[AusNOG] Assistance Needed: Restricting Website Traffic to Cloudflare’s Network...

[Michael Bullut]

Good Afternoon Good People,

I am reaching out for some assistance with configuring a client’s website
to accept traffic only from Cloudflare’s network.

I have attempted to achieve this by editing the .htaccess file to allow
Cloudflare’s IP ranges and deny all other connections. However, after
applying the configuration, I’m receiving a *“Forbidden - Access is denied”*
error.

Here’s a summary of the situation:

   - *Hosting environment:* nginx on cPanel.
   - *Goal:* Restrict direct access to the origin server, allowing only
   Cloudflare’s IP addresses.
   - *Action taken:* Added allow/deny directives to .htaccess using
   Cloudflare’s published IP ranges.
   - *Issue:* Website becomes inaccessible *(403 Forbidden).*

I have double-checked the syntax and updated Cloudflare’s IP list, but the
issue persists. If anyone has experience setting this up or can suggest the
correct configuration or an alternative approach *(e.g., using server-level
configuration instead of .htaccess),* I would greatly appreciate your
insight.

Warm regards,

Michael Bullut.

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*Cellphone:* *+254 723 393 114.*
*Twitter:* *@MichaelBullut* <https://x.com/MichaelBullut>
*Blog:* *http://www.kipsang.com/ <http://www.kipsang.com/>*
*E-mail Address:* *main at kipsang.com* <main at kipsang.com>

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