What is IP_ADDRESS_SALT?

[tszhong0411]

I refer to several blogs with "like" buttons. They all have the IP_ADDRESS_SALT environment variable, but I don't know what should be filled in.

I hope someone can help me. Thanks.

[theodorusclarence]

Hi, it's for this function

theodorusclarence.com/src/lib/helper.server.ts

Lines 1 to 18 in af9b733

	import { createHash } from 'crypto';
	import { NextApiRequest } from 'next';
	export const getSessionId = (req: NextApiRequest) => {
	const ipAddress =
	req.headers['x-forwarded-for'] ||
	// Fallback for localhost or non Vercel deployments
	'0.0.0.0';
	// Since a users IP address is part of the sessionId in our database, we
	// hash it to protect their privacy. By combining it with a salt, we get
	// get a unique id we can refer to, but we won't know what their ip
	// address was.
	const currentUserId = createHash('md5')
	.update(ipAddress + (process.env.IP_ADDRESS_SALT as string), 'utf8')
	.digest('hex');
	return currentUserId;
	};

for salt, you can use any string you like. I usually use a passphrase https://www.useapassphrase.com/

for example:

IP_ADDRESS_SALT="tubular-grief-small-darkish"

[tszhong0411]

Thanks for explaining ❤️