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Host access control files

GN permits access control on the basis of host-name or Internet address if it is started with the -a or -A option. The list of hosts allowed or denied access is taken from a .access file.

Each line in the access file consists of a host-name pattern. If the line starts with an exclamation mark then hosts matching the pattern are denied access to the files, otherwise they are permitted access. The pattern * matches all hosts and if used in a deny rule will deny access to all hosts. For example:

  192.168
  info.cern.ch
  *.uk
  !*

If the server was started with the -a option there is only one access file, which is located in the root data directory, while the -A option allows multiple access files. In the latter case, if an access file is not found in the current directory the server will search for it in each higher-level directory in turn up to the root data directory.

Spinning the Web by Andrew Ford
© 1995 International Thomson Publishing
© 2002 Andrew Ford and Ford & Mason Ltd
Note: this HTML document was generated in December 1994 directly from the LaTeX source files using LaTeX2HTML. It was formatted into our standard page layout using the Template Toolkit. The document is mainly of historical interest as obviously many of the sites mentioned have long since disappeared.