F5 NGINX Plus can differentiate users based on their geographical location. For example, you can have different website content for different countries, or you can restrict content distribution to a particular country or city.
NGINXÂ Plus uses third-party MaxMind databases to match the IP address of the user and its location. As soon as the geoposition is known, it is then possible to use geoip-based variables in the map or the split_clients module.
Note MaxMind GeoLite Legacy databases are currently discontinued, MaxMind GeoIP2 or GeoLite2 databases and NGINXÂ Plus GeoIP2 module should be used instead.
Restricting by geographical location works both for HTTP and TCP/UDP protocols.
The GeoIP2 or GeoLite2 databases can be obtained from the MaxMind download page. In this example, the GeoLite2 free downloadable databases are used.
To get and unpack GeoLite2 Country database:
shellwget http://geolite.maxmind.com/download/geoip/database/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb.gz
gunzip GeoLite2-Country.mmdb.gz
wget http://geolite.maxmind.com/download/geoip/database/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb.gz
gunzip GeoLite2-Country.mmdb.gz
To get and unpack GeoLite2 City database:
shellwget http://geolite.maxmind.com/download/geoip/database/GeoLite2-City.mmdb.gz
gunzip GeoLite2-City.mmdb.gz
wget http://geolite.maxmind.com/download/geoip/database/GeoLite2-City.mmdb.gz
gunzip GeoLite2-City.mmdb.gz
Understanding Database Structure
To see the available geodata, you can query the GeoLite2-Country and GeoLite2-City databases with the mmdblookup utility. The geodata is represented as the JSON tree.
Install the libmaxminddb database utility:
For Amazon Linux, CentOS, Oracle Linux, and RHEL:
yum install libmaxminddb-devel
yum install libmaxminddb-devel
For Debian and Ubuntu:
apt-get install libmaxminddb-dev
apt-get install libmaxminddb-dev
For SLES:
zypper install libmaxminddb-devel
zypper install libmaxminddb-devel
A query to the databases can be sent in the following format:
mmdblookup âfile [FILE PATH] âip [IP ADDRESS] [DATA PATH]
mmdblookup âfile [FILE PATH] âip [IP ADDRESS] [DATA PATH]
For example, to get all available geodata for the 8.8.8.8
IP address, send the following command:
mmdblookup --file /usr/local/etc/geoip2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb --ip 8.8.8.8
mmdblookup --file /usr/local/etc/geoip2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb --ip 8.8.8.8
The output will be:
json{
"continent":
{
"code":
"NA" <utf8_string>
"geoname_id":
6255149 <uint32>
"names":
{
"de":
"Nordamerika" <utf8_string>
"en":
"North America" <utf8_string>
"es":
"Norteamérica" <utf8_string>
"fr":
"Amérique du Nord" <utf8_string>
"ja":
"åã¢ã¡ãªã«" <utf8_string>
"pt-BR":
"América do Norte" <utf8_string>
"ru":
"СевеÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐмеÑика" <utf8_string>
"zh-CN":
"åç¾æ´²" <utf8_string>
}
}
"country":
{
"geoname_id":
6252001 <uint32>
"iso_code":
"US" <utf8_string>
"names":
{
"de":
"USA" <utf8_string>
"en":
"United States" <utf8_string>
"es":
"Estados Unidos" <utf8_string>
"fr":
"Ãtats-Unis" <utf8_string>
"ja":
"ã¢ã¡ãªã«åè¡å½" <utf8_string>
"pt-BR":
"Estados Unidos" <utf8_string>
"ru":
"СШÐ" <utf8_string>
"zh-CN":
"ç¾å½" <utf8_string>
}
}
"registered_country":
{
"geoname_id":
6252001 <uint32>
"iso_code":
"US" <utf8_string>
"names":
{
"de":
"USA" <utf8_string>
"en":
"United States" <utf8_string>
"es":
"Estados Unidos" <utf8_string>
"fr":
"Ãtats-Unis" <utf8_string>
"ja":
"ã¢ã¡ãªã«åè¡å½" <utf8_string>
"pt-BR":
"Estados Unidos" <utf8_string>
"ru":
"СШÐ" <utf8_string>
"zh-CN":
"ç¾å½" <utf8_string>
}
}
}
{
"continent":
{
"code":
"NA" <utf8_string>
"geoname_id":
6255149 <uint32>
"names":
{
"de":
"Nordamerika" <utf8_string>
