The ip4r extension provides data types and functions for working with IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and ranges. It’s particularly useful for network-related applications, IP-based access control, and geolocation services. Your Nile database arrives with the ip4r extension already enabled.

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Data Types

The extension provides several data types:
  • ip4 - IPv4 address
  • ip4r - IPv4 range
  • ip6 - IPv6 address
  • ip6r - IPv6 range
  • ipaddress - Can store either IPv4 or IPv6 address
  • iprange - Can store either IPv4 or IPv6 range

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Basic Usage

Here’s how to use the IP address types and operations: 
CREATE TABLE ip_access_rules (
    tenant_id uuid NOT NULL,
    rule_id integer NOT NULL,
    network iprange,
    description text,
    is_allowed boolean,
    PRIMARY KEY(tenant_id, rule_id)
);

-- Insert sample IPv4 rules
INSERT INTO ip_access_rules (tenant_id, rule_id, network, description, is_allowed) VALUES
    ('d1c06023-3421-4fbb-9dd1-c96e42d2fd02', 1, '10.0.0.0/8', 'Internal network', true),
    ('d1c06023-3421-4fbb-9dd1-c96e42d2fd02', 2, '192.168.1.0/24', 'Office network', true),
    ('d1c06023-3421-4fbb-9dd1-c96e42d2fd02', 3, '203.0.113.0/24', 'Blocked range', false);

-- Insert IPv6 rules
INSERT INTO ip_access_rules (tenant_id, rule_id, network, description, is_allowed) VALUES
    ('d1c06023-3421-4fbb-9dd1-c96e42d2fd02', 5, '2001:db8::/32', 'IPv6 documentation range', true),
    ('d1c06023-3421-4fbb-9dd1-c96e42d2fd02', 6, '2001:db8:1::/48', 'IPv6 subnet', false);

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IP Address Operations

The extension provides various operators for IP address manipulation and comparison: 
-- Check if an IP is in a range
SELECT network, description 
FROM ip_access_rules
WHERE network >> '10.0.1.5'::ip4;

-- Find overlapping networks
SELECT a.network, a.description, b.network, b.description
FROM ip_access_rules a
JOIN ip_access_rules b ON a.network && b.network
WHERE a.rule_id < b.rule_id;

-- Get the containing network
SELECT network, description
FROM ip_access_rules
WHERE network >>= '192.168.1.0/24'::ip4r;

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Common Use Cases

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IP-based Access Control

-- Check if an IP address is allowed (direct query)
SELECT EXISTS (
    SELECT 1 
    FROM ip_access_rules 
    WHERE network >> '10.0.1.5'::ip4
    AND is_allowed = true
);

-- Get all matching rules for an IP address
SELECT network, description, is_allowed
FROM ip_access_rules 
WHERE network >> '10.0.1.5'::ip4
ORDER BY masklen(network) DESC  -- Most specific match first
LIMIT 1;

-- Check multiple IPs at once
SELECT 
    client_ip,
    EXISTS (
        SELECT 1 
        FROM ip_access_rules 
        WHERE network >> client_ip::ipaddress
        AND is_allowed = true
    ) as is_allowed
FROM (
    VALUES 
        ('10.0.1.5'),
        ('192.168.1.100'),
        ('203.0.113.1')
) as client_ips(client_ip);

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Network Range Analysis

-- Find all subnets within a larger network
SELECT network, description
FROM ip_access_rules
WHERE network <<= '10.0.0.0/8'::ip4r;

-- Calculate number of addresses in each range
SELECT 
    network,
    description,
    CASE 
        WHEN family(network) = 4 THEN masklen(network::ip4r)
        ELSE masklen(network::ip6r)
    END as prefix_length
FROM ip_access_rules;

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Query Optimization

The extension supports GiST indexes for efficient range queries: 
-- Create GiST index
CREATE INDEX idx_ip_ranges ON ip_access_rules USING gist (network);
This index improves performance for these operators:
  • >> (contains)
  • >>= (contains or equals)
  • << (contained by)
  • <<= (contained by or equals)
  • && (overlaps)

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Performance Considerations

  • GiST indexes significantly improve range query performance
  • IP address operations are very efficient as they use native integer comparisons
  • Range operations are optimized for both IPv4 and IPv6
  • Indexes work well with both IP versions in the same column

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Limitations

  • Cannot mix IPv4 and IPv6 in range comparisons
  • Some operations are version-specific (ip4 vs ip6)
  • Maximum IPv4 range is /0 (0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255)
  • Maximum IPv6 range is /0 (:: to ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff)

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Alternative Approaches

For some use cases, you might want to consider:
  1. Using the built-in inet type for basic IP address storage
  2. Using cidr type for network ranges without host bits
  3. Using separate columns for IPv4 and IPv6 if operations are always version-specific
For more details, refer to the PostgreSQL documentation on network address types and the ip4r extension documentation.