Theta Homeroom How-to:
Password Protecting a Web Site

Note: you can password-protect a directory (folder) of web pages, but not individual pages within a directory. If you don't want your whole web site restricted, make a subdirectory (subfolder) and put the restricted pages there. Any files within that folder, and any folders within it, will be password-protected.

Example:

Step 1
Log into the cuip server using SSH. You will automatically be logged into your home directory. You need to find the path to your home directory. Do this by typing in pwd and hitting the Enter key. The computer will respond with the path to your home directory. Write this down, or highlight it and copy it. You will need to use it twice in the following steps.

You can either stay logged in (for step 3) or log out and log back in later.

Example :

Step 2
Make a text file using any text editor (Dreamweaver, WordPad on the PC, SimpleText on the Mac, even Microsoft Word if you save in text-only format). This file must be called .htaccess—note the period at the beginning of the file name—and must contain the following text:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "test restriction"
AuthUserFile PathToYourHomeDirectory/webUsers
Require valid-user

The text in red should be modified to your needs:

• The text that reads "test restriction" above will be shown to the user in different ways by different browsers. Replace with your own text, something like "restricted files".
• The text that reads PathToYourHomeDirectory should be replaced with your cuip home directory. (This is what you got from the pwd command.) This indicates the directory in which the password file will reside. Note: you can indicate a subdirectory within your account, but don't use your www directory.
  

Use Dreamweaver or FTP to put this .htaccess file into the directory on the server that you want to password-protect.

Step 3
If you logged out, log into your cuip account using SSH. Type this in:

htpasswd -c PathToYourHomeDirectory/webUsers loginname

note: this must be typed exactly, with spaces only where indicated, capitalization as indicated. The text in red should again be modified:

• replace PathToYourHomeDirectory with your cuip home directory. (This is what you got from the pwd command.)
• replace loginname with the login name you want your readers to use.

Press the Enter key.

You will be prompted to type in a password; this should be the password that you want your users to use. You will have to enter this twice.

(If you want to have more than one username and password, use the htpasswd command again but without the -c option to add another username

htpasswd PathToYourHomeDirectory/webUsers newLoginName

Again you will be prompted for a password and will have to type it twice.)

At the end of this step there will be a new file in your home directory that contains the password information. Do not rename or move this file!

Done!
The web pages in the directory that contains the .htacess file are now password-protected!