Controlling Access with .htaccess
(Basic Authentication)

1. Create a hidden file named .htaccess in directory to be protected. Add the following text to the file:

   AuthUserFile <<path to text file containing usernames:passwords>>
   AuthGroupFile <<path to text file containing groups>>
   AuthName <<name of the ‘realm’ that is protected>>
   AuthType Basic require group <<some usergroup>>
   require user <<some username>> 
   

   An example:

   AuthUserFile /home/vogelnet/pw_files/.users
   AuthName My_Protected_Area
   AuthType Basic
   
   require user dvogel user1 user2
   

2. Create a (hidden) file to hold the passwords (in an area that is not accessible to others or the web server).

   - Make a directory OUTSIDE the web server accessible directory structure to hold your file (for example: /home/vogelnet/pw_files)
   
   - Create the password file with the following command (subsequent additions to this file do not use the -c (create) attribute.):
   
       htpasswd -c <<passwordFilePath&Name>> <<username>>
   

   An example:

   htpasswd -c /home/vogelnet/pw_files/.users dvogel

   You are asked to enter a password and then to repeat it. After this is successfully completed the file created (in this case .users) looks like this (note that password after the colon and is encrypted):

   dvogel:3xaml49Qn7DV2

    

   Now add another user:

   htpasswd /home/vogelnet/pw_files/.users user1

   after successful entry of the password the file .users looks like this:

   dvogel:3xaml49Qn7DV2
   user1:wXnnNeHvIPIhI

   and so on...

3. To give groups access to a realm, define the groups in another file similiar to the following (in this case called .group):

   file .group:

   group1:user1 user11 user111
   group2:user2 user22 user222
   

   Use 'require group' instead of 'require user' in the .htaccess file and add individual user passwords as per before with htpasswd.

   An example:

   AuthUserFile /home/vogelnet/pw_files/.users
   AuthGroupFile / home/vogelnet/pw_files/.group
   AuthName My_Protected_Area
   AuthType Basic
   
   require user dvogel user1 user2
   require group group1 group2