Unable to use custom variable with limit_conn_zone

[Valentin V. Bartenev]

On Saturday 27 September 2014 14:24:00 paulswansea wrote:
> I am trying to use the limit connections / limit request.  I have the server
> behind a proxy, the proxy has the following line :
> 
>     proxy_set_header        X-Real-IP       $remote_addr;
> 
> and in my nginx.conf on my server behind the proxy i have :
> 
>     limit_conn_zone $http_x_real_ip zone=perip:10m;
>     limit_conn perip 20;
>     limit_req_zone $http_x_real_ip zone=forward:10m rate=60r/m;
> 
> However, when checking my logs, I get the internal address of the proxy
> server listed, not the external real ip :
> 
>     2014/09/27 13:45:16 [error] 57287#0: *29475 limiting requests, excess:
> 30.536 by zone "forward", client: 10.120.23.133
> 
> Can you see an issue with my configuration, or is there a bug with nginx in
> respect to using custom variables?
> 
[..]

IPs in log messages don't related to variable from limit zone.
So there's no problem.  But if you want to see IP from the
header in logs, then you should configure the realip module:
http://http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_realip_module.html

  wbr, Valentin V. Bartenev