Problem
I’m new to the ASP.NET MVC stack, and I’m curious what happened to the simple Page object and Request ServerVariables object.
Basically, I’d like to get the IP address of the client PC, but I’m not sure how the current MVC structure has affected this.
Most variable objects, as far as I can tell, have been replaced by HttpRequest variations.
Is there anyone willing to provide some resources? In the realm of ASP.NET MVC, there is a plethora of things to learn.
I have a static class with this current function, for example. What is the best way to achieve the same outcome using ASP.NET MVC?
public static int getCountry(Page page)
{
return getCountryFromIP(getIPAddress(page));
}
public static string getIPAddress(Page page)
{
string szRemoteAddr = page.Request.ServerVariables["REMOTE_ADDR"];
string szXForwardedFor = page.Request.ServerVariables["X_FORWARDED_FOR"];
string szIP = "";
if (szXForwardedFor == null)
{
szIP = szRemoteAddr;
}
else
{
szIP = szXForwardedFor;
if (szIP.IndexOf(",") > 0)
{
string [] arIPs = szIP.Split(',');
foreach (string item in arIPs)
{
if (!isPrivateIP(item))
{
return item;
}
}
}
}
return szIP;
}
And how do I use the controller page to invoke this function?
Asked by melaos
Solution #1
The HttpRequest.UserHostAddress attribute is the straightforward solution.
From within a Controller, for example:
using System;
using System.Web.Mvc;
namespace Mvc.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : ClientController
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
string ip = Request.UserHostAddress;
...
}
}
}
From within a helper class, for example:
using System.Web;
namespace Mvc.Helpers
{
public static class HelperClass
{
public static string GetIPHelper()
{
string ip = HttpContext.Current.Request.UserHostAddress;
..
}
}
}
However, if the request has been forwarded via one or more proxy servers, the IP address provided by HttpRequest will be different. The IP address of the last proxy server that routed the request will be stored in the UserHostAddress attribute.
The de facto convention of inserting the client’s IP address in the X-Forwarded-For HTTP header MAY be used by proxy servers. There’s no guarantee that a request has an X-Forwarded-For header, and there’s no guarantee that the X-Forwarded-For header hasn’t been SPOOFED.
Original Answer
Request.UserHostAddress
Without having to seek for a collection, the above code returns the Client’s IP address. Within Controllers, the Request attribute is available (or Views). To achieve the same outcome, instead of supplying a Page class to your function, pass a Request object:
public static string getIPAddress(HttpRequestBase request)
{
string szRemoteAddr = request.UserHostAddress;
string szXForwardedFor = request.ServerVariables["X_FORWARDED_FOR"];
string szIP = "";
if (szXForwardedFor == null)
{
szIP = szRemoteAddr;
}
else
{
szIP = szXForwardedFor;
if (szIP.IndexOf(",") > 0)
{
string [] arIPs = szIP.Split(',');
foreach (string item in arIPs)
{
if (!isPrivateIP(item))
{
return item;
}
}
}
}
return szIP;
}
Answered by Adrian Toman
Solution #2
Either directly in a view or in the controller action method body, Request.ServerVariables[“REMOTE ADDR”] should work (Request is a property of Controller class in MVC, not Page).
It works, but you must publish on a physical IIS server, not a virtual one.
