.htaccess
is the name of a file you can place in your directories to protect them
using a password. It can be setup in many different ways. We cannot
cover all of the uses of .htaccess in this mini-faq, we suggest that
you see NCSA's .htaccess guide for a more in-depth discussion of how to
use .htaccess.
Basic .htaccess Use
The
first thing you need to do is create an .htaccess file, in the
directory you want to protect. If you place this in the root directory
of your web site, it protects any other directories inside that root
directory as well. The most common way of using .htaccess would be to
*setup an .htpasswd file as well, where usernames and passwords are
stored.
*Please Note: Shell access has been disabled for customer use. Please contact Technical Support
to install .htpasswd file. If you need to change passwords often, we
would recommend the installation of a tool like user_manage.cgi to
allow you control without having to contact support.
Example .htaccess File
Create
a text file called .htaccess, and upload it to the directory you wish
to protect. For basic password authentication, the .htaccess file
should look like:
<Limit GET>
require user username OR require valid-user OR require group groupname
</Limit>
AuthUserFile
- This is the full path of where the .htpasswd file is located. For
personal websites, we suggest that this file be located in your user
directory. For virtual hosting sites, we suggest creating a separate
directory for it, and make sure that directory is only world executable
(set its permissions to 711). The path for this file will be different
depending on the server:
Personal Sites: /home/customers/1st letter of username/2nd letter of username/username...
AuthName
- This is just the name of the Authentication prompt. If it is more
than one word in length, it must have double quotes around it.
AuthType - Determines how you are using .htaccess. Leave this set to Basic.
<Limit
???> - Starts the settings for how and what you are limiting. In the
example above, GET indicates that .htaccess is being used to limit who
can 'get' information from the website. Inside the Limit tags, you
specify how the limiting occurs.
Create an .htpasswd File
Once the .htaccess file is created and in place, you must then call Technical Support at 800-229-2096 to create a password file for it to use.
That's
it for basic .htaccess. Once this is all in place, you will get an
access prompt when you go to the website. You have to enter a username
that is allowed access (set in the .htaccess file) and a password for
that username (set in the .htpasswd file). If you have problems, please
contact us.
Glossary
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