IP-based redirection using mod_rewrite

Question

I'm running a small VPN server where each user has his own static IP.
I set up an Apache server in order to host files for each of them and instead of using a new registration system, I wanted to take advantage of those static IPs.

So I thought I could use mod_rewrite to achieve that and wrote this snippet:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} 10\.8\.0\.11
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ user1/ [L]

If user1, who has the IP 10.8.0.11, tries to reach http://10.8.0.1/, he's properly redirected to the appropriate subfolder http://10.8.0.1/user1/.
If user1 tries to reach any other subfolder, he's also properly redirected to his own subfolder.

Though there are some issues with this setup:

• if there's an index file on that folder, I end up with an internal error
• if there's any other file, I cannot download/run it

Is there any way I can overcome this?
I mean, locking a user on a specific subfolder based on his IP and allowing him to browse that folder (viewing a website, retrieving files...).

Answer 1

I'm sure there must be a more elegant/efficient way of writing this, but this should work to do what you require:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase / 

# Restrict users from IP address 10.8.0.11 to user1 sub-folder
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} 10\.8\.0\.11 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(user1)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /user1/$1 [L,R=301]

# Restrict users from IP address 10.8.0.12 to user2 sub-folder
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} 10\.8\.0\.12 
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(user2)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /user2/$1 [L,R=301]