# Restricting viewers by IP using wildcards using Streaming Engine **URL:** \ **Category:** Wowza Streaming Engine\ **Tags:** server-administration\ **Created:** [June 27, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/restricting-viewers-by-ip-using-wildcards-using-streaming-engine/34833 "2014-06-27T16:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_Shultz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@Jim\_Shultz](https://community.wowza.com/u/Jim_Shultz)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/restricting-viewers-by-ip-using-wildcards-using-streaming-engine/34833/1 "2014-06-27T16:00:04Z")
I have been asked to restrict a VOD file to our organization only. We have a class B block of addresses. I scoured the forums and articles and saw that the Streaming Engine allegedly has this built in, so I just upgraded from Server 3.1.1 to Streaming Engine 4.04 on a Windows Server based on an [article](https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-configure-security-using-wowza-streaming-engine-manager#client_restrictions_incoming) that said that the Streaming Engine incorporated this function in its core. However, when I try to use an IP restriction using wildcards (ie: XXX.YYY._._ where XXX and YYY are part of our organizations IP address block) on a VOD application, I get a message that I am using an invalid IP addresss. A comma separated list could have a huge number of IP addresess, so the wildcards are essential. Is this an implemented feature? I see a comment that says it may be imlemented in the future, but that doesn’t help me now. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Lanham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Richard\_Lanham](https://community.wowza.com/u/Richard_Lanham)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/restricting-viewers-by-ip-using-wildcards-using-streaming-engine/34833/2 "2014-06-27T22:40:47Z")
There is a customer contributed version of limit playback by IP that [should work with wildcards here](https://www.wowza.com/forums/showthread.php?10680-Article-How-to-limit-playback-by-IP-address/page4) You would have to build this in the IDE. I will put it in the backlog to add to the version in the module collection. Richard ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Shultz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@Jim\_Shultz](https://community.wowza.com/u/Jim_Shultz)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/restricting-viewers-by-ip-using-wildcards-using-streaming-engine/34833/3 "2014-07-01T15:50:05Z")
I believe it is solved. I did send in a support request and the recommendation was to manually edit the application.xml file to include the wildcard string, instead of using the GUI to add it. By manually editing the applications .xml file using the wildcard string, the Engine Manager GUI for Outgoing Security sees the string as valid, and some preliminary testing indicates that the wildcard string is used as I hoped. People outside our network, who have tested this, cannot playback the test file. If they VPN into the network, they can. I have tested from within the network and playback is fine. I have access to a guest network, with a different IP address block, and the restriction kicks in. ---
**Author:** ![Jason\_Hilton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.wowza.com/jason_hilton/32/437_2.png) [@Jason\_Hilton](https://community.wowza.com/u/Jason_Hilton)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/restricting-viewers-by-ip-using-wildcards-using-streaming-engine/34833/4 "2014-07-02T14:07:09Z")
Hi, That’s great news, thanks for the update. Regards, Jason ---
**Author:** ![Joseph\_Chiu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f14d63/32.png) [@Joseph\_Chiu](https://community.wowza.com/u/Joseph_Chiu)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2016, 10:43am UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/restricting-viewers-by-ip-using-wildcards-using-streaming-engine/34833/5 "2016-04-21T10:43:11Z")
Hi vmsvid, Can you share the code? Thanks > I believe it is solved. I did send in a support request and the recommendation was to manually edit the application.xml file to include the wildcard string, instead of using the GUI to add it. > > By manually editing the applications .xml file using the wildcard string, the Engine Manager GUI for Outgoing Security sees the string as valid, and some preliminary testing indicates that the wildcard string is used as I hoped. > > People outside our network, who have tested this, cannot playback the test file. If they VPN into the network, they can. I have tested from within the network and playback is fine. I have access to a guest network, with a different IP address block, and the restriction kicks in.