X-Cart:User Access Control

X-Cart allows you to use a mode of enhanced protection for your store's back end in which you can control, from which IP addresses users can access the store's back end.

Note: In X-Cart GOLD, the back end is the store's Admin area; in X-Cart PRO - the Admin area and the Provider area.

By default, the mode of enhanced protection for your store's back end is disabled. You can enable it by setting the value of the constant SECURITY_BLOCK_UNKNOWN_ADMIN_IP in X-Cart's main configuration file config.php to "true".

Warning: If you are not sure how to edit this file, please request assistance from someone with knowledge of PHP or contact X-Cart's technical support.

After you enable this mode, you should log in to the Admin area so that your own IP address is registered with the system. After that, no user will be able to log in to the store's back end until you register his or her IP address: all log-in attempts will be denied and the users will get the following message:

Provided that the login/password entered by the user attempting to log in correspond to the login/password of an existing user belonging to a user type with permissions to access the respective X-Cart area, a request to register the user's IP address will be sent to the email address specified under 'Site administrator email address' in 'General settings/Company options'. This request will provide you with information about the time of the log-in attempt, the login name of the user who attempted to log in and the IP address that was used. You will be able to consider this information and, if necessary, grant access to the user by clicking on a specially crafted link contained in the email message. As a result, the IP address will be registered with the system (entered into your store's list of allowed IP addresses).

Naturally, it is possible to manage allowed IP addresses and requests for IP address registration through your store's Admin area.

Managing your store's list of allowed IP addresses

Your store's list of allowed IP addresses is stored in the database and can be managed through the 'User access control' section of the store's Admin area.

To view your store's list of IP addresses:

1. Go to the 'Summary' section (Administration menu->Summary).
2. In the section menu, click the 'User access control' link. The 'User access control' section opens. You should be able to see the list of IP addresses for which access to the back end of your store is permitted in the 'Allowed IP addresses' dialog box.

Before you add any IP addresses of other users to the list, it will contain an only IP address - your own:

You can add IP addresses to the list using the 'Add IP address' field:

1. Enter the desired IP address into the 'Add IP address' field.
2. Click the Add button. The IP address will be added to the list. You should see an Information box with a confirmation message.

Instead of adding individual IP addresses one by one, it is possible to define patterns that would match multiple IP addresses. Patterns can use numbers (0-255) and the asterisk character. An asterisk matches any number in the range 0-255 and can be used to replace an IP octet. For example, to allow access from any host on the 195.24.53 network, set the pattern as 195.24.53.*.

Note: When creating a pattern, be aware that you can use asterisks in non-final IP address octets only if you are going to replace all the octets that follow it by asterisks, too. Patterns formatted differently will be deemed incorrect. For example, patterns like 195.*.*.* or 195.24.*.* are correct; patterns like 195.*.53.* are incorrect.

If the list of allowed IP addresses contains an IP address that needs no longer be allowed for access to the store's back end, you can remove this IP address from the list of allowed IP addresses. To remove an IP address from the list of allowed IP addresses:

1. Select the check box next to the IP address that needs to be removed (Select multiple check boxes to remove more than one IP address).
2. Click the Delete selected button. The selected IP address(es) will be removed from the list. You should see an Information box with a confirmation message.

Please note that it is not possible to remove your own IP address from the list. (The check box displayed next to your own IP address is grayed out).

Managing IP address registration requests

In addition to being sent to the site administrator's email address, IP address registration requests appear in the dialog box 'IP address registration requests' of the 'User access control' section.

Note: The dialog box 'IP address registration requests' is displayed only if there are active requests.

The list of requests is a list of IP addresses awaiting registration.

If you go to the 'User access control' section and see one or more IP address registration requests in the 'IP address registration requests' list, you need to decide whether you wish to delete them or to register the respective IP addresses with your store system.

To delete an IP address registration request:

1.	Select the check box next to the IP address whose registration is requested (Select multiple check boxes to delete more than one registration request).

2.	Click the Delete selected button. The selected request(s) will be deleted (The selected IP address(es) will be removed from the list). You should see an Information box with a confirmation message.

To register an IP address:

1.	Select the check box next to the IP address that needs to be registered (Select multiple check boxes to register more than one IP address).

2.	Click the Register selected button. The selected IP address(es) will be moved to the list of allowed IP addresses. You should see an Information box with a confirmation message.