opposed to another) then a firewall
>> isn''t enough to solve the problem.
>> 
>> What''s wrong with Jeff Cohen''s suggestion from
upthread:
>>>>>>>I believe you can get the user''s IP with
the remote_ip method on the
>> request object in your controller.<<<<<
> 
> Nothing, but that would just be getting me the IP, I was wanting to know
> how to use a User''s IP to autheticate through the LoginGenerator.
I''m guess I''m not getting this (and I''m sure
I''m not being of much help
to you). Are you trying to solve a narrow technical problem related to 
LoginGenerator? Or are you actually trying to impute some kind of 
identity characteristics to a source-IP address? If the latter, then 
why? Are you trying to save people the inconvenience of logging in? If 
you really don''t care about the security of your site (as you implied 
above), then why not do a normal authentication database and drop a 
persistent cookie so your users will only have to log in once?

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