SERVER REMOTE ADDR gives server IP rather than visitor IP

Question

I m trying to track IP addresses of visitors  When using   SERVER  REMOTE ADDR    I get the server s IP address rather than the visitor s  I tried this on multiple machines at multiple locations and they all resulted in the exact same IP  Is there some PHP server settings that could be affecting this

User · Answer

Try this    SERVER  HTTP CF CONNECTING IP      instead of    SERVER  REMOTE ADDR

User · Answer

Replacing     SERVER  REMOTE ADDR      With     SERVER  HTTP X REAL IP      Worked for me

User · Answer

With PHP 7 4 I do it like this   ipaddress       if  isset   SERVER  REMOTE ADDR          ipaddress     SERVER  REMOTE ADDR    else if isset   SERVER  HTTP X FORWARDED FOR          ipaddress     SERVER  HTTP X FORWARDED FOR    else if isset   SERVER  HTTP X FORWARDED          ipaddress     SERVER  HTTP X FORWARDED    else if isset   SERVER  HTTP FORWARDED FOR          ipaddress     SERVER  HTTP FORWARDED FOR    else if isset   SERVER  HTTP FORWARDED          ipaddress     SERVER  HTTP FORWARDED    else if isset   SERVER  HTTP CLIENT IP          ipaddress     SERVER  HTTP CLIENT IP     But keep in mind that REMOTE ADDR is the only reliable IP address that you can get  All other values can easily be manipulated  This is theoretically also possible for REMOTE ADDRESS  but that would require to spoof the IP address

User · Answer

Look no more for IP addresses not being set in the expected header  Just do the following to inspect the whole server variables and figure out which one is suitable for your case   print r   SERVER

User · Answer

SERVER  REMOTE ADDR   gives the IP address from which the request was sent to the web server  This is typically the visitor s address  but in your case  it sounds like there is some kind of proxy sitting right before the web server that intercepts the requests  hence to the web server it appears as though the requests are originating from there

User · Answer

If you are using Cloudflare then this is always the Cloudflare IP address from the node which is serving you  In this case you get the real IP address from the   SERVER  HTTP FORWARDED FOR   entry as described in the the other answers

User · Answer

When using   SERVER  REMOTE ADDR    I get the server s IP address rather than the visitor s    Then something is wrong  or odd  with your configuration     Are you using some sort of reverse proxy  In that case   simshaun s suggestion may work  Do you have anything else out of the ordinary in your web server config  Can you show the PHP code you are using  Can you show what the address looks like  Is it a local one  or a Internet address

User · Answer

REMOTE ADDR can not be trusted  Anyway  try  ipAddress     SERVER  REMOTE ADDR    if  array key exists  HTTP X FORWARDED FOR     SERVER          ipAddress   array pop explode        SERVER  HTTP X FORWARDED FOR        Edit  Also  does your server s router have port forwarding enabled   It may be possible that it s messing with the packets  Security warning  REMOTE ADDR can be fully trusted  It comes from your own webserver and contains the IP that was used to access it  You don t even need to quote   it for SQL inserts  But HTTP X FORWARDED FOR is taken directly from the HTTP headers  it can contain the picture of a cat  malicious code  any content  Treat it like that  never trust it

User · Answer

PHP 7 0   SERVER varibales have changed  var dump it and see how it fits your reqs   some of them giving remote details are  REMOTE ADDR  HTTP X FORWARDED FOR HTTP CF CONNECTING IP HTTP CF IPCOUNTRY

[php] $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"] gives server IP rather than visitor IP

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