lucy24 - 2:40 am on Nov 24, 2012 (gmt 0)

Done correctly, mod_access can be just as surgical as any other method.

I hope that's Voice Of Habit and not Voice Of Current Apache Installation ;)

I looked it up just a few days ago after my latest mod check (shared hosting, so I can't just ask): mod_access is 1.3 and earlier. The current equivalent is mod_authz_host. I tend to think of it as core because it's just about the last thing to execute but technically it's just another mod.

And I feel mod_rewrite puts more of a resource strain on the server

I've always assumed that a formula like
... 12.34.128.0/20
is less resource-greedy than
... %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^12\.34\.1(2[89]|3\d|4[0-3])\.
But if you backed me into a corner and put bamboo shoots under my nails I would have to admit that I have absolutely no factual basis for this assumption. Just gut feeling.