Nginx Rate limit GET or POST requests only at a location

Question

I have a server in nginx configured and have the following code to create my rate limit zone:

limit_req_zone $key zone=six_zone:10m rate=60r/m;

In my location, I use a module to serve the requests. This location supports GET, POST and DELETE methods. I am trying to rate limit only GET requests to that location. This is what I thought might work but it does not.

location /api/ {
    if ($request_method = GET) {
        limit_req zone=six_zone;
    }
    reqfwder;
}

Any help or pointers towards how I can approach this? Thanks.

Answer 1

Hope this helps,

In the http context of your NGINX configuration, add these lines:

http {
  ... # your nginx.conf here
  
  # Maps ip address to $limit variable if request is of type POST
  map $request_method $limit {
    default         "";
    POST            $binary_remote_addr;
  }
  
  # Creates 10mb zone in memory for storing binary ips
  limit_req_zone $limit zone=my_zone:10m rate=1r/s;
}

**Rate limiting for the entire NGINX process:**
http {
    ... # your nginx.conf here
    limit_req zone=global_zone;
}

REF: https://product.reverb.com/first-line-of-defense-blocking-bad-post-requests-using-nginx-rate-limiting-507f4c6eed7b