"en":
"North America" <utf8_string>
"es":
"Norteamérica" <utf8_string>
"fr":
"Amérique du Nord" <utf8_string>
"ja":
"åã¢ã¡ãªã«" <utf8_string>
"pt-BR":
"América do Norte" <utf8_string>
"ru":
"СевеÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐмеÑика" <utf8_string>
"zh-CN":
"åç¾æ´²" <utf8_string>
}
}
"country":
{
"geoname_id":
6252001 <uint32>
"iso_code":
"US" <utf8_string>
"names":
{
"de":
"USA" <utf8_string>
"en":
"United States" <utf8_string>
"es":
"Estados Unidos" <utf8_string>
"fr":
"Ãtats-Unis" <utf8_string>
"ja":
"ã¢ã¡ãªã«åè¡å½" <utf8_string>
"pt-BR":
"Estados Unidos" <utf8_string>
"ru":
"СШÐ" <utf8_string>
"zh-CN":
"ç¾å½" <utf8_string>
}
}
"registered_country":
{
"geoname_id":
6252001 <uint32>
"iso_code":
"US" <utf8_string>
"names":
{
"de":
"USA" <utf8_string>
"en":
"United States" <utf8_string>
"es":
"Estados Unidos" <utf8_string>
"fr":
"Ãtats-Unis" <utf8_string>
"ja":
"ã¢ã¡ãªã«åè¡å½" <utf8_string>
"pt-BR":
"Estados Unidos" <utf8_string>
"ru":
"СШÐ" <utf8_string>
"zh-CN":
"ç¾å½" <utf8_string>
}
}
}
To get particular geodata, for example, only the ISO code of a particular country, add the country iso_code
parameters to the end of the command:
mmdblookup --file /usr/local/etc/geoip2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb --ip 8.8.8.8 country iso_code
mmdblookup --file /usr/local/etc/geoip2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb --ip 8.8.8.8 country iso_code
These parameters are also used when creating variables in the GeoIP2 module for NGINX.
Configuring GeoIP2 in NGINX Plus
Install the GeoIP2 dynamic module for NGINXÂ Plus:
For Amazon Linux, CentOS, Oracle Linux, and RHEL:
yum install nginx-plus-module-geoip2
yum install nginx-plus-module-geoip2
For Debian and Ubuntu:
apt-get install nginx-plus-module-geoip2
apt-get install nginx-plus-module-geoip2
For SLES:
zypper install nginx-plus-module-geoip2
zypper install nginx-plus-module-geoip2
Enable the GeoIP2 dynamic module in the NGINXÂ Plus configuration file with the load_module directive specified in the main
configuration level:
load_module modules/ngx_http_geoip2_module.so;
load_module modules/ngx_stream_geoip2_module.so;
http {
# ...
}
load_module modules/ngx_http_geoip2_module.so;
load_module modules/ngx_stream_geoip2_module.so;
http {
# ...
}
Add the paths to the country and city databases to the NGINX configuration with the geoip2 {}
block for http {}
, stream {}
, or both:
http {
#...
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
#...
}
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-City.mmdb {
#...
}
}
stream {
#...
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
#...
}
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-City.mmdb {
#...
}
}
http {
#...
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
#...
}
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-City.mmdb {
#...
}
}
stream {
#...
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
#...
}
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-City.mmdb {
#...
}
}
Basing on the GeoIP database structure, create custom variables that will keep the data from the GeoIP2 database and then later pass the data to the map or split_clients directives (can be applied in both the http {}
and stream {}
contexts):
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-City.mmdb {
$geoip2_data_city_name city names en;
$geoip2_data_postal_code postal code;
$geoip2_data_latitude location latitude;
$geoip2_data_longitude location longitude;
$geoip2_data_state_name subdivisions 0 names en;
$geoip2_data_state_code subdivisions 0 iso_code;
}
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
$geoip2_data_continent_code continent code;
$geoip2_data_country_iso_code country iso_code;
}
#...
