MaxMind DB Apache Module

This module allows you to query MaxMind DB files from Apache 2.2+ using the libmaxminddb library.

Requirements

This module requires Apache 2.2 or 2.4 to be installed, including any corresponding "dev" package, such as apache2-dev on Ubuntu. You should have apxs or apxs2 in your $PATH.

You also must install the libmaxminddb C library.

Installation

From a Named Release Tarball (Recommended)

NOTE: These instructions are for installation from the named .tar.gz tarballs on the Releases page (e.g. mod_maxminddb-*.tar.gz).

To install the module from a tarball, run the following commands from the directory with the extracted source:

./configure
make install

To use another Apache installation, specify a path to the right apxs binary:

./configure --with-apxs=/foo/bar/apxs

From a GitHub "Source Code" Archive / Git Repo Clone (Achtung!)

NOTE: These instructions are for installation from the GitHub "Source Code" archives also available on the Releases page (e.g. X.Y.Z.zip or X.Y.Z.tar.gz), as well as installation directly from a clone of the Git repo. Installation from these sources are possible but will present challenges to users not comfortable with manual dependency resolution.

1. Ensure the build tools automake, autoconf and libtool are installed.

2. Extract the archive and switch into the directory containing the extracted source.

3. Run ./bootstrap. Many users will experience challenges here as there are several dependencies that need to be present before this can complete successfully.

4. Run:

    ./configure
    make install
   

To use another Apache installation, specify a path to the right apxs binary:

./configure --with-apxs=/foo/bar/apxs

Loading the Module

After installing the module, Apache has to load it. Note the installation does this automatically, so you should not need to do anything. If you're unsure if the module is loaded, ensure there's a LoadModule line somewhere in your config, such as LoadModule maxminddb_module /path/to/mod_maxminddb.so.

Usage

To use this module, you must first download or create a MaxMind DB file. We provide free GeoLite2 databases as well as commercial GeoIP2 databases.

After installing this module and obtaining a database, you must now set up the module in your Apache configuration file (e.g., /etc/apache2/apache2.conf) or in an .htaccess file. You must set MaxMindDBEnable to enable the module, MaxMindDBFile to specify the database to use, and MaxMindDBEnv to bind the desired lookup result to an environment variable. You can also enable MaxMindDBSetNotes if you wish the environment variables to also be set as Apache notes.

This module uses the client IP address for the lookup. This is not always what you want. If you need to use an IP address specified in a header (e.g., by your proxy frontend), mod_remoteip may be used to set the client IP address.

Manually setting the client IP address is also possible. See Client IP address lookup control.

Directives

All directives may appear either in your server configuration or an .htaccess file. Directives in <Location> and <Directory> blocks will also apply to sub-locations and subdirectories. The configuration will be merged with the most specific taking precedence. For instance, a conflicting directive set for a subdirectory will be used for the subdirectory rather than the directive set for the parent location.

Similarly, the main server configuration may set defaults that will be merged into the configuration provided by individual virtual hosts. However, please note that currently no configuration merging is performed between server/vhost and directory configurations.

MaxMindDBEnable

This directive enables or disables the MaxMind DB lookup. Valid settings are On and Off.

MaxMindDBEnable On

MaxMindDBFile

This directive associates a name placeholder with a MaxMind DB file on the disk. You may specify multiple databases, each with its own name.

MaxMindDBFile COUNTRY_DB /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb
MaxMindDBFile CITY_DB    /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoLite2-City.mmdb

The name placeholder can be any string that Apache parses as a word. We recommend sticking to letters, numbers, and underscores.

MaxMindDBEnv

This directive assigns the lookup result to an environment variable. The first parameter after the directive is the environment variable. The second parameter is the name of the database followed by the path to the desired data using map keys or 0-based array indexes separated by /.

MaxMindDBEnv COUNTRY_CODE COUNTRY_DB/country/iso_code
MaxMindDBEnv REGION_CODE  CITY_DB/subdivisions/0/iso_code

Keep in mind that the configured environment variable(s) will only be exported if the data lookup succeeds.

MaxMindDBNetworkEnv

This directive assigns the network associated with the IP address to an environment variable. The network will be in CIDR format. This directive may only be used once per database.

MaxMindDBNetworkEnv COUNTRY_DB COUNTRY_NETWORK
MaxMindDBNetworkEnv CITY_DB    CITY_NETWORK

MaxMindDBSetNotes

This directive enables or disables the setting of Apache notes alongside the environment variables set via MaxMindDBEnv. Valid settings are On and Off. It defaults to Off.

