Forwarding of external IP when using public urls

Product support
1

Hi,
I try to determine the external IP, if someone is accessing a device using public URL.
However, the IP I receive (using nodejs) is (in my example): 52.4.252.97
Which is an IP address owned by Amazon, and not the external IP of the client accessing the remote device.
Is there a possibility to receive the real external IP of the client?

Thanks

2

@fritz can you provide the snippet of nodejs code you are using to get the IP address?

3

@alanb128
Hi,
I’m using
req.clientIp.split(":")[req.clientIp.split(":").length - 1]
in the HTTP Request handler (using express) to obtain the IPv4 address.

Thanks

4

Hello @fritz did you try to use the PUBLIC IP ADDRESS published on balenaCloud? Having said that, it’s possible that the public ip address is not accessible due modems security reasons.

5

Hi,
no, as stated, we cannot use the public IP address due to network / modem security.
We need to find out the real client IP when using the public url.
Thanks

6

Hello, it may not be possible to obtain the client’s IP due to the way the Public URL feature works. I am also experimenting with this as well though, and req.headers['x-forwarded-for'] has gotten me closer. See javascript - How to use "x-forwarded-for" in Node.js (without Express if possible) - Stack Overflow - I will post further progress here.

7

Hi,
the req.headers['x-forwarded-for'] is empty unfortunately. :frowning:
Any other hints?
Thanks

8

The accepted answer in the link above worked for me to get the actual client IP on a local network, but no luck so far using the Public URL. I’m still discussing with our back end team to find out definitively if this is possible.

9

@alanb128 Thanks. Please let me know, if you can get a solution with the back-end team!
Thanks

10

Hello @fritz unfortunately the current configuration of our Public URL does not pass the client information. We’re looking into options for changing that but I have no ETA at this point. We will keep this thread updated with any new information.