MaxMind will be retiring the GeoIP Legacy databases at the end of May
We recommend that you upgrade to our GeoIP2 databases. You can read these from Apache using mod_maxminddb.
See our blog post for more information.
The mod_geoip2 module embeds GeoIP Legacy database lookups into the Apache web server. It is only capable of looking up the IP of a client that connects to the web server, as opposed to looking up arbitrary addresses.
This module works with Apache 2. Please use mod_geoip with Apache 1.
IP geolocation is inherently imprecise. Locations are often near the center of the population. Any location provided by a GeoIP database should not be used to identify a particular address or household.
The latest version of mod_geoip2 can be found on the GitHub Releases page.
You can download
mod_geoip2
from GitHub or get the latest development version from
GitHub. See the
INSTALL file in the tarball for installation details.
The mod_geoip2 module uses the libGeoIP library to look up geolocation information for a client as part of the http request process. This module is free software, and is licensed under the Apache Software License, Version 1.1.
To compile and install this module, you must first install libGeoIP 1.4.3 or newer.
The mod_geoip2 module takes effect either during request header parsing phase or the post read request phase, depending on whether it is configured for server-wide use or for a specific location/directory.
When enabled, the module looks at the incoming IP address and sets some variables which provide geolocation information for that IP. The variables it set depend on the specific GeoIP Legacy database being used (Country, City, ISP, etc.). These variables can be set in either the request notes table, the environment or both depending on the server configuration.
With the exception of GeoIPEnable, all GeoIP configuration directives
must be placed in the server-wide context of the main server config.
(Please see Server vs Directory context
for a full explanation). After installing the module, make sure that
GeoIPEnable Onis set in your Apache configuration file or an .htaccess file. This
will call the GeoIP Legacy Country database from its default location
(e.g. /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat)
If you want to specify options, for example to use a different database
or to pass caching options, you can use the GeoIPDBFile directive:
GeoIPDBFile /path/to/GeoIP.dat [GeoIPFlag]For example:
GeoIPDBFile /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat MemoryCache
GeoIPDBFile /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIPOrg.dat StandardThe default GeoIPFlag value is Standard, which does not perform any caching, but uses the least memory. To turn on memory caching use:
GeoIPDBFile /path/to/GeoIP.dat MemoryCacheThe memory cache option can use a large amount of memory. We recommend that you use Memory Caching only for the smaller database files, such as GeoIP Legacy Country and GeoIP Legacy ISP.
Another MemoryCache option is MMapCache, which uses the the mmap
system call to map the database file into memory.
If you would like the API to check to see if your local GeoIP Legacy
files have been updated, set the CheckCache flag:
GeoIPDBFile /path/to/GeoIP.dat CheckCacheBefore making a call to the database, geoip will check the GeoIP.dat file to see if it has changed. If it has, then it will reload the file. With this option, you do not have to restart Apache when you update your GeoIP Legacy databases.
If you would like to turn on partial memory caching, use the
IndexCache flag:
GeoIPDBFile /path/to/GeoIP.dat IndexCacheThe IndexCache option caches the most frequently accessed index portion of the database, resulting in faster lookups than StandardCache, but less memory usage than MemoryCache. This is especially useful for larger databases such as GeoIP Legacy Organization and GeoIP Legacy City. For the GeoIP Legacy Country, Region and Netspeed databases, setting the IndexCache option just causes the C API to use the MemoryCache.
Currently, multiple GeoIPFlags options can not be combined.
You may change the output charset from ISO-8859-1 (Latin-1) to UTF-8 with this directive:
GeoIPEnableUTF8 OnBy default mod_geoip2 sets variables in both the notes table and
environment. For performance reasons you may want to set only the one
you use. To do so, use the GeoIPOutput configuration directive:
GeoIPOutput Notes # Sets the Apache notes table only
GeoIPOutput Env # Sets environment variables only
GeoIPOutput Request # Sets input headers with the geo location information
GeoIPOutput All # Sets all three (default behaviour)By default, this module will simply look at the IP address of the
client. However, if the client is using a proxy, this will be the
address of the proxy. You can use the GeoIPScanProxyHeaders directive
to look at proxy-related headers.
