If you have a web site that contains sensitive documents such as test results, scripts, or an administration section, then you need directory security to stop unauthorized people from accessing certain parts of your site. If an ISP is hosting your site, then theres a very good chance that the server is running Apache. Apache is a free web server application (available for both Unix and Windows) that can handle all HTTP (web page) requests, and is fully customizable. You can download Apache at http://apache.org.
One of the quickest ways to secure a directory on an Apache web server is to implement web based user authentication. Htaccess access is the most popular way, and it will be discussed throughout this article.
Before we continue, you should be able to:
Connect to your web server using telnet and FTP
Use basic Unix commands to navigate your web servers directory structure
Specify the virtual path to your web servers root directory, such as /www/htdocs/
