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Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 5:44 pm
by nikolayjs
Hi,
I've recently installed phpBB version 3.1.6. So far everything seems great. It has almost all features that I need.

I was just wondering if there is any good way to make my new forum private - to grant access to the forum to only specific users and in the ideal case to allow only one active session per computer and set IP restrictions per user so they can only access the forum using just the specified IPs. Is there an extension which does that?

Your help will be highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:05 pm
by david63
nikolayjs wrote: if there is any good way to make my new forum private - to grant access to the forum to only specific users
You can control who registers quite easily by using the Q&A option. Set the question to "Please enter the code" and then tell the people you want as members what the code is.
nikolayjs wrote:in the ideal case to allow only one active session per computer
That is the case anywat - as far as I am aware.
nikolayjs wrote: set IP restrictions per user so they can only access the forum using just the specified IPs.
You can block all IP addresses and only allow the ones that you want but that will create problems. Firstly by banning all IP addresses you will slow your forum down (in fact it may stop) and then what happens when a user wants to access the forum from another IP address? The may reboot their router and get a new address automatically, they may be away on business and want to access the forum or they could be on hilday and want to access the forum.

Personally I cannot see what purpose it would serve to only allow access from certain IP addresses. If the user is registered and only those you want can register then IP addresses become irrelevant.

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 8:39 pm
by nikolayjs
Hello David,

Thank you very much for your comment.

I don't want unregistered members to have read access at all so I don't think Q&A will come handy. Maybe I should activate some other option as well.

Could you please clarify the case anywat? Is than an extension? Sorry I am a noob.

The purpose of allowing certain IP addreses is that since the forum will be private and paid I want to avoid people exchanging their accounts and I end up having 1 account used by 10 people. Thats also the reason why I want to allow only 1 person logged in at the same time with the same account. Maybe there are better options out there. I am extremely open for suggestions. :)

Best,
Nikolay

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:42 pm
by Lumpy Burgertushie
nikolayjs wrote:Hello David,

Thank you very much for your comment.

I don't want unregistered members to have read access at all so I don't think Q&A will come handy. Maybe I should activate some other option as well.
you do that with permissions. do not give the guest group any access at all. then only registered users will be able to see any of the forums/posts etc.


Could you please clarify the case anywat? Is than an extension? Sorry I am a noob.
that was a typo and should have "case anyway". what he means is that it is default that only one active session per computer at a time.
The purpose of allowing certain IP addreses is that since the forum will be private and paid I want to avoid people exchanging their accounts and I end up having 1 account used by 10 people. Thats also the reason why I want to allow only 1 person logged in at the same time with the same account. Maybe there are better options out there. I am extremely open for suggestions. :)

people's IP addresses change all the time. only one person can be using a IP address at a time.
people exchanging accounts will have nothing to do with their IP.
joe can log in today from one IP and tomorrow he will be using a different one and bob could be using the IP that joe had yesterday.
so, trying to control the sharing of account logins by trying to regulate IPs is a waste of time.


Best,
Nikolay
the point of the Q&A is that you setup the question as " type in the code sent to you ".
the answer will be whatever code you email or otherwise give to your prospective members.
If you wish,you can change that code every day or hour or for each member to register with.
Or, you can add the "add user" extension and add the users manually.

that would be the easiest and most foolproof way of doing it.

robert

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 10:38 am
by nikolayjs
Hi,

Thank you for your comment.

I was able to activate B&O option which requires the user to input an answer and I will be the only one providing them. It solves that problem.

Unfortunately, I can't get it to work as one session per computer. I was able to login with the same username on 2 browsers and even on my phone. Maybe this is another setting which I am missing?

Thanks
Nikolay

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 12:58 pm
by david63
nikolayjs wrote:Unfortunately, I can't get it to work as one session per computer. I was able to login with the same username on 2 browsers and even on my phone.
Did you actually check the entries in the sessions table?

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:28 pm
by nikolayjs
david63 wrote:
nikolayjs wrote:Unfortunately, I can't get it to work as one session per computer. I was able to login with the same username on 2 browsers and even on my phone.
Did you actually check the entries in the sessions table?
Do you mean the session table in the database? What should I look for in there?

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:46 pm
by david63
nikolayjs wrote:Do you mean the session table in the database?
Yes - that is the only place that I am aware of where you can actually see the active sessions.
nikolayjs wrote: What should I look for in there?
user_id would be a starting point - then check on IP address, etc.

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 12:24 pm
by Oyabun1
david63 wrote:
nikolayjs wrote:in the ideal case to allow only one active session per computer
That is the case anywat - as far as I am aware.
There can be multiple sessions for the same user from the same computer and/or IP: by using different browsers, so different cookies can be set; or if cookies are disabled; there are also browser plugins that allow it.
nikolayjs wrote:and in the ideal case to allow only one active session per computer
So, if there were multiple members at a university, company, hospital, etc, who would likely all be using the same proxy, only one could login at a time?

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 1:30 pm
by nikolayjs
Well, let me give you an example. Since the forum is private:

I don't wan't people exchanging accounts and logging in at the same time from different computers with different IPs.

I was able to login from my computer and my phone which is on completely different network and I was told it is not allowed by default, bit it seems to be different.

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:04 pm
by nikolayjs
Does anyone have any idea why I am able to login with the same username from 2 different computers using different ISPs?

Can't find any restrictions about that in phpBB settings.

Thank you.

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:24 pm
by Brf
Why would you want to not be able to log in from two different computers? Most people login from home and from work and from the library or whatever. Why would you want to be locked into one computer?
What would happen when your ISP gives you s different IP? You would be locked out completely.

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:27 pm
by nikolayjs
Hi,

Thank you for your reply.
You are getting me wrong. I forgot about setting IP restrictions. The only thing I want is to restrict logins with the same username/password if the user is already logged in from somewhere else.

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:39 pm
by Brf
But with Persistent logins, you are always logged in.

Re: Making forum private and set IP restrictions

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 1:07 pm
by nikolayjs
Brf wrote:But with Persistent logins, you are always logged in.
Sorry I am kind of a noob. What do you mean by "With persistent logins"? Does it have something to do with cookies? And does it mean I can't have my private forum restricted for multi-logins with the same username at the same time?

thank you.