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-City.mmdb {
$geoip2_data_city_name city names en;
$geoip2_data_postal_code postal code;
$geoip2_data_latitude location latitude;
$geoip2_data_longitude location longitude;
$geoip2_data_state_name subdivisions 0 names en;
$geoip2_data_state_code subdivisions 0 iso_code;
}
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
$geoip2_data_continent_code continent code;
$geoip2_data_country_iso_code country iso_code;
}
#...
Scenario: Choosing the Nearest Server
Using the geolocation data from the created variables, a client connection can be redirected to the closest server, thus reducing network latency and improving connection speed.
This can be achieved by using the continent code from the GeoIP2 database in a variable and the map module that will create another variable whose value will be the closest server basing on a continent location. Basing on this value, NGINX will pass the request to the corresponding upstream server group.
Make sure you have configured the servers or upstream server groups for each continent, for example, eu
for Europe, na
for North America, all
for cases when the IP address cannot be matched against the GeoIP database:
upstream all {
server all1.example.com:12345;
server all2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream eu {
server eu1.example.com:12345;
server eu2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream na {
server na1.example.com:12345;
server na2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream all {
server all1.example.com:12345;
server all2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream eu {
server eu1.example.com:12345;
server eu2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream na {
server na1.example.com:12345;
server na2.example.com:12345;
}
Add the geoip2 {}
block with a variable of any name (for example, $geoip2_data_continent_code
) that obtains the continent code of the GeoIP2 database:
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
$geoip2_data_continent_code continent code;
}
#...
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
$geoip2_data_continent_code continent code;
}
#...
Create the map block that will create the $nearest_server
variable:
#...
map $geoip2_data_continent_code $nearest_server {
default all;
EU eu;
NA na;
AS as;
AF af;
}
#...
#...
map $geoip2_data_continent_code $nearest_server {
default all;
EU eu;
NA na;
AS as;
AF af;
}
#...
Create the server {}
block which will pass the requests to one of the upstream server groups according to the value passed in the $nearest_server
variable:
server {
listen 12346;
proxy_pass http://$nearest_server;
}
server {
listen 12346;
proxy_pass http://$nearest_server;
}
If the continent is Europe, then the value of the $nearest_server
will be eu
, and the connection will be passed to the eu
upstream via the proxy_pass directive:
#...
server {
listen 12346;
proxy_pass http://$nearest_server;
}
upstream all {
server all1.example.com:12345;
server all2.example.com:12345;
upstream eu {
server eu1.example.com:12345;
server eu2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream na {
server na1.example.com:12345;
server na2.example.com:12345;
}
#...
#...
server {
listen 12346;
proxy_pass http://$nearest_server;
}
upstream all {
server all1.example.com:12345;
server all2.example.com:12345;
upstream eu {
server eu1.example.com:12345;
server eu2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream na {
server na1.example.com:12345;
server na2.example.com:12345;
}
#...
This example can be applied in both the http and stream contexts.
nginx# can be either "http {}" or "stream {}"
#...
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
$geoip2_data_continent_code continent code;
}
map $geoip2_data_continent_code $nearest_server {
default all;
EU eu;
NA na;
AS as;
AF af;
}
server {
listen 12346;
proxy_pass http://$nearest_server;
}
upstream all {
server all1.example.com:12345;
server all2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream eu {
server eu1.example.com:12345;
server eu2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream na {
server na1.example.com:12345;
server na2.example.com:12345;
}
# can be either "http {}" or "stream {}"
#...
geoip2 GeoIP2/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb {
$geoip2_data_continent_code continent code;
}
map $geoip2_data_continent_code $nearest_server {
default all;
EU eu;
NA na;
AS as;
AF af;
}
server {
listen 12346;
proxy_pass http://$nearest_server;
}
upstream all {
server all1.example.com:12345;
server all2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream eu {
server eu1.example.com:12345;
server eu2.example.com:12345;
}
upstream na {
server na1.example.com:12345;
server na2.example.com:12345;
}
In this example, the IP address will be checked in the GeoLite2-Country.mmdb
database, the result will be written to the $geoip2_data_continent_code
variable. NGINXÂ Plus will match the value of the variable against values in the map directive and write the result in the custom variable, in our example $nearest_server
. Basing on the value of the $nearest_server
, the proxy_pass directive will choose a corresponding upstream server.
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