## Index → Cookbook

## Cookbook: Restricting traffic by IP

This section answers some general questions regarding the current behavior of several parts of Cherokee that might lead to missunderstandings.

Some scenarios require web traffic to be restricted on a virtual server basd on incoming IP. Although an IP/Subnet host match type is present on the `Host Match` tab of virtual servers, this can’t be used as a security measure to enforce traffic restrictions. Its main purpose is explained elsewhere in the documentation, and suffice it to say that if this method were to be used, it could be easily overcomed by forging the `Host` header.

If you want to restrict the traffic of one of your virtual servers based on the incoming IP, the best way to go is setting a non-final rule on top of your behavior rule list of the virtual server. That rule should match the forbidden IPs with an `Incoming IP/Port`-type rule (such as `(NOT Incoming IP: 127.0.0.1/8)`), and could be handled by custom error handler, or an appropriate redirection.