Joomla! "AccessByIP" Extension

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Originally Posted : Monday, 14 May 2012
Last Updated : Thursday, 16 August 2012
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Sometimes it would be great to be able to allow access to a chosen Joomla! user account without the barrier of users having to type in a user-name and password, for example giving company intranet users instant access to a corporate intranet or maybe just when needing to troubleshoot a site. This extension is the answer – It offers automatic authentication to a nominated user account, either based on the IP address of the user's browser, or an automatic "click and enter" option without any security checks at all.

Availability:  now released – download from here.

"AccessByIP" is a Joomla! 2.5 package that installs two extensions: an authentication plugin (accessbyip) and an associated log-in module (com_accessbyip).  Approved for inclusion in the Joomla! extensions Directory.

The accessbyip Plug-in

Features

Authenticates users according to their browser IP address and logs them in as a predetermined Joomla! user – any user-name or password they may have given is ignored. If the IP address is not one set up in the plug-in for automatic log-in, then authentication will be passed to any other authentication plug-ins currently active on the site. So a log-in from an unrecognised IP address will take place just as it would if the accessbyip plug-in were not installed.

Setup

  • Install the package.

  • In Extensions > Plug-in Manager publish the accessbyip plug-in (initially labelled "Authentication - by Incoming IP Address"), 

  • and use "Ordering" to place any instance(s) of this plug-in above the default Joomla! authentication plug-ins.

  • Set up the plug-in parameters as appropriate for your requirements.

The mod_accessbyip Module

Features

The accessbyip module is a heavily modified version of the standard Joomla! com_login module. mod_accessbyip offers the following advantages over the standard module when used in conjunction with the accessbyip plug-in:

  • provides a single button form (i.e. no username and password fields) to log in to the Joomla! web site, optionally hiding the conventional username plus password log-in fields.

  • provides a mechanism to choose an alternative to the accessbyip nominated user account when logging in via an IP address that has been set up for automatic log-in in the accessbyip plug-in.

  • optionally provides a single-button log in to the Joomla! site by standard Joomla! authentication using a preset username and password (the accessbyip plug-in is not necessary to use this feature).
    TIP: very useful for site testing and demonstration.

Setup

  • Install the package.

  • In Extensions > Module Manager publish the accessbyip module – initially labelled "Login (for use with AccessByIP)".

  • Setup of the module is similar to the Joomla! mod_login module, except for the additional Auto-Login parameters, which should be self-explanitory.

Take care if activating and setting up the "Auto-login by username/password?" option as this will give anyone clicking the Auto-Login button access to the nominated account. This function is recommended only to provide log-in to temporary test accounts as the user-name and password are stored unencrypted in the site database.