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Mohammad Waseem
Mohammad Waseem

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Harnessing Rust and Open Source Tools to Test Geo-Blocked Features Effectively

#rust #automation #testing

Testing geo-restricted features presents a unique challenge for QA teams, especially when trying to simulate the experience of users from different regions. As a Lead QA Engineer, I found that leveraging Rust—a systems programming language known for safety and performance—combined with open source tools, can streamline the process of validating geo-blocked functionalities.

Understanding the Challenge

Geo-blocking typically utilizes IP geolocation to restrict access based on user's location. Testing such features requires simulating requests from various geographic regions, which can be complex with traditional testing tools. Manual VPNs or proxies are often unreliable or slow, making automation a necessity.

The Rust Advantage

Rust's rich ecosystem and robust networking libraries make it an excellent candidate for building custom geolocation testing tools. Its safety guarantees help prevent common issues like memory leaks, while its concurrency models enable efficient handling of multiple requests.

Building the Geo-Detection Simulator

At the core of our testing suite is an IP geolocation simulation. Using open source databases like MaxMind's GeoLite2, we can map IP addresses to regions. We created a Rust tool that hashes a set of IPs to specific regions, then crafts HTTP requests to the application, spoofing source locations.

Here is an example of how we use the reqwest crate for HTTP requests and maxminddb to query geolocation data:

use reqwest::blocking::Client;
use maxminddb::Reader;
use std::net::IpAddr;

fn main() {
    // Initialize HTTP client
    let client = Client::new();

    // Load MaxMind GeoLite2 database
    let reader = Reader::open_readfile("GeoLite2-City.mmdb").unwrap();

    // Sample IPs representing different regions
    let ips = vec!["128.101.101.101", "207.97.227.239"];

    for ip_str in ips {
        let ip: IpAddr = ip_str.parse().unwrap();
        // Query geolocation
        if let Ok(city) = reader.lookup::<maxminddb::geoip2::City>(ip) {
            // Based on city, determine if feature should be accessible
            println!("IP {} is located in: {}", ip, city.city.and_then(|c| c.names).and_then(|n| n.get("en"))).unwrap_or("Unknown".to_string()));
            // Send request with appropriate headers or proxy setup
            let response = client.get("https://your-application.com/feature")
                // Optionally set headers or proxy as needed
                .send().unwrap();
            println!("Response status for {}: {}", ip, response.status());
        }
    }
}
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This script allows us to simulate requests from different regions by controlling the source IPs through controlled proxies or VPN endpoints, combined with IP-to-region mappings.

Automating Geo-Restrictions Validation

Once the request simulation is in place, we automate the validation by scripting responses to check if access is correctly granted or denied based on the simulated location. This ensures that geo-restriction logic is thoroughly tested against diverse scenarios.

fn validate_access(ip: &str, expected_access: bool) {
    // Simulation logic as above
    // ...
    let access_granted = response.status().is_success();
    assert_eq!(access_granted, expected_access, "Mismatch for IP {}", ip);
}
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Integrating with CI/CD and Open Source Ecosystem

This approach integrates seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines, allowing continuous validation of geo-restricted features across regions. Coupled with containerized environments and open source proxy tools like Squid or TinyProxy, we can rapidly expand our testing matrix.

Conclusion

By combining Rust's powerful networking capabilities, open source geolocation data, and automation scripting, QA teams can effectively test geo-blocked features without reliance on costly VPNs or manual testing. This method enhances reliability, repeatability, and coverage, ensuring a seamless user experience regardless of user location.

For teams looking to implement similar strategies, I recommend exploring reqwest, maxminddb, and open source proxy solutions. Building this into your testing ecosystem is a forward-looking investment in smart, location-aware QA automation.

🛠️ QA Tip

To test this safely without using real user data, I use TempoMail USA.

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