[EDU] What is ACL? What does it do? Should i use it?[Faucet owners,General Info]

Hi

Many users asking what ACL is what doest it do.
This is general info.
here is a short summary:

An access control list (ACL), with respect to a computer file system, is a list of permissions attached to an object. An ACL specifies which users or system processes are granted access to objects, as well as what operations are allowed on given objects.
Each entry in a typical ACL specifies a subject and an operation.
For e.g, if a file object has an ACL that contains (Alice: read, write; Bob: read), this would give Alice permission to read and write the file and Bob to only read it.

Networking ACLs
On some types of proprietary computer hardware (in particular routers and switches), an access control list refers to rules that are applied to port numbers or IP addresses that are available on a host or other layer 3, each with a list of hosts and/or networks permitted to use the service. Although it is additionally possible to configure access control lists based on network domain names, this is generally a questionable idea because individual TCP, UDP, and ICMP headers do not contain domain names. Consequently, the device enforcing the access control list must separately resolve names to numeric addresses. This presents an additional attack surface for an attacker who is seeking to compromise the security of the system which the access control list is protecting. Both individual servers, as well as routers, can have network ACLs. Access control lists can generally be configured to control both inbound and outbound traffic, and in this context, they are similar to firewalls. Like firewalls, ACLs could be subject to security regulations and standards such as PCI DSS.

ok, how does ACL help you in protecting API codes?
By enabling ACL on your services and whitelisting specific IPs to access your API, only you can access whatever services that you have access to with that API and no one else can access it.

So, Should I use ACL?
In a word, YES

I have activated ACL and added my server IP address on my service control panel, and it says access denied, why?

Some hostings define different IPs for sites and outgoing connections.
users can reach your site by 1.1.1.1 but your site reaches other sites/systems/server with 2.2.2.2.
this happens on servers with lots of sites
So you if you are denied to access your service with the IP that you receive while you ping your domain you should ask your hosting provider.

My hosting says IPs are same but I still can't connet
Most big hostings have pre-answered questions and don't want to bother answering these questions.

Ok, what are my options?
We have created a simple web link to return your outgoing IP address.

just create a file named sip.php ( or whatever else)
copy and paste the following code in it:

Code:

<?php echo file_get_contents('http://api.epay.info/ip.php'); ?>

save it and open the file with your browser, you will see your server outgoing IP address.

Note: This is for public use and there is no limits