GeoIPScanProxyHeaders OnWhen this is set, the module will look at several other sources for the IP address, in this order:
HTTP_CLIENT_IP environment variable (set by Apache).HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR environment variable (set by Apache).X-Forwarded-For for header (set by a proxy).HTTP_REMOTE_ADDR environment variable (set by Apache).This module will use the first IP address it finds in one of these locations instead of the IP address the client connected from.
Some of these variables may contain a comma-separate list of IP
addresses (when a client goes through multiple proxies). In this case,
the default behavior is to use the first IP address. You can set the
GeoIPUseLastXForwardedForIP directive to use the last address instead:
GeoIPUseLastXForwardedForIP OnOr use GeoIPUseFirstNonPrivateXForwardedForIP to use the first non
private IP Address.
GeoIPUseFirstNonPrivateXForwardedForIP OnApache 2.4 users using mod_remoteip to pick the IP address of the user should disable GeoIPScanProxyHeaders. Mod_geoip2 will use whatever mod_remoteip provides.
GeoIPScanProxyHeaderField FieldNameSometimes it is useful to use another field as the source for the client's IP address. You can set this directive to tell this module which header to look at in order to determine the client's IP address.
As noted above, these variables can be set in either the Apache request notes table, the environment, or both. The specific variables which are set depend on the database you are using.
The address used to calculate the GeoIP output.
A two-character code for the continent associated with the IP address. The possible codes are:
A two-character ISO 3166-1 country code for the country associated with the IP address. In addition to the standard codes, we may also return one of the following:
The US country code is returned for IP addresses associated with overseas US military bases.
The country name associated with the IP address.
The address used to calculate the GeoIP output.
A two-character ISO 3166-1 country code for the country associated with the IP address. In addition to the standard codes, we may also return one of the following:
The US country code is returned for IP addresses associated with overseas US military bases.
The region name associated with the IP address.
A two character ISO-3166-2 or FIPS 10-4 code for the state/region associated with the IP address.
For the US and Canada, we return an ISO-3166-2 code. In addition to the standard ISO codes, we may also return one of the following:
We return a FIPS code for all other countries.
We provide a CSV file which maps our region codes to region names. The columns are ISO country code, region code (FIPS or ISO), and the region name.
The address used to calculate the GeoIP output.
A two-character code for the continent associated with the IP address. The possible codes are:
A two-character ISO 3166-1 country code for the country associated with the IP address. In addition to the standard codes, we may also return one of the following:
The US country code is returned for IP addresses associated with overseas US military bases.
A two character ISO-3166-2 or FIPS 10-4 code for the state/region associated with the IP address.
For the US and Canada, we return an ISO-3166-2 code. In addition to the standard ISO codes, we may also return one of the following:
We return a FIPS code for all other countries.
We provide a CSV file which maps our region codes to region names. The columns are ISO country code, region code (FIPS or ISO), and the region name.
The region name associated with the IP address.
The city or town name associated with the IP address. See our list of cities to see all the possible return values. This list is updated on a regular basis.
The metro code associated with the IP address. These are only available for IP addresses in the US. MaxMind returns the same metro codes as the Google AdWords API.
The telephone area code associated with the IP address. These are only available for IP addresses in the US.
The approximate latitude of the location associated with the IP address. This value is not precise and should not be used to identify a particular address or household.
The approximate longitude of the location associated with the IP address. This value is not precise and should not be used to identify a particular address or household.
The postal code associated with the IP address. These are available for some IP addresses in the US, Canada, Germany, and United Kingdom.
The address used to calculate the GeoIP output.
The name of the ISP associated with the IP address.
The address used to calculate the GeoIP output.
