IP Based Geographic Lookups¶

• Table of contents
• IP Based Geographic Lookups
  • Requirements
  • Overview
• Installation
  • Configuration Options
  • Environment
  • Examples
  • Downloads

Module: mod_geoip

Requirements¶

Packages: GeoIP C API & Library (http://www.maxmind.com/download/geoip/api/c/)

Overview¶

mod_geoip is a module for fast ip/location lookups. It uses MaxMind GeoIP / GeoCity databases.
If the ip was found in the database the module sets the appropriate environments variables to the request, thus making other modules/fcgi be informed.

NOTE:
Currently only country/city databases are supported because they have a free version that i can test.

http://www.maxmind.com/download/geoip/database/ - GeoIP.dat.gz for Countries, GeoLiteCity.dat.gz for Countries & Cities

Installation¶

NOTE: As of 1.4.14 the lighttpd distribution does not include the compile file required to perform a automake in the source directory. Use "automake -a" instead.

1. Download the source file (http://redmine.lighttpd.net/attachments/716/mod_geoip_for_1.4.c)
   - (for lighttpd 1.5 use http://redmine.lighttpd.net/attachments/717/mod_geoip_for_1.5.c)
   and rename it to "mod_geoip.c"
2. Copy mod_geoip.c into lighttpd src directory.
3. Apply https://redmine.lighttpd.net/attachments/download/1688/mod_geoip-for-1.4.39.patch to compile in lighttpd 1.4.39
4. (optional) see https://redmine.lighttpd.net/issues/2025 for additional suggested patch
5. Edit your src/Makefile.am and add this after the last module:

        lib_LTLIBRARIES += mod_geoip.la
        mod_geoip_la_SOURCES = mod_geoip.c
        mod_geoip_la_LDFLAGS = -module -export-dynamic -avoid-version -no-undefined
        mod_geoip_la_LIBADD = $(common_libadd) -lGeoIP

1. Go back to lighttpd root directory and first do: aclocal && automake -a && autoconf, after that do: make clean; ./configure --enable-maintainer-mode; make; make install

NOTE: the command of 'make clean' gives error on Fedora 4 and may not be necessary to compile properly. [j lightstone//GlobalAdSales.company]

1. Make sure /usr/local/lib is in your ld.so.conf file and rebuld the ld database (using: ldconfig).

1. Add to the config file server.modules = ("mod_geoip") [j lightstone//GlobalAdSales.company]

NOTE: If using mod_proxy, add mod_geoip BEFORE mod_proxy.

Configuration Options¶

NOTE: in lighttpd 1.5.x add the config vars only to the global config - adding into a vhost crashes lighty!

mod_geoip uses two configuration options.

1. geoip.db-filename = <path to the geoip or geocity database>
2. geoip.memory-cache = <enable|disable> : default disabled

if enabled, mod_geoip will load the database binary file to
memory for very fast lookups. the only penalty is memory usage.

NOTE: mod_geoip will determine the database type automatically so if you enter GeoCity database path it will load GeoCity Env.

Environment¶

Every database sets it's own ENV:

GeoIP (Country):

 GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE
 GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE3
 GEOIP_COUNTRY_NAME

GeoCity:

 GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE
 GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE3
 GEOIP_COUNTRY_NAME
 GEOIP_CITY_NAME
 GEOIP_CITY_POSTAL_CODE
 GEOIP_CITY_LATITUDE
 GEOIP_CITY_LONG_LATITUDE
 GEOIP_CITY_DMA_CODE
 GEOIP_CITY_AREA_CODE

Examples¶

mod_geoip + php

NOTE: in lighttpd 1.5.x add the config vars only to the global config - adding into a vhost crashes lighty!

when using fastcgi (not only php) you can access mod_geoip env and do as you please. this example just prints all mod_geoip envs to the client, html.

Config-file

 geoip.db-filename = "/your-geoip-db-path/GeoLiteCity.dat" 
 geoip.memory-cache = "enable" 

index.php

 <?php
         $country_code = $_SERVER['GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE'];
         $country_code3 = $_SERVER['GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE3'];
         $country_name = $_SERVER['GEOIP_COUNTRY_NAME'];

         $city_region = $_SERVER['GEOIP_CITY_REGION'];
         $city_name = $_SERVER['GEOIP_CITY_NAME'];
         $city_postal_code = $_SERVER['GEOIP_CITY_POSTAL_CODE'];
         $city_latitude = $_SERVER['GEOIP_CITY_LATITUDE'];
         $city_long_latitude = $_SERVER['GEOIP_CITY_LONG_LATITUDE'];
         $city_dma_code = $_SERVER['GEOIP_CITY_DMA_CODE'];
         $city_area_code = $_SERVER['GEOIP_CITY_AREA_CODE'];

         echo "<html>\n<body>\n\t<br>\n";
         echo 'Country Code: ' . $country_code . '<br>';
         echo 'Country Code 3: ' . $country_code3 . '<br>';
         echo 'Country Name: ' . $country_name . '<br>';
         echo '<br>';
         echo 'City Region: ' . $city_region . '<br>';
         echo 'City Name: ' . $city_name . '<br>';
         echo 'City Postal Code: ' . $city_postal_code . '<br>';
         echo 'City Latitude: ' . $city_latitude . '<br>';
         echo 'City Long Latitude: ' . $city_long_latitude . '<br>';
         echo 'City DMA Code: ' . $city_dma_code . '<br>';
         echo 'City Area Code: ' . $city_area_code . '<br>';
         echo "</body>\n</html>";
 ?>

country based redirect

Config-file

 $HTTP["host"] =~ "www.domain.com" {
     url.rewrite = ( "" => "/redirect.php")
 }

redirect.php

 <?php
        $country_code = ( !empty( $_SERVER['GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE'] ) ) ? $_SERVER['GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE'] : 'US';
        header( 'Location: http://'.strtolower( $country_code ).'.domain.com/' );
        exit;
 ?>

Currently redirecting based on mod_geoip through the lighttpd config file is possible with some patches: http://trac.lighttpd.net/trac/ticket/1546. An alternative would be to use mod_magnet.

Downloads¶