HT: Difference between revisions

This article will help you understand and build your knowledge of the .htaccess file you see when you run an Apache Web Server like ours.

===Article is still under writing===

==What is a .htaccess file?==

It is a HTTPd (Hypertext Transfer Protocol daemon) that provides the governing rules of how a web server should be ran/behave. It is the sub-conf script to the httpd.conf file in Apache.

The .htpasswd file is a file used to store usernames and passwords for protected areas of a website that uses the .htaccess Protection.

'''Change the Default Directory Index File''': It can be used to chnage the default index file which is normally index.html, index.ext... to anything like foo.ext or whatever name/extension you prefer. To do this, use:  

'''Customizing Error Handling/Error Pages''': If you have ever wondered how people chnage their 404, 500... error pages to something like lost.ext, then you will like this code in your .htaccess file:  

Where [Error Number] is replaced with the error number, and [Error Document] is replaced with the path fo the error document which can be internal or external as in:  

<pre>http://www.anothersite.com/foo.ext or /foo.ext (where foo.ext is in the main directory of the server the file is on)</pre>

'''Server Generated URL Redirects''': You moved or renamed a directory and you know people still have the old directory bookmarked so you want them to be redirected to the new directory, then you can use this code:  

'''Limiting Access by Hostname/IP Address''': Use this section of this article if you are intrested in blocking access to a file/folder on your server:  

</pre> This example denies access to admin.cgi to everyone but the owner of the IP Address mention in ''1.2.3.4''. You can also use this for a folder, in that case you would replace admin.cgi with the name of the folder. If you are intrested in using the Hostname rather than the IP then use:

You can also use it for your whole network to have access to it alone, example:

Where ''192.168.123'' is your internal network IP and .networkdomain.com is your Hostname/Domain. You can also switch it to allow from ALL and deny from a list of IPs or Hostnames.Here is a pratical example for advance users:

'''Limiting Access by User''': This part lets you use a .htaccess/.htpasswd user login system that uses cookies. It is not fully safe because the session does not expire until all open broswers are closed so try not to use it much on your site section that needs foul proof security. Here is the code:

For this example you places a .htpasswd file in the path (/htpasswd/path/to/). In the .htpasswd file will be: <pre>[user]:[password]</pre> Normally you have to encrypt the password but if you are using The [[Uniform_Server|Uniform Server]], then you do not need to do that. You ca also use this example to protect another directory from just 1 .htaccess file:

If you are intrested in doing thsi for just specific files then use:

The ''Require'' statement is used to list valid users or groups of users so if you just want 1 .htpasswd file, but want multiple protected areas, then you can use:

AuthGroupFile /htgorups/path/to/.htgroups

As you can see a username may be in as many group as you like while others may just be in 1.