Answered by ovolko
Solution #3
Although most of the code was quite useful, I cleaned it up and added additional tests to make it more suitable for my needs. This is what I came up with:
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Web;
public class RequestHelpers
{
public static string GetClientIpAddress(HttpRequestBase request)
{
try
{
var userHostAddress = request.UserHostAddress;
// Attempt to parse. If it fails, we catch below and return "0.0.0.0"
// Could use TryParse instead, but I wanted to catch all exceptions
IPAddress.Parse(userHostAddress);
var xForwardedFor = request.ServerVariables["X_FORWARDED_FOR"];
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(xForwardedFor))
return userHostAddress;
// Get a list of public ip addresses in the X_FORWARDED_FOR variable
var publicForwardingIps = xForwardedFor.Split(',').Where(ip => !IsPrivateIpAddress(ip)).ToList();
// If we found any, return the last one, otherwise return the user host address
return publicForwardingIps.Any() ? publicForwardingIps.Last() : userHostAddress;
}
catch (Exception)
{
// Always return all zeroes for any failure (my calling code expects it)
return "0.0.0.0";
}
}
private static bool IsPrivateIpAddress(string ipAddress)
{
// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_network
// Private IP Addresses are:
// 24-bit block: 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255
// 20-bit block: 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255
// 16-bit block: 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255
// Link-local addresses: 169.254.0.0 through 169.254.255.255 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link-local_address)
var ip = IPAddress.Parse(ipAddress);
var octets = ip.GetAddressBytes();
var is24BitBlock = octets[0] == 10;
if (is24BitBlock) return true; // Return to prevent further processing
var is20BitBlock = octets[0] == 172 && octets[1] >= 16 && octets[1] <= 31;
if (is20BitBlock) return true; // Return to prevent further processing
var is16BitBlock = octets[0] == 192 && octets[1] == 168;
if (is16BitBlock) return true; // Return to prevent further processing
var isLinkLocalAddress = octets[0] == 169 && octets[1] == 254;
return isLinkLocalAddress;
}
}
And here are some NUnit tests against that code (I’m using Rhino Mocks to mock the HttpRequestBase, which is the M call below):
using System.Web;
using NUnit.Framework;
using Rhino.Mocks;
using Should;
[TestFixture]
public class HelpersTests : TestBase
{
HttpRequestBase _httpRequest;
private const string XForwardedFor = "X_FORWARDED_FOR";
private const string MalformedIpAddress = "MALFORMED";
private const string DefaultIpAddress = "0.0.0.0";
private const string GoogleIpAddress = "74.125.224.224";
private const string MicrosoftIpAddress = "65.55.58.201";
private const string Private24Bit = "10.0.0.0";
private const string Private20Bit = "172.16.0.0";
private const string Private16Bit = "192.168.0.0";
private const string PrivateLinkLocal = "169.254.0.0";
[SetUp]
public void Setup()
{
_httpRequest = M<HttpRequestBase>();
}
[TearDown]
public void Teardown()
{
_httpRequest = null;
}
[Test]
public void PublicIpAndNullXForwardedFor_Returns_CorrectIp()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(GoogleIpAddress);
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(null);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(GoogleIpAddress);
}
[Test]
public void PublicIpAndEmptyXForwardedFor_Returns_CorrectIp()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(GoogleIpAddress);
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(string.Empty);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(GoogleIpAddress);
}
[Test]
public void MalformedUserHostAddress_Returns_DefaultIpAddress()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(MalformedIpAddress);
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(null);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(DefaultIpAddress);
}
[Test]
public void MalformedXForwardedFor_Returns_DefaultIpAddress()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(GoogleIpAddress);
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(MalformedIpAddress);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(DefaultIpAddress);
}
[Test]
public void SingleValidPublicXForwardedFor_Returns_XForwardedFor()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(GoogleIpAddress);
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(MicrosoftIpAddress);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(MicrosoftIpAddress);
}
[Test]
public void MultipleValidPublicXForwardedFor_Returns_LastXForwardedFor()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(GoogleIpAddress);
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(GoogleIpAddress + "," + MicrosoftIpAddress);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(MicrosoftIpAddress);
}
[Test]
public void SinglePrivateXForwardedFor_Returns_UserHostAddress()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(GoogleIpAddress);
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(Private24Bit);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(GoogleIpAddress);
}
[Test]
public void MultiplePrivateXForwardedFor_Returns_UserHostAddress()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(GoogleIpAddress);
const string privateIpList = Private24Bit + "," + Private20Bit + "," + Private16Bit + "," + PrivateLinkLocal;
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(privateIpList);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(GoogleIpAddress);
}
[Test]
public void MultiplePublicXForwardedForWithPrivateLast_Returns_LastPublic()
{
// Arrange
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.UserHostAddress).Return(GoogleIpAddress);
const string privateIpList = Private24Bit + "," + Private20Bit + "," + MicrosoftIpAddress + "," + PrivateLinkLocal;
_httpRequest.Stub(x => x.ServerVariables[XForwardedFor]).Return(privateIpList);
// Act
var ip = RequestHelpers.GetClientIpAddress(_httpRequest);
// Assert
ip.ShouldEqual(MicrosoftIpAddress);
}
}
Answered by Noah Heldman
Solution #4
I couldn’t figure out how to use the above, and I wanted the IP address of a controller. In the end, I used the following:
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.UserHostAddress
Answered by Tom
Solution #5
You may call it something like this in a class:
public static string GetIPAddress(HttpRequestBase request)
{
string ip;
try
{
ip = request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR"];
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(ip))
{
if (ip.IndexOf(",") > 0)
{
string[] ipRange = ip.Split(',');
int le = ipRange.Length - 1;
ip = ipRange[le];
}
} else
{
ip = request.UserHostAddress;
}
} catch { ip = null; }
return ip;
}
With amazing success, I utilized this in a razor app.
Answered by Paul Keefe
Post is based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2577496/how-can-i-get-the-clients-ip-address-in-asp-net-mvc