Question

when using nginx as a simple webserver (no reverse proxy magic, not even cgi, etc…) is it possible to set a list of VALID referrers and do something like :

if ( referrer not in list of VALID referrers ) {
    log this referrer
}

is something of this sort possible using a standard nginx source OR any additional modules/extensions?

as i understand this could possibly be slightly involved, no need for a full conf write up… pointing me at the correct conf directives will suffice 🙂

thanks!

Answer 1

http {
  map $http_referrer $log_ref {
   default               0;

   http://referrer1/path 1;
   ~^http://referrer2/   1;
  }

  server {

    location / {
      if ($log_ref) {
        access_log ....
      }
    }

  }
}

Nginx version 0.9.6+ supports regular expressions in map. Marker ~ serves to denote them.