Htaccess
htaccess configuration using custom templates
Problem
You want to implement secure authorised access to folders/subfolders in your sme server ibays.
The default settings in sme server allow you to secure the ibays using the Information Bay panel in server manager, by creating an ibay password which is used to allow authorised access to the ibay from the Internet, but this does not control access to individual folders.
Solution
The use of a .htaccess file and associated password file can control the security of subfolders within ibays by username and password. Htaccess is not enabled by default and .htaccess files are inherently exposed to the Internet and require the correct permissions to be applied to ensure that unauthorised access is not allowed, therefore creating a security risk.
The recommended way to implement .htaccess on a SME server, is to use custom templates, which are only under the control of the administrator and cannot be tampered with by anonymous Internet users. Using this method you do NOT need to install any contrib rpm.
Determining contents of htaccess fragment
This method involves creating a httpd.conf custom template fragment with the required information.
Initially you will need to determine the contents of your .htacess file to be used in the fragment. Refer to the .htaccess web site links below for more details but a basic .htaccess file would contain the following (see specific examples in following sections):
AuthUserFile /etc/passwordfilename
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "My Site Security Group"
AuthType Basic
<Limit GET>
order deny,allow
require valid-user
</Limit>
The AuthUserFile will be the location on your sme server of the htaccess password file. You can choose whichever name and location you want, but the password file SHOULD NOT be placed in a publicly accessible area ie NOT in web site folders. Note that this file is created using the htpasswd command (see steps later).
The AuthName can be any name you want.
The rest of the details are basic and can be amended to suit your particular requirements.
Procedure - authentication against a user password file
Determine the contents of your .htacess file to be used in the fragment, as mentioned previously. The contents shown below will suffice for standard situations.
Custom template creation
Next you need to create the custom template.
Log on to your server command prompt as root or with root privileges and do: (assuming that it does not already exist)
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
Create a fragment with a name of your choice
cd /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf nano -w 50AddSecureIbayFolder
Using the htaccess file contents example from above, and assuming we want to secure an ibay subfolder called /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ibayname/html/foldername/subfoldername
edit the fragment file to contain the following (ensure there is an empty line at the end)
<Directory /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ibayname/html/foldername/subfoldername> AuthUserFile /etc/passwordfilename AuthGroupFile /dev/null AuthName "My Site Security Group" AuthType Basic <Limit GET> order deny,allow require valid-user </Limit> </Directory>
then do
expand-template /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf sv t /service/httpd-e-smith
It is recommended practise to check that the service has started and is running, so do
sv s /service/httpd-e-smith
Password file creation
Now you need to create the password file, change to the location you want the password file in
cd /etc
then do
htpasswd -c passwordfilename user1
then you will be asked to enter the password
and then asked to confirm the password
The user name and password will be encoded into the password file
To add a second user and password do
htpasswd passwordfilename user2
then you will be asked to enter the password
and then asked to confirm the password
To add a third user and password do
htpasswd passwordfilename user3
then you will be asked to enter the password
and then asked to confirm the password
and so on.
You should only use the -c switch when entering the first user.
If you use the -c switch when entering additional user details you will overwrite the password file completely and only have the one user entry there.
Procedure - authentication against all sme users
Determine the contents of your .htacess file to be used in the fragment, as mentioned previously. The contents shown below will suffice for standard situations.
Custom template creation
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf cd /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf pico -w 50AddSecureIbayFolder
Assuming we want to secure an ibay subfolder called /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ibayname/html/foldername/subfoldername
edit the fragment file to contain the following (ensure there is an empty line at the end)
<Directory /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ibayname/html/foldername/subfoldername> AuthName "My Site Security Group" AuthType Basic AuthExternal pwauth <Limit GET> order deny,allow require valid-user </Limit> </Directory>
(the "valid-user" setting will allow any valid sme user to gain access)
then do
expand-template /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf sv t /service/httpd-e-smith sv s /service/httpd-e-smith
Procedure - authentication against specified sme users
Determine the contents of your .htacess file to be used in the fragment, as mentioned previously. The contents shown below will suffice for standard situations.
Custom template creation
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf cd /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf pico -w 50AddSecureIbayFolder
Assuming we want to secure an ibay subfolder called /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ibayname/html/foldername/subfoldername
edit the fragment file to contain the following (ensure there is an empty line at the end)
<Directory /home/e-smith/files/ibays/ibayname/html/foldername/subfoldername> AuthName "My Site Security Group" AuthType Basic AuthExternal pwauth <Limit GET> order deny,allow require user admin smeusername1 smeusername2 smeusername3 smeusername4 </Limit> </Directory>
(where admin, smeusername1, smeusername2 etc are valid users on the sme server)
then do
expand-template /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf sv t /service/httpd-e-smith sv s /service/httpd-e-smith
Procedure - authentication against groups
Two methods are outlined in this forum post
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,38959.msg177967.html#msg177967
One method solves this by expanding the group to all members in it and adding them to the required user directive, see
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,38959.msg177464.html#msg177464
The other method solves this by using the unixgroup check script, see
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php/topic,38959.msg177967.html#msg177967
Testing
Now you can test the web site access.
Ensure you have created the actual web site folder or subfolder, and then browse to your newly secured location ie
www./yourdomain.com/ibayname/foldername/subfoldername
You will be asked for a user Id and password.
Enter any combination that is allowed by your configuration to gain access, ie is in your password file, is any sme user, or is a specfied sme user.
Deletion procedure
To undo any changes you make using this method, do the following, replacing filenames with those actually used
rm /etc/passwordfilename rm /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf 50AddSecureIbayFolder expand-template /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf sv t /service/httpd-e-smith sv s /service/httpd-e-smith
Additional Information
See these resources for further information about creating and using htaccess although much of that information is not applicable to the method outlined in this HOWTO.
It will assist you to determine the contents of the htaccess file that will be placed into the custom template fragment.
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/htaccess/
http://www.its.queensu.ca/network/policy/htaccess.shtml
http://www.washington.edu/computing/web/publishing/htaccess.html
http://www.htmlite.com/HTA003.php
http://www.cs.hmc.edu/qref/web/htaccess.html
For further information about custom templates see:
http://wiki.contribs.org/SME_Server:Documentation:Developers_Manual
Other References:
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=42190.0
