How do I use the Firewall application to secure my site?

Introduction

The Fasterize Firewall application allows you to filter traffic accessing your site according to various criteria: IP addresses, country of origin, or user agent (browsers, bots, tools).

It is ideal for enhancing the security of your site, limiting abusive behavior, or restricting access to certain users.

The application consists of three tabs, each corresponding to a type of filter.

1. Filtering by client IP

a. Authorized IP addresses

This mode allows you to authorize only certain IP addresses to access your site.

All others will be automatically blocked.

Steps:

• Click on "New access rule."
• Give it an explicit label (e.g., IP Fasterize, IP provider, etc.).
• Add the authorized IPs (one per line)
• Enable the rule if necessary
• Click Add, then Save.

b. Blocked IP addresses

Here, you block access to specific IP addresses.

All other IPs remain authorized.

The procedure is the same:

• Create a new rule
• Name it
• List the IPs to block
• Enable/disable as needed
• Save the changes

2. Filtering by country

This filter allows you to restrict access to your site based on the country of origin of the request.

Steps:

• Click New Access Rule
• Give the rule a name (e.g., Block Asia)
• Select one or more countries to block
• Enable the rule and save

💡 Useful for restricting access to certain geographic areas (legal context, security, pre-production, etc.).

3. Filtering by User-Agent

This filter allows you to block requests based on their user agent, i.e., the identifier of the browser, bot, or tool originating the request.

Steps:

• Create a new rule
• Indicate the reason for blocking (e.g., BadBot)
• Enable the rule
• Save your changes

💡 Ideal for blocking certain unwanted crawlers or automated scripts.

Examples of practical use

Here are some common use cases:

• Restrict access to pre-production to a list of internal IP addresses (Client IP tab)
• Block an entire country for legal reasons (Country tab)
• Prevent malicious bots from crawling your site (User-Agent tab)

Conclusion

The Fasterize Firewall application allows you to control who can access your site.

Whether for security, performance, or compliance reasons, this module offers you great flexibility with quick and easy configuration.

⚠️ Don't forget to save your rules before leaving the page!

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