Get the IP Address ( Client MAC address ) by CGI Codes

To get the IP address (example):

#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings;
use strict;

use CGI qw/:standard/;

my $remote_ip = $ENV{'REMOTE_ADDR'};

print header;
print "Your IP is: $remote_ip\n";

-------------------------

As for the MAC address the only way im aware of getting it is via active x, there is no perl/php etc command for returning it as you need something to execute system site to get the address.

as you already know, the client's public ip address is in $ENV{REMOTE_ADDR}";

I am sorry I can't help you more with a solution to find a remote MAC address, while doing research, I read the opinion, that the MAC address from the client usually never reaches a server, because only the most recent MAC address is sent from point to point (nearest upstream).  Now I think I believe that this is true, although at the same time, obviously there are ways using an application such as activex, exe, or applet to send you the MAC address...this is not what you want.

I believe that without doing this, it is not possible.  Although in my research I found some examples of "asp.net" that said they worked, they would not even compile without iis installed (which I don't have), and I kind of doubt weather they would work for any machine behind a router (many high speed connections are now)

However, if you can get them to run a script or executable on their machine, then it can be done.

for what it is worth, here is how to get your mac address in perl on a windows box... on linux I think you use ifconfig -a instead of ipconfig/all

bebonham

system('ipconfig /all > temp.ipc');

open TEMP, "temp.ipc";

while(<TEMP>)
{
if(substr($_,0,10) =~ /Physical/)
{
print $_;
}
}
close TEMP;
system('del temp.ipc');

REMOTE_ADDR will return the address of the host requesting the page off the server. Where your IP may differ is if for some reason you not connecting directly to the page, rather going through a proxy or the page is being loaded from your ISP's cache.

I checked both pages and for me both pages showed me to have the same IP.

www.whatismyip.com is also another source for checking your IP.

I aggree with x4h's assesment of why you are getting 2 different IP addresses...

try searching in google "What is my ip address"  and the search result will come up with the ip address of google's search engine.  but when you click on the link it will show your ip, unless you are behind a proxy.

auae: The script I sent you was to get mac address on the local windows computer.  something like that would need to be done on the client computer inorder to get mac address with perl.  Obviously perl isn't the best choice for a client side program unless you are compiling it.  

I think that there is really no solution to get the mac address without a program running on the client computer, and since you don't want to use activex (and therefore, I assume you don't want to use any programs that the client needs to download), I think your best bet would be to try an alternate strategy.

If you like, you could explain why you need the MAC address, and perhpas someone could come up with a good alternative...like perhpas cookies could work for you?

good luck, and your question is not stupid...it's just hard.

bebonham

the only value you can get is $ENV{'REMOTE_ADDR'}
Dot.
This IP is either the public IP of the client, or the public IP of an proxy inbetween.

To get anything else from the client you need active scripting (which is hopefully disabled by everyone using the internet), mean JavaScript, Active X or any kind of applet which then sends back the required information to your server. I'd call such a functinality spyware or more general: malware, hence never enable scripting ;-)
No other possibilities. Dot.

Let's go back a few steps and ask exactly *why* you want the IP address?  What are you going to use it for?

'HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR' will ONLY show you the real IP if the proxy is setup to do so. If the proxy is an anonymous proxy then the proxy will either out its IP for both the remote_addr and http_x_forwarded_for or not send it out at all.

If your only logging hits then this isn't a problem, I just thought I would make you aware :)

auae, please read x4h's last comment, then reread my comment:
  ==> there is no reliable way of getting the clients IP except when using malware (which needs to be allowed by the client, somehow). Dot.

ahoffmann, not really true. If you look up what malware is:

"Short for malicious software, software designed specifically to damage or disrupt a system, such as a virus or a Trojan horse." (source: http://sbc.webopedia.com/TERM/M/malware.html)

You will see that malware is designed to disrupt / damage a system. Getting the MAC address from a system does neither of these and there are a number of useful applications of having a the MAC address, such as allowing a higher level of security.

Dot ;)