When to start and finish the rewrite?

Server Config
1

Is this the right way :


RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^1\\.24\\.192\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^14\\.45\\.40\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^7\\.14\\.248\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^7\\.19\\.17\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^8\\.147\\.111\\.126$
RewriteRule /403.php [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^BlackWidow [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Xaldon\\ WebSpider [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus
RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]

Or this :


RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^1\\.24\\.192\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^14\\.45\\.40\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^7\\.14\\.248\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^7\\.19\\.17\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^8\\.147\\.111\\.126$
RewriteRule /403.php [L,R=301]

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^BlackWidow [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Xaldon\\ WebSpider [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus
RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]

? ?

Also, I’m still learning on all of this .htaccess stuff, so please feel free to pass any comments on any other parts of the code.

2

From those two options the first is the right way; you only need to “start the engine” once. Although I prefer to leave an empty line between blocks for readability.


RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^1\\.24\\.192\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^14\\.45\\.40\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^7\\.14\\.248\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^7\\.19\\.17\\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^8\\.147\\.111\\.126$
RewriteRule /403.php [L,R=301]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^BlackWidow [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Xaldon\\ WebSpider [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus
RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]

For the last part, I would add [NC] to the flags to make it case insensitive; that way it will also match “blackwidow”, “blAckWiDoW”, etc.


RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^BlackWidow [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Xaldon\\ WebSpider [OR,NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^Zeus
RewriteRule ^.* - [F,L]

Also, don’t use ^.* (see your other thread on this)

Lastly, why redirect to 403.php? Is access Forbidden for those IPs ?
Note which letter I made bold there