Hyper Text Access(htaccess)

In this post we will see how to protect Document Root directory on web servers running the Apache Web Server software.

What is htaccess ?

1. htaccess stands for hypertext access.
2. .htaccess is a configuration file for use on web servers running the Apache Web Server software.This is the default name of the Apache directory-level configuration file.

This .htaccess file can be used to create security restrictions for directories(/var/www). One of the common use of .htaccess  is to require user authentication in order to secure certain web pages.

Content of htaccess file ?

AuthType Basic

AuthName “Restricted web page”

AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.htpasswd

require valid-user

Implementation .htaccess ?

Step 2: Create the .htpasswd file containing usernames & password necessary for the authentication.

Step 3: Place .htaccess in the directory we wish users to validate before accessing the content.

Step 4: Tell httpd to allow user authentication via .htaccess files.

Step 5: Restart the server.

Step 6: Test the results.

Once we are authenticated then it’s displaying the indexes of 2 different websites. If we further move through then it will  display the webpages of respective websites.

http://192.168.56.102/Website1

http://192.169.56.102/Website2

In the forthcoming posts we will discuss about securing web servers in detail  with step by step examples.
If you have queries about this any topic just leave a reply !!