The name of the organization associated with the IP address.
The address used to calculate the GeoIP output.
The network speed associated with the IP address. This can be one of the following values:
The address used to calculate the GeoIP output.
A two-character code for the continent associated with the IP address. The possible codes are:
A two-character ISO 3166-1 country code for the country associated with the IP address. In addition to the standard codes, we may also return one of the following:
The US country code is returned for IP addresses associated with overseas US military bases.
The country name associated with the IP address.
Here are some examples of how you can use mod_geoip2.
This example show you how to redirect a client based on the country code that GeoIP sets.
GeoIPEnable On
GeoIPDBFile /path/to/GeoIP.dat
# Redirect one country
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{ENV:GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE} ^CA$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.canada.com$1 [R,L]
# Redirect multiple countries to a single page
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{ENV:GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE} ^(CA|US|MX)$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.northamerica.com$1 [R,L]This example show you how to block clients based on the country code that GeoIP sets.
GeoIPEnable On
GeoIPDBFile /path/to/GeoIP.dat
SetEnvIf GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE CN BlockCountry
SetEnvIf GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE RU BlockCountry
# ... place more countries here
Deny from env=BlockCountryThis example show you how to allow only clients from specific countries.
GeoIPEnable On
GeoIPDBFile /path/to/GeoIP.dat
SetEnvIf GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE US AllowCountry
SetEnvIf GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE CA AllowCountry
SetEnvIf GEOIP_COUNTRY_CODE MX AllowCountry
# ... place more countries here
Deny from all
Allow from env=AllowCountryAll directives except GeoIPEnable are server config only, i.e., you type it only once per server config. Otherwise the latest wins.
<IfModule mod_geoip.c>
GeoIPEnable Off
GeoIPEnableUTF8 On
GeoIPOutput Env
GeoIPDBFile /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat MemoryCache
GeoIPDBFile /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIPCity.dat MemoryCache
GeoIPDBFile /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIPOrg.dat MemoryCache
</IfModule>GeoIPEnable is useful in server or directory context. For example:
GeoIP is only available for a specific location:
<IfModule mod_geoip.c>
GeoIPEnable Off
GeoIPEnableUTF8 On
GeoIPOutput Env
GeoIPDBFile /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat MemoryCache
</IfModule>
# GeoIP information is avail only inside /xxx
<Location /geoip-enabled>
GeoIPEnable On
...
</Location>
<Location /other>
...
</Location>GeoIP is available for all locations:
<IfModule mod_geoip.c>
GeoIPEnable On
GeoIPEnableUTF8 On
GeoIPOutput Env
GeoIPDBFile /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIP.dat MemoryCache
</IfModule>
# This doesn't work, because it's already been enabled in the server-wide
# config!
<Location /geoip-enabled>
GeoIPEnable On
</Location>
<Location /geoip-disabled>
GeoIPEnable Off
</Location>Starting with mod_geoip2 version 1.2.1, all Apache child processes share the same database when you set the MemoryCache or MMapCache flag.
Memory usage is about the same as the database file size, no matter how many child processes Apache spawns. The only thing to remember is ask Apache to update if your database changes. Use the graceful restart option to do so without stopping Apache.
For improved performance, you may want to enable mod_geoip only for
specific HTML pages. If you want to use the mod_geoip module site-wide,
you may still be able to only use it for HTML pages and not images. To
restrict the pages where mod_geoip2 is used, place the GeoIPEnable On
directive inside a , or directive, see:
httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/sections.html
If the module is not working, make sure that the httpd user (e.g. nobody) has read access to the GeoIP database file(s) you are using.
If the GeoIP variables do not show up please make sure that the client IP address is not on a private network such as 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12 or 192.168.0.0/16. GeoIP can only look up public IP addresses.
This file was generated by running
pandoc --from html --to markdown
Using the pre-generated HTML from http://dev.maxmind.com/geoip/legacy/mod_geoip2 as the input.