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Password-protect access to an application with Apache

To configure Apache to request a username and password when accessing your application, follow these steps:

  • At the console, type the following commands. Remember to replace APPNAME, USERNAME and PASSWORD with the application name (for example, wordpress), and desired username and password, respectively.

      $ sudo /opt/bitnami/apache/bin/htpasswd -cb /opt/bitnami/apache/APPNAME_users USERNAME PASSWORD
    
  • Edit the /opt/bitnami/apache/conf/vhosts/APPNAME-vhost.conf file to add the following lines:

      <VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:443 _default_:443>
        ...
        <Directory "/opt/bitnami/APPNAME">
          ...
          AuthType Basic
          AuthName MyAuthName
          AuthUserFile "/opt/bitnami/apache/APPNAME_users"
          Require valid-user
    

    In addition, find the line containing Require all granted in the same file and comment it by placing a hash (#) symbol before it, as shown below:

      # Require all granted
    

    If your application has a proxy, add the following lines at the end of the file:

        ...
        <Location />
          AuthType Basic
          AuthName "Authentication required"
          Require valid-user
          AuthUserFile "/opt/bitnami/apache/APPNAME_users"
        </Location>
      </VirtualHost>
    
  • Edit the /opt/bitnami/apache/conf/vhosts/APPNAME-https-vhost.conf file to add the following lines:

      <VirtualHost 127.0.0.1:443 _default_:443>
        ...
        <Directory "/opt/bitnami/APPNAME">
          ...
          AuthType Basic
          AuthName MyAuthName
          AuthUserFile "/opt/bitnami/apache/APPNAME_users"
          Require valid-user
    

    In addition, find the line containing Require all granted in the same file and comment it by placing a hash (#) symbol before it, as shown below:

      # Require all granted
    

    If your application has a proxy, add the following lines at the end of the file:

        ...
        <Location />
          AuthType Basic
          AuthName "Authentication required"
          Require valid-user
          AuthUserFile "/opt/bitnami/apache/APPNAME_users"
        </Location>
      </VirtualHost>
    
  • Restart the Apache server:

      $ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache
    

When accessing the application, you will see the following authentication popup window. Enter the username and password that you have defined in the first step:

Authentication required

To change the password later, run the htpasswd utility without the -c switch and replace the USERNAME placeholder with the username of the account you wish to modify:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/apache/bin/htpasswd /opt/bitnami/apache/APPNAME_users USERNAME

To add another user to the same file, run the htpasswd utility without the -c switch and replace the USERNAME and PASSWORD placeholders with the new username and password you wish to add.

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/apache/bin/htpasswd -b /opt/bitnami/apache/APPNAME_users USERNAME PASSWORD
Last modification February 9, 2023