server-policy allow-hosts

Use this command to configure protected host groups.

A protected host group contains one or more IP addresses and/or fully qualified domain names (FQDNs). Each entry in the protected host group defines a virtual or real web host, according to the Host: field in the HTTP header of requests from clients, that you want the FortiWeb appliance to protect.

For example, if your web servers receive requests with HTTP headers such as:

GET /index.php HTTP/1.1

Host: www.example.com

you might define a protected host group with an entry of www.example.com and select it in the policy. This would reject requests that are not for that host.

A protected hosts group is usually not the same as a physical server.

Unlike a physical server, which is a single IP at the network layer, a protected host group should contain all network IPs, virtual IPs, and domain names that clients use to access the web server at the application (HTTP) layer.

For example, clients often access a web server via a public network such as the Internet. Therefore the protected host group contains domain names, public IP addresses, and public virtual IPs on a network edge router or firewall that are routable from that public network. But the physical server is only the IP address that the FortiWeb appliance uses to forward traffic to the server and, therefore, is often a private network address (unless the FortiWeb appliance operates in Offline Protection or either of the transparent modes).

Protected host groups can be used by:

Policies
Input rules
Server protection exceptions
Start page rules
Page access rules
URL access rules
Allowed method exceptions
HTTP authentication rules
Hidden fields rules
Many others

Rules can use protected host definitions to apply rules only to requests for a protected host. If you do not specify a protected host group in the rule, the rule will be applied based upon other criteria such as the URL, but regardless of the Host: field.

Policies can use protected host definitions to block connections that are not destined for a protected host. If you do not select a protected host group in a policy, connections will be accepted or blocked regardless of the Host: field.

To use this command, your administrator account’s access control profile must have either w or rw permission to the traroutegrp area. For details, see Permissions.

Syntax

config server-policy allow-hosts

edit "<protected-hosts_name>"

set default-action {allow | deny | deny_no_log}

config host-list

edit <protected-host_index>

set action {allow | deny | deny_no_log}

set host {"<host_ipv4>" | "<host_fqdn>" | "<host_ipv6>"}

end

Variable	Description	Default
"<protected-hosts_name>"	Enter the name of a new or existing group of protected hosts. The maximum length is 63 characters. To display the list of existing groups, enter: `edit ?`	No default.
default-action {allow \| deny \| deny_no_log}	Select whether to accept or deny HTTP requests whose `Host:` field does not match any of the host definitions that you will add to this protected hosts group.	`allow`
<protected-host_index>	Enter the index number of a protected host within its group. Each host-list can contain up to 64 IP addresses and/or fully qualified domain names (FQDNs). The valid range is 1–9,223,372,036,854,775,807.	No default.
action {allow \| deny \| deny_no_log}	Select whether to accept or deny HTTP requests whose `Host:` field matches the host definition in host {"<host_ipv4>" \| "<host_fqdn>" \| "<host_ipv6>"}.	`allow`
host {"<host_ipv4>" \| "<host_fqdn>" \| "<host_ipv6>"}	Enter the IP address or FQDN of a virtual or real web host, as it appears in the `Host:` field of HTTP headers, such as `www.example.com`. The maximum length is 256 characters. If clients connect to your web servers through the IP address of a virtual server on the FortiWeb appliance, this should be the IP address of that virtual server or any domain name to which it resolves, not the actual IP address of the web server. For example, if a virtual server 192.0.2.1/24 forwards traffic to the physical server 192.0.2.155, for protected hosts, you would enter: `192.0.2.1`, the address of the virtual server `www.example.com`, the domain name that resolves to the virtual server	No default.

Example

This example configures a protected hosts group named example_com_hosts that contains a website’s domain names and its IP address in order to match HTTP requests regardless of which form they use to identify the host.

config server-policy allow-hosts

set default-action deny

edit "example_com_hosts"

config host-list

edit 0

set host "example.com"

edit 1

set host "www.example.com"

edit 2

set host "10.0.0.1"

end