How to use Nginx to implement user role-based access control

How to use Nginx to implement user role-based access control

Introduction:
In modern network applications, access control is a very important security requirement. Many applications require role and permission control over user access to ensure that different users can only access content for which they have permission. Nginx is a high-performance web server and reverse proxy server that can not only handle static file services, but also implement basic permission control through some features. This article will introduce how to use Nginx to implement user role-based access control and provide code examples.

1. Nginx basic configuration
First, we need to set basic information and access control rules in the Nginx configuration file. Open the Nginx configuration file (usually /etc/nginx/nginx.conf), find the http block, and add the following content in it:

http {
    ...
    # 用户角色配置文件路径
    include /etc/nginx/user_roles.conf;

    # 默认拒绝访问
    location / {
        deny all;
    }

    # 静态文件服务
    location /static/ {
        alias /path/to/static/files/;
    }

    # 动态请求代理
    location /dynamic/ {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8000;
        # 其他proxy相关配置
    }
}

In the above configuration, we set the default access denial rule, and Static file service and dynamic request proxy are configured respectively. Next, we create a file user_roles.conf specifically for user role configuration. Create the file in the /etc/nginx/ directory and add the following content:

user john: editor;
user alice: admin;

In this configuration file, we define Two users, john and alice, and their corresponding roles are identified. These roles will be used for access control decisions.

2. Access control based on user roles
Nginx provides some variables and instructions that can be used to control access based on user roles.

1. Use variables for access control
   Nginx provides a $remote_user variable, which contains the user's username (obtained through HTTP basic authentication). We can implement access control based on user roles by judging the value of this variable. For example, we can use the if directive to implement the following access control rules:

location /admin/ {
    if ($remote_user != "alice") {
        return 403;
    }
    # 其他配置指令
}

In this example, if the user's username is not alice, Nginx will return a 403 error page, denying access to the /admin/ path content below.

2. Use Lua scripts for access control
   Nginx also supports embedding Lua scripts for more complex access control judgments. We can write a Lua script to read the user_roles.conf file and perform access control based on the user's role. The following is an example Lua script:

location /editor/ {
    access_by_lua_block {
        local roles_file = "/etc/nginx/user_roles.conf"
        local file = io.open(roles_file, "r")
        local roles = file:read("*a")
        file:close()
        
        local current_user = ngx.var.remote_user
        local role = string.match(roles, current_user .. ": (%a+);")
        
        if role ~= "editor" then
            ngx.exit(ngx.HTTP_FORBIDDEN)
        end
    }
    # 其他配置指令
}

In this example, we read the user_roles.conf file and use a regular expression to match the current user's roles. If the current user's role is not editor, Nginx will return a 403 error page and deny access to the content under the /editor/ path.

Conclusion:
Through Nginx configuration and some features, we can implement access control based on user roles. This article provides basic code examples for readers' reference and use. Of course, this is just a basic implementation method. In actual applications, other security measures may need to be combined, such as SSL certificates and firewalls, to ensure system security.

Reference:

1. Nginx Documentation: https://nginx.org/en/docs/
2. OpenResty Lua Nginx Module Documentation: https://github .com/openresty/lua-nginx-module

The above is the detailed content of How to use Nginx to implement user role-based access control. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!