MaxMindDBSetNotes On

Exported Environment Variables

In addition to the environment variable specified by MaxMindDBEnv, this module exports MMDB_ADDR, which contains the IP address used for lookups by the module. This is primarily intended for debugging purposes. If MaxMindDBSetNotes is On, all environment variables are also exported as Apache notes.

Client IP address lookup control

In case you want supply your own value for the IP address to lookup, it may be done by setting the environment variable MMDB_ADDR. This can be done, for instance, with ModSecurity in (real) phase 1. Note that mod_setenvif and mod_rewrite cannot be used for this as they are running after this module. For most usages, mod_remoteip is an easier alternative.

Examples

These examples show how to export data from the database into environment variables.

ASN Database

<IfModule mod_maxminddb.c>
    MaxMindDBEnable On
    MaxMindDBFile ASN_DB /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoLite2-ASN.mmdb

    MaxMindDBEnv MM_ASN ASN_DB/autonomous_system_number
    MaxMindDBEnv MM_ASORG ASN_DB/autonomous_system_organization

    MaxMindDBNetworkEnv ASN_DB ASN_DB_NETWORK
</IfModule>

City Database

<IfModule mod_maxminddb.c>
    MaxMindDBEnable On
    MaxMindDBFile CITY_DB /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoLite2-City.mmdb

    MaxMindDBEnv MM_COUNTRY_CODE CITY_DB/country/iso_code
    MaxMindDBEnv MM_COUNTRY_NAME CITY_DB/country/names/en
    MaxMindDBEnv MM_CITY_NAME CITY_DB/city/names/en
    MaxMindDBEnv MM_LONGITUDE CITY_DB/location/longitude
    MaxMindDBEnv MM_LATITUDE CITY_DB/location/latitude

    MaxMindDBNetworkEnv CITY_DB CITY_DB_NETWORK
</IfModule>

Connection-Type Database

<IfModule mod_maxminddb.c>
    MaxMindDBEnable On
    MaxMindDBFile CONNECTION_TYPE_DB /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIP2-Connection-Type.mmdb

    MaxMindDBEnv MM_CONNECTION_TYPE CONNECTION_TYPE_DB/connection_type

    MaxMindDBNetworkEnv CONNECTION_TYPE_DB CONNECTION_TYPE_DB_NETWORK
</IfModule>

Domain Database

<IfModule mod_maxminddb.c>
    MaxMindDBEnable On
    MaxMindDBFile DOMAIN_DB /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIP2-Domain.mmdb

    MaxMindDBEnv MM_DOMAIN DOMAIN_DB/domain

    MaxMindDBNetworkEnv DOMAIN_DB DOMAIN_DB_NETWORK
</IfModule>

ISP Database

<IfModule mod_maxminddb.c>
    MaxMindDBEnable On
    MaxMindDBFile ISP_DB /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoIP2-ISP.mmdb

    MaxMindDBEnv MM_ASN ISP_DB/autonomous_system_number
    MaxMindDBEnv MM_ASORG ISP_DB/autonomous_system_organization
    MaxMindDBEnv MM_ISP ISP_DB/isp
    MaxMindDBEnv MM_ORG ISP_DB/organization

    MaxMindDBNetworkEnv ISP_DB ISP_DB_NETWORK
</IfModule>

Blocking by Country

This example shows how to block users based on their country:

MaxMindDBEnable On
MaxMindDBFile COUNTRY_DB /usr/local/share/GeoIP/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb
MaxMindDBEnv MM_COUNTRY_CODE COUNTRY_DB/country/iso_code

SetEnvIf MM_COUNTRY_CODE ^(RU|DE|FR) BlockCountry
Deny from env=BlockCountry

Note that at least the "Deny" or "Allow" directive (or "Require" directive in Apache 2.4 and above) must be applied within a <Directory>, <Location> or <Files> container.

Data Output Format

All data is provided as a string bound to the specified Apache environment variable. Floating point numbers are provided to five digits after the decimal place. All integers types except 128-bit integers are provided as decimal. 128-bit integers are returned as hexadecimal. Booleans are returned as "0" for false and "1" for true.

Note that data stored as the "bytes" type in a MaxMind DB database can contain null bytes and may end up truncated when stored in an environment variable. If you really need to access this data, we recommend using one of our programming language APIs instead.

Support

Please report all issues with this code using the GitHub issue tracker.

If you are having an issue with a commercial MaxMind database that is not specific to this module, please see our support page.

Versioning

The MaxMind DB Apache module uses Semantic Versioning.

Copyright and License

This software is Copyright (c) 2013-2021 by MaxMind, Inc.

This is free software, licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.