Feature request: Integrating IPinfo's API and Database service for IP geolocation, ASN, and more.

[abdullahdevrel]

I am requesting support for IPinfo's service in MSTicpy because it addresses certain limitations of the project and extends the product's capabilities.

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

The existing IP geolocation and metadata solution is limiting. Considering the reduced accuracy, requirements to signup for a service, reducated reduced API rate limit, I am requesting you to support IPinfo's service.

Describe the solution you'd like
Please see below.

Describe alternatives you've considered
I have not considered any alternatives

Additional context
Please see below.

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IPinfo offers two types of services:

• Data Downloads (Local database in MMDB file format that permits an unlimited amount of queries)
• API service (A web service that is easy to integrate)

Data Downloads

We offer databases in MMDB file format which this project can adopt fairly easily. The data downloads can provide various amount of information based on IP address that are includes but not limited to IP location, VPN and anonymous IP detection, Hosted Domains, ASN information etc.

The free IP to Country ASN database

I am requesting to add support for IPinfo's IP to Country database to the project. The database has the following features:

• It includes country and ASN information in the same database.
• It is updated daily, with zero compromise to accuracy. There is no range clustering, and the database provides full accuracy.
• The data granularity reaches individual IP level.
• The database comes in MMDB database format.
• It is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0, permitting commercial usage.
• Available file formats include: CSV, MMDB, JSON
• The data is tabular and unnested, making it very easy to use. The dataset includes both IPv4 and IPv6 in a single file.

Database schema

Field Name	Example	Data Type	Description
start_ip	1.0.16.0	TEXT	Starting IP address of an IP address range
end_ip	1.0.31.255	TEXT	Ending IP address of an IP address range
country	JP	TEXT	ISO 3166 country code of the location
country_name	Japan	TEXT	Name of the country
continent	AS	TEXT	Continent code of the country
continent_name	Asia	TEXT	Name of the continent
asn	AS2519	TEXT	Autonomous System Number
as_name	ARTERIA Networks Corporation	TEXT	Name of the AS (Autonomous System) organization
as_domain	arteria-net.com	TEXT	Official domain or website of the AS organization

Documentation: https://ipinfo.io/developers/ip-to-country-asn-database

Samples are available here: https://github.com/ipinfo/sample-database/tree/main/IP%20to%20Country%20ASN

The database can be downloaded simply by accessing the storage URI with an access token.

curl -L https://ipinfo.io/data/free/country_asn.mmdb?token=<YOUR_TOKEN> -o country_asn.mmdb

Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Why make the change or support

The project currently uses MaxMind's Geolite database which has a handful of problems.

Points	MaxMind's Geolite Dataset	IPinfo's free Database
Licensing	Does not permit distribution of the database or API keys. They require commercial distribution licensing that costs thousands of dollars, even to distribute a free database. Each user must use their own account to use their own database.	IPinfo's free database is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 which permits commercial distribution even through providing an attribution.
Accuracy	Inherently compromised accuracy	Full accuracy and zero compromise
Updates	Twice a week updates.	Daily updates
Download mechanism	Generally complicated. The product is also zipped.	Database can be downloaded directly from a storage URI and does not involve unzipping.
Data structure	Data structure is nested and irregular	Predictable and standardized data structure

API service

I would like to recommend ipinfo.io for IP data.

• Provides highly accurate IP geolocation backed by our probe network infrastructure.
• Free tier access token supports 50,000 requests per month.
• IPinfo supports HTTPS/SSL encryption on all endpoints.
• Tokenless access grants 1,000 requests per day.
• No rate limit for repeated API requests. You can make all the allocated requests in one go.
• Includes ASN and hostname information. Supports bulk enrichment through a single API endpoint. We also have a comprehensive integration library.

Usage example:

curl https://ipinfo.io/8.8.8.8

{
    "ip": "8.8.8.8",
    "hostname": "dns.google",
    "anycast": true,
    "city": "Mountain View",
    "region": "California",
    "country": "US",
    "loc": "37.4056,-122.0775",
    "org": "AS15169 Google LLC",
    "postal": "94043",
    "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles"
}

Documentation: https://ipinfo.io/developers

Free IP databases: https://ipinfo.io/products/free-ip-database

---

Consider including IPinfo in the project for accurate data and generous free access. Please let me know what you think. Thank you very much.

Why make the change or support

IPstack literally charges $13 dollar a month for the features IPinfo already provides for free!

[ianhelle]

Hi @abdullahdevrel - this is super interesting and would love to support it.
I'm just really strapped for time at the moment, so not sure when I can get to it.

Seems we'd need the following changes:

1. A new GeoIP provider library with auto-download (similar to the Maxmind implementation)
2. Take a dependency on mmdbctl library (this could be an extra)
3. Genericize the GeoIP provider mechanism so that it links to whichever provider the user prefers. Currently we have a couple of places where we default to using Maxmind GeoLite (given IPStack's model and pricing, not sure how many people use this.)

We could also bypass the download and use the API....which would be quite a bit simpler to implement.

[abdullahdevrel]

Hey Ian,

I am very happy that you were able to review the request! I have been following up for some time now and have been trying to find the perfect time to make this request. I saw the recent update sticky and thought I would take this opportunity to make the request finally.

I'm just really strapped for time at the moment, so not sure when I can get to it.

Absolutely no worries! I am just glad you were able to review the project. A codebase adjustment like this is not easy, so there is absolutely no rush.

A new GeoIP provider library with auto-download (similar to the Maxmind implementation)

Our database downloads are extremely easy and better. Data is hosted on a storage bucket and not zipped. You only need to pass the IPinfo access token in text.

You can also use a project-specific IPinfo access token. Users are not required to sign up for an IPinfo account. You can use your project-specific access token to download the database on load.

Take a dependency on mmdbctl library (this could be an extra)

I do not remember mentioning it, but I am glad you found it. By the way, the tool itself is currently integrated with our CLI: https://github.com/ipinfo/cli

ipinfo mmdb .....

Check out the CLI, I am sure you will find it interesting: https://github.com/ipinfo/cli

Genericize the GeoIP provider mechanism so that it links to whichever provider the user prefers. Currently we have a couple of places where we default to using Maxmind GeoLite (given IPStack's model and pricing, not sure how many people use this.)

Yep. I'm sure most people would prefer us if they know they can use our service :)

We could also bypass the download and use the API....which would be quite a bit simpler to implement.

That would work great too. On the free tier, without an access token, we permit 1,000 requests per day, and with a free access token, we allow up to 50,000 requests.

We also have a bulk enrichment API endpoint: https://ipinfo.io/developers/advanced-usage?ref=ipinfo.io#batching-requests

If you use our Python Library, it comes with a bulk API, native caching, and other features:
https://github.com/ipinfo/python