.htaccess-files are hidden files, which are processed by the Apache Webserver. Depending on the configuration of Apache2 the .htaccess-files can modify the behaviour of the webserver, e.g. by modifying values of modules (Rewrite, Expires, …) .
Within the documentroot of your webspace-subscription the .htaccess-file can be used to password-protect a custom file or directory. To create a .htaccess-based login form just create a file called .htaccess via SFTP. Please make sure that the file is created in the document root of your webhosting-subscription (e.g. /web/username/www/subscriptionname).
Example:
AuthName "Protected Directory" AuthType Basic AuthUserFile /web/username/files/.htpasswd require valid-user
After creating this .htaccess-file move to the files-directory of your webspace-subscription. You can now add an .htpasswd-file, which contains the user-information and the password-hash.
You can use a shell to auto-generate a valid .htpasswd-file. To do so, simply log into a shell and enter.
htpasswd -c .htpasswd username
You are asked to enter a password, which is stored as a hash.
On login.gwdg.de enter
htpasswd2 -c .htpasswd username
Example:
username:laA94KcLcE53
If you do not want to use shell to generate .htpassword, you can simply use our .htaccess-Generator:
Example:
username:laA94KcLcE53
To grant access to users from specific IP-addresses or IP-ranges, you need to create a .htaccess-file in the document root of your webhosting-subscription.
Example (single IP/Apache 2.2):
order deny,allow deny from all allow from 123.123.123.123
Example (IP-range/Apache 2.2)
order deny,allow deny from all allow from 123.123.123.0/24
Example (single IP/Apache 2.4)
Require ip 123.123.123.123