What is the IP Deny Manager?
The IP Deny Manager allows you to create and maintain a list of IP addresses that will be unable to access your web site. This list will prevent anyone who is coming from an IP address in the list from viewing any files that are part of your site. If you wish to block a certain domain from accessing your site, you can enter it in the blank field, and the IP Deny Manager will attempt to determine the IP address of that domain and add it to the blocked IP list.
This tool can be very useful if you are having issues with someone attempting to use your site for unauthorized purposes such as spamming your forums, accessing restricted areas, downloading files, or other misuse.
Adding IPs to Deny
When adding IPs to deny, you can do so in multiple forms. The simplest of those is to add a single IP address. For example, adding 1.2.3.4 will prevent anyone coming from 1.2.3.4 from accessing your site. You can also block IPs in other forms:
Blocking an IP Range
You can block a range of IP addresses by entering either two addresses separated by a -, or a single address, a - and an end number. If you wish to block the IP addresses 1.2.3.4, 1.2.3.5, 1.2.3.6, and 1.2.3.7, you can simply enter 1.2.3.4-7 into the field. If you wish to the IP addresses 1.2.3.254, 1.2.3.255, 1.2.4.1, 1.2.4.2, 1.2.4.3, and 1.2.4.4, you'll need to enter 1.2.3.254-1.2.4.4.
Blocking a CIDR block
You can also use the CIDR format to block a "block" of IPs. This format is expressed with a / and the block number you wish to prevent from accessing your site. The most common CIDR block is a /24 which is all IP addresses in a "class C". A "class C" is 256 IP addresses (0-255). For example, 1.2.3.0-1.2.3.255 is a "class C". As CIDR can be confusing, we recommend using IP ranges unless you are comfortable with CIDR format.
Using Wildcards
You can also block a wildcard with a *. This will block all IP addresses in the wildcard range. For example, 1.2.3.* would block 1.2.3.0-1.2.3.255 while 1.2.* would block 1.2.0.0-1.2.0.255 + 1.2.1.0-1.2.1.255 all the way up to 1.2.255.0-1.2.255.255. Be careful when using wildcards as blocking too many IP addresses can prevent legitimate viewers from accessing your site.
