Apache lock-down

16th May 2012

This blog post is more than 8 years old, so the content may be out of date.

It's a request I get a lot when a site's in development: put the website on a public server, but lock it down so you need a password to get into the site.

There are a few Drupal modules for this:

But I want to do something with Apache (why? I don't want to add a module that's not going to be used in production, and it makes testing a little more reliable).

Preparing a password file

Both of the methods rely on a password file which can be used by Apache.

Initially create the password file by using the '-c' option.

htpasswd -c /var/www/.htpasswd username

It'll then prompt you for a password for that username.

Add new users using the same command:

htpasswd /var/www/.htpasswd username

Standard Apache lock-down

Here's the standard way to add basic-auth:

  <Directory /var/www/html>
 
    # Basic setup...default is deny, unless someone is allowed.
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
 
    # Instructions for basic auth
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Restricted Files"
    # Path to the file created with htpasswd
    AuthUserFile /var/www/.htpasswd
    # If we're using the password file, and user in the password file is accepted
    Require valid-user
  </Directory>

Apache lock-down with IP whitelist

This takes the apache basic-auth lockdown, but whitelists certain IP addresses (basically so I don't have to remember usernames and passwords!)

  <Directory /var/www/html>
 
    # Basic setup...default is deny, unless someone is allowed.
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from all
 
    # Instructions for basic auth
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "Restricted Files"
    # Path to the file created with htpasswd
    AuthUserFile /var/www/.htpasswd
    # If we're using the password file, and user in the password file is accepted
    Require valid-user
 
 
 
    # Any of the authentication methods are OK: password or IP allow.
    Satisfy Any
 
    # Localhost
    Allow from 127.0.0.1
 
    # Marcus' IP address
    Allow from 1.2.3.4
  </Directory>

Footname

Site's behind Varnish and you want to use the same approach? Mig5 has an answer: Excluding IPs from HTTP auth when Apache is behind Varnish.

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