how would I write this complex ip tables rule

[Bevan Bennett]

Technical wrote:

>i want any to access my web server;
>i want no one from idiot.com except joe.idiot.com and mary.idiot to access
>my web server... thanks
>
>
>  
>
For something this specific, you might be better off telling iptables to 
let in all traffic for port 80, then configuring your web server (apache 
I presume) to set who can access what from where.

I believe that would go something like this in the relevant bits of 
httpd.conf.

SetOrder Allow,Deny
     Allow from joe.idiot.com
     Allow from mary.idiot.com
     Deny from idiot.com
     Allow from all

By putting this in the webserver config rather than the firewall config, 
you'll be keeping everything 'non-standard' in one place instead of two, 
making it less likely that you'll forget about your changes later.