What is '.htaccess'?

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 configuration.

First you want to create a '.htaccess' file in the directory that you want to protect.  Moreover, the '.htaccess' file can be placed in one or more of your /home/username/your_domain-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.

Restricting Access: Password Protection

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

AuthUserFile /home/username/.passwd
AuthGroupFile /home/username/.group
AuthName "Access by password Only"
AuthType Basic
<Limit GET POST>
require group groupname
require user username
</Limit>

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! Virtual Hosting Solutions.com has a special script you can use to manage your '.group' and '.passwd' files (the "Webmister" script).

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 (This should be typed as one single line without breaks) to the '.htaccess' file:

Redirect /directory_name/old.html http://your_domain.com/directory_name/new.html

Apache has a nice FAQ on redirects.