IP zones
An IP zone enables admins to define network perimeters around a set of IP addresses. You can add IP addresses for both gateway servers and trusted proxy servers to IP zones.
You can add IP addresses to an IP zone using:
- Individual IP addresses
- IP ranges
- Classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) notation
Trusted proxies are used for determining the request's client IP address and aren't blocked by Okta ThreatInsight. If you add any untrusted proxies to an IP zone, add them as gateways.
IP zone evaluation
When determining whether a request is from inside or outside of an IP zone, consider the IP chain. The IP chain is the IPs of all the network hops between the originating request and Okta. The following table explains IP chain processing for one or multiple IPs in an IP chain.
| IP Chain Type | Description |
| IP chain contains one IP |
The request is considered to be within a zone if the IP is contained within any of the defined gateways for that zone. |
| IP chain contains more than one IP |
If the final IP in the chain, the one directly connecting to Okta, is within any of the defined gateways or proxies for the IP zone.
|
To ensure that Okta considers traffic as coming from a trusted zone, the gateway IP and the proxy IP both need to be in the same zone. If these two IP addresses are in different zones, requests aren't considered as coming from a trusted zone.
IP chain processing repeats until:
- A matching Gateway IP is found, in which case the request is from within the network zone or
- Five IPs in the chain are checked, in which case the request isn't from within the IP zone.
IP zone example
| IP Chain | Gateway | Proxy | Is the Request From Inside the Zone? |
| 1.1.1.1 | 1.1.1.1 | Empty | Y |
| 1.1.1.1 | 1.1.1.1 | 2.2.2.2 | Y |
| 1.1.1.1 | Empty | Empty | N |
| 1.1.1.1 | Empty | 1.1.1.1 | N |
| 1.1.1.1, 2.2.2.2 | 2.2.2.2 | Empty | Y |
| 1.1.1.1, 2.2.2.2 | 2.2.2.2 | 3.3.3.3 | Y |
| 1.1.1.1, 2.2.2.2 | 1.1.1.1 | 2.2.2.2 | Y |
| 1.1.1.1, 2.2.2.2 | Empty | Empty | N |
| 1.1.1.1, 2.2.2.2 | Empty | 1.1.1.1 | N |
| 1.1.1.1, 2.2.2.2 | Empty | 2.2.2.2 | N |
| 1.1.1.1, 2.2.2.2 | 2.2.2.2 | 1.1.1.1 | Y |