VirtuoWorks / apache2-and-nginx-cloudfront-configurations

Apache2 Nginx X-Forwarded-For configuration files cloudfront remote ip http header

Apache2 and Nginx Cloudfront configuration

Situation

Nginx or Apache2 are behind an AWS cloudfront distribution.

Nginx or Apache2 access logs show cloudfront distribution IP(s).

Problems

• Unusable access statistics with tools like awstats;

• Fail2Ban triggers false positive, bans cloudfront IP(s);

• ... (others ?)

Troubleshooting

Adding some new configuration directives to Apache2 or Nginx. With these,

the web servers are getting the real IP address from the X-Forwarded-For

HTTP header as it is set by cloudfront (see doc).

Enabling

Apache2 (remote ip module has to be enabled) :

• Copy the repository /etc/apache2/conf-available/cloudfront.conf file into your system /etc/apache2/conf-available/ directory;
• Enable the configuration file and restart apache2 : a2enconf cloudfront systemctl restart apache2

Nginx (real ip module has to be enabled) :

• Copy the repository /etc/nginx/conf.d/cloudfront.conf file into your system /etc/nginx/conf.d/ directory;
• Restart nginx : systemctl restart nginx

Finally, check your server access logs.