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[[Main Page|Home]] > [[CentOS]] > [[CentOS 6.x]] > [[Apache web server configuration]] > [[Configuring authentication for apache using password file]]

=Allowing authentication via .htaccess=

To configure authentication for apache using password file we can enter configuration lines in either '<tt>.htaccess</tt>' file or directly in '<tt>httpd.conf</tt>' file. In case of authentication setup using '<tt>.htaccess</tt>' file following directive must be present in '<tt>httpd.conf</tt>' for concerned Directory or VirtualHost
<pre>
AllowOverride AuthConfig 
</pre>



=Creating password file=

To create password file to be used for authentication, one can use '<tt>htpasswd</tt>' utility. To create password file with desired user use:
<pre>
htpasswd -c <password-file> <user-name>
</pre>
The command will prompt for desired password for given user. Note that '<tt>-c</tt>' option is required only while creating a new file.

'''For security reasons, it is necessary for password file to be outside DocumentRoot so that users cannot simply download the file and crack the passwords.'''
    

=Configuring authentication=

To configure authentication enter following lines for appropriate Directory in configuration file:
<pre>
AuthType Basic
AuthName "<realm>"
# Optional line:
AuthBasicProvider file
AuthUserFile <path-of-password-file>
Require user <user-name>
</pre>

To allow all users one can use '<tt>Require valid-user</tt>'.

    
=Configuring groups=
To allow a specific set of users group file is required. Group file has following syntax:
<pre>
<group-name> : <user1> <user2> <user3> ...
</pre>

To configure authentication via group following configuration lines can be used:
<pre>
AuthType Basic
AuthName "<realm>"
# Optional line:
AuthBasicProvider file
AuthUserFile <path-to-password-file>
AuthGroupFile <path-to-group-file>
Require group <group-name>
</pre>




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