With IP Blocking, you can control access to your website based on IP addresses. You can block individual IP addresses or entire IP ranges, or restrict access so that only specified IP addresses can reach your website.
Blacklist or whitelist – what’s the difference?
Depending on whether you want to block specific IP addresses or restrict access to your website to selected users or networks, you can use either a blacklist or a whitelist.
| Blacklist | Whitelist |
What does it do? | Listed IP addresses are blocked. All other IP addresses can access your website. | Only listed IP addresses can access your website. All other IP addresses are blocked. |
When should I use it? | When you want to block specific IP addresses or IP ranges. | When your website should only be accessible to specific users or networks. |
Typical use cases | Blocking known IP addresses associated with unwanted or suspicious traffic. | Development sites, internal websites, or employee portals. |
Set up a blacklist
With Blacklisting Mode, you can block specific IP addresses or IP ranges from accessing your website. All other traffic remains allowed.
To set up a blacklist:
1. Open the Settings for the relevant Box.
2. Select Security from the menu on the left.
3. Open IP Blocking.
4. Select Blacklisting mode from the dropdown menu.
5. Click the plus icon on the right to add a new input field.
6. Enter the IP address or IP range you want to block.
7. To add more IP addresses or IP ranges, click the plus icon again for each additional entry.
8. Click Apply to save your settings.
Set up a whitelist
With Whitelisting Mode, you can specify which IP addresses or IP ranges are allowed to access your website. All other traffic will be blocked.
To set up a whitelist:
1. Open the Settings for the relevant Box.
2. Select Security from the menu on the left.
3. Open IP Blocking.
4. Select Whitelisting Mode from the dropdown menu.
5. Click the plus icon on the right to add a new input field.
6. Enter an IP address or IP range that you want to allow.
7. To allow more IP addresses or IP ranges, click the plus icon again for each additional entry.
8. Click Apply to save your settings.
Keep dynamic IP addresses in mind
Many internet connections do not use a permanent public IP address. Instead, your public IP address may change periodically.
If you use a dynamic IP address in Whitelisting Mode, you may lose access to your website when your IP address changes. If this happens, you'll need to add your new IP address to the whitelist.
💡Alternative: Password Protection
If you want to prevent public access to your website without restricting access to specific IP addresses, you can use your Box's Password Protection instead.
This can be particularly useful for development sites where several people need access from different or changing IP addresses.
Block or allow entire IP ranges
Neben einzelnen IP Adressen kannst du auch ganze IP Bereiche, sogenannte Subnetze, in deine Blacklist oder Whitelist aufnehmen.
In addition to individual IP addresses, you can also add entire IP ranges, known as subnets, to your blacklist or whitelist.
To do this, use CIDR notation, for example:
192.0.2.0/24
This allows you to apply a rule to a range of IP addresses rather than a single IP address.
If you're unsure which subnet you need, you can use this Network Calculator.
Can I block traffic from an entire country?
IP Blocking does not allow you to block an entire country directly.
Countries are associated with many different IP ranges, making it impractical to block all traffic from a specific country using individual IP Blocking entries.
If you want to restrict access based on a visitor's country, you can use an external service that supports Geo Blocking. One option is Cloudflare.
ℹ️ External service: Cloudflare is a third-party service and is not part of our Hosting. Setup, configuration, and management take place outside the Raidboxes Dashboard.
How can I find the IP address of a request?
💡 For advanced users:
Analysing Access Logs requires some technical knowledge. If you're already familiar with Access Logs, you can use them to identify the IP address associated with a specific request.
You can find the Access Log for the current day directly in your Box Overview.
The log includes the IP address from which a request originated, the requested URL, and other information about the request.
You can also access the logs from the last seven days via SFTP in the logs directory.
Does IP Blocking help against bots and attacks?
IP Blocking can be useful when unwanted traffic originates from a specific IP address or a known IP range.
However, blocking individual IP addresses is often less effective against automated attacks and bots, as this type of traffic can originate from many different or frequently changing IP addresses.
If you've identified a specific bot or crawler by its User Agent, you can use User Agent Blocking instead.
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