CIDR_TABLE(5) File Formats Manual CIDR_TABLE(5)
NAME
cidr_table - format of Postfix CIDR tables
SYNOPSIS
postmap -q "string" cidr:/etc/postfix/filename
postmap -q - cidr:/etc/postfix/filename <inputfile
DESCRIPTION
The Postfix mail system uses optional lookup tables. These tables are
usually in dbm or db format. Alternatively, lookup tables can be speci-
fied in CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) form. In this case, each
input is compared against a list of patterns. When a match is found, the
corresponding result is returned and the search is terminated.
To find out what types of lookup tables your Postfix system supports use
the "postconf -m" command.
To test lookup tables, use the "postmap -q" command as described in the
SYNOPSIS above.
TABLE FORMAT
The general form of a Postfix CIDR table is:
pattern result
When a search string matches the specified pattern, use the cor-
responding result value. The pattern must be in network/prefix or
network_address form (see ADDRESS PATTERN SYNTAX below).
!pattern result
When a search string does not match the specified pattern, use
the specified result value. The pattern must be in network/prefix
or network_address form (see ADDRESS PATTERN SYNTAX below).
This feature is available in Postfix 3.2 and later.
if pattern
endif When a search string matches the specified pattern, match that
search string against the patterns between if and endif. The
pattern must be in network/prefix or network_address form (see
ADDRESS PATTERN SYNTAX below). The if..endif can nest.
Note: do not prepend whitespace to text between if..endif.
This feature is available in Postfix 3.2 and later.
if !pattern
endif When a search string does not match the specified pattern, match
that search string against the patterns between if and endif. The
pattern must be in network/prefix or network_address form (see
ADDRESS PATTERN SYNTAX below). The if..endif can nest.
Note: do not prepend whitespace to text between if..endif.
This feature is available in Postfix 3.2 and later.
blank lines and comments
Empty lines and whitespace-only lines are ignored, as are lines
whose first non-whitespace character is a `#'.
multi-line text
A logical line starts with non-whitespace text. A line that
starts with whitespace continues a logical line.
TABLE SEARCH ORDER
Patterns are applied in the order as specified in the table, until a
pattern is found that matches the search string.
ADDRESS PATTERN SYNTAX
Postfix CIDR tables are pattern-based. A pattern is either a network_ad-
dress which requires an exact match, or a network_address/prefix_length
where the prefix_length part specifies the length of the network_address
prefix that must be matched (the other bits in the network_address part
must be zero).
An IPv4 network address is a sequence of four decimal octets separated
by ".", and an IPv6 network address is a sequence of three to eight
hexadecimal octet pairs separated by ":" or "::", where the latter is
short-hand for a sequence of one or more all-zero octet pairs. The pat-
tern 0.0.0.0/0 matches every IPv4 address, and ::/0 matches every IPv6
address. IPv6 support is available in Postfix 2.2 and later.
Before comparisons are made, lookup keys and table entries are converted
from string to binary. Therefore, IPv6 patterns will be matched regard-
less of leading zeros (a leading zero in an IPv4 address octet indicates
octal notation).
Note: address information may be enclosed inside "[]" but this form is
not required.
INLINE SPECIFICATION
The contents of a table may be specified in the table name (Postfix 3.7
and later). The basic syntax is:
main.cf:
parameter = .. cidr:{ { rule-1 }, { rule-2 } .. } ..
master.cf:
.. -o { parameter = .. cidr:{ { rule-1 }, { rule-2 } .. } .. } ..
Postfix recursively expands any $parametername instances in the above
parameter value, ignores whitespace after '{' and before '}', and writes
each rule as one text line to an in-memory file:
in-memory file:
rule-1
rule-2
..
Postfix parses the result as if it is a file in /etc/postfix.
Note: if a rule contains $, specify $$ to keep Postfix from trying to do
$name expansion as it evaluates a parameter value.
EXAMPLE SMTPD ACCESS MAP
/etc/postfix/main.cf:
smtpd_client_restrictions = ... cidr:/etc/postfix/client.cidr ...
/etc/postfix/client.cidr:
# Rule order matters. Put more specific allowlist entries
# before more general denylist entries.
192.168.1.1 OK
192.168.0.0/16 REJECT
2001:db8::1 OK
2001:db8::/32 REJECT
SEE ALSO
postmap(1), Postfix lookup table manager
regexp_table(5), format of regular expression tables
pcre_table(5), format of PCRE tables
README FILES
Use "postconf readme_directory" or "postconf html_directory" to locate
this information.
DATABASE_README, Postfix lookup table overview
HISTORY
CIDR table support was introduced with Postfix version 2.1.
AUTHOR(S)
The CIDR table lookup code was originally written by:
Jozsef Kadlecsik
KFKI Research Institute for Particle and Nuclear Physics
POB. 49
1525 Budapest, Hungary
Adopted and adapted by:
Wietse Venema
IBM T.J. Watson Research
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
Wietse Venema
Google, Inc.
111 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10011, USA
CIDR_TABLE(5)
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