IP-based access control (allow/deny) in Nginx - Mini Project: Build & Apply

IP-based access control (allow/deny) with nginx

📖 Scenario: You are managing a web server that should only allow access to certain trusted IP addresses. You want to configure nginx to allow or deny access based on client IPs.

🎯 Goal: Build an nginx configuration that allows access only from specific IP addresses and denies all others.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a basic nginx server block configuration

Add a variable to hold the trusted IP address

Use allow and deny directives to control access

Print the final nginx configuration to verify the setup

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

IP-based access control is commonly used to restrict access to internal tools, admin panels, or sensitive web resources to trusted networks or IP addresses.

💼 Career

Understanding how to configure nginx for IP-based access control is a valuable skill for DevOps engineers and system administrators managing secure web servers.

1

Create a basic nginx server block

Create a variable called nginx_config that contains a basic nginx server block listening on port 80 with a root directory /var/www/html.

Nginx

# Create a variable called nginx_config with a basic server block
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use triple quotes to create a multi-line string for the nginx configuration.

2

Add a trusted IP variable

Add a variable called trusted_ip and set it to the string 192.168.1.100.

Nginx

nginx_config = '''server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/html;
}'''
# Add a variable called trusted_ip with value '192.168.1.100'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use single quotes to assign the IP address string.

3

Add allow and deny directives

Update the nginx_config variable to include allow directive for the trusted_ip and a deny all; directive inside the server block.

Nginx

nginx_config = '''server {
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/html;
}'''
trusted_ip = '192.168.1.100'
# Update nginx_config to add allow and deny directives
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use an f-string to insert the trusted_ip variable inside the nginx configuration.

4

Print the final nginx configuration

Write a print statement to display the nginx_config variable.

Nginx

trusted_ip = '192.168.1.100'
nginx_config = f'''server {{
    listen 80;
    root /var/www/html;
    allow {trusted_ip};
    deny all;
}}'''
# Print the nginx_config variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use print(nginx_config) to show the configuration.