Knowledge Base

HOME: .htaccess

The Apache configuration directive file

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2. .htaccess file overview

What is .htaccess?

Important Note: Do not edit the .htaccess file if you are using MS Frontpage! Frontpage uses the .htaccess file, and editing it may cause errors in your Frontpage configuration.

The .htaccess file can be placed in one or more of your /home/username/domainname-www subdirectories. Among other things, this file can be used to restrict access to other files and web pages.

When a request for a web page is made, the web server first checks for an .htaccess file. The server begins this check by looking for .htaccess in the root of the current web directory, and on down the directory tree until it reaches the the directory where the requested file resides. Since the placement of the .htaccess file determines when it is executed, this fact can be used to restrict access only in certain subdirectories.

Functions

-Restrict access to directories using passwords.

-Redirect hits onto another webpage.

-Control and set the messages generated for various error conditions.

-Edit Mime-types.

-Activate and deactivate various server features.

To create an .htaccess file, make a text file as described below and upload it as ".htaccess"

Except for the first function, these will only work for an .htaccess file placed in domainname-www. Add whichever functions you want to the same file.

Restricting Access: Password Protection

The directory you want protected must have an .htaccess file in it that looks like the following

(do not put the #comments in the actual .htaccess file):

AuthUserFile /home/username/.passwd

AuthGroupFile /home/username/.group

AuthName "Protected Space"

AuthType Basic

require group users #users is the group of users that you give access to this directory.

require user username #if there is only one user in the group, you can substitute this line.

(Other possible groups are administrators, etc)

Groups and users are stored in the .group file, and passwords are stored in .passwd. The .htaccess file looks for these files in the /home/username/ directory. Do not attempt to edit these manually!

Redirects

Redirecting allows you to send the user to, for example, new.html when they attempt to access old.html. To see this

example in practice, simply add the following line to the .htaccess file:

Redirect /directoryname/old.html http://domainname.com/directoryname/new.html

Error Documents

There are two main styles of error messages you may encounter. The first is the standard form, which looks something like:
"...
File Not found

The requested URL domainname.com/filenamme.html was not found on this server.
..."

The second type comes in a variety of forms, but is customized by the webmaster. For example:
"...
Sorry

We're sorry, but the requested URL does not exist. Please e-mail support@domainname.com if you need further assistance.
..."

Such messages are called error documents, and are web pages designed to give a polite explanation for error conditions. These error conditions generate numbers which are used to refer to the appropriate error condition. Some of the most common messages are as follows:

Error in Client

  400 Bad syntax

  401 Unauthorized

  402 Not Used (Payment Granted)

  403 Forbidden

  404 Not Found

Error in Server

  500 Internal Error

  501 Not Implemented

  502 Overloaded

  503 Gateway Timeout

How to Customize Error Messages for Your Site

-First, create the HTML page you want to use as your error message.

-Upload it to your domainname-www directory.

-Next, go into your .htaccess file (or create one) and add lines which specify the substitution.

Here are three examples of specifying error documents which will be called for a given error condition (note you can use relative or absolute addressing):

ErrorDocument 401 http://domainname.com/nopasswd.html

ErrorDocument 403 /forbidden.html

ErrorDocument 404 http://www.domainname.com/nofile.html

Mime Types

You can add mime types to your .htaccess file with a line like:

AddType text/html .txt

Additional reference on .htaccess...
http://www.apache.org/
http://apachetoday.com/


Updated: January 3, 2001

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