I want to configure my nginx proxy server to only allow certain IPs to access it.
To my knowledge, this is normally done in the config file, with allow and deny lists, but I need a different option if possible, since my whitelist is very big. I also need to link this to a website, so that when a user is logged in, the user will be able to update the user's IP if it has changed.
In short, a whitelisted user will be able to use my proxy server, but if for any reason the user's IP changes, the user can still login to my site and update that whitelisted IP.
Where I Need Help
Is there a way for nginx to read an IP whitelist from an external source, from something like htaccess or mysql? If so, what would be the best format for that list, so that it can be easily linked to and automatically updated? I'm planning to get the site professionally built so that when users log in to their accounts, the whitelist is automatically updated. I would therefore like my whitelist to be in the optimal format for the designer to work with, to make it easier to integrate the whitelist with the user accounts.