How To Set Up Password Authentication with Apache on Ubuntu 20.04

Introduction

As a web administrator, you may find it valuable to restrict some parts of a website from visitors, whether temporarily or on a permanent basis. While web applications may provide their own authentication and authorization methods, you can also rely on the web server itself to restrict access if these are inadequate or unavailable.

This tutorial will walk you through password-protecting assets on an Apache web server running on Ubuntu 20.04. This will provide your server with an extra layer of security.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, you will need:

• One Ubuntu 20.04 server set up with a non-root user with sudo privileges and firewall enabled. You can do this by following the Ubuntu 20.04 initial server setup guide.

• The Apache web server installed on your Ubuntu server. If you haven’t already set one up, the How To Install the Apache Web Server on Ubuntu 20.04 tutorial can guide you. Be sure to complete Step 5 and have a virtual host file for your domain. This tutorial will refer to your_domain as an example throughout and use /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf for the virtual host file.

• Your virtual host secured with SSL. Setting this up depends on whether you have a domain name for your site.

  • If you have a domain name, you can secure your site with Let’s Encrypt, which provides free, trusted certificates. Follow the Let’s Encrypt guide for Apache to set this up.
  • If you do not have a domain and you are using this configuration for testing or personal use, you can use a self-signed certificate instead. This provides the same type of encryption, but without domain validation. Follow the self-signed SSL guide for Apache to get set up.

• If you would like to set up a domain (optional), you can do so by purchasing a domain name on Namecheap, get one free on Freenom, or use the domain registrar of your choice. Additionally, you will need both of the following DNS records set up for your server. Follow this introduction to DigitalOcean DNS for details on how to add them.

  • An A record with your_domain pointing to your server’s public IP address.
  • An A record with www.your_domain pointing to your server’s public IP address.

Once you’ve completed these prerequisites, log into your server as the sudo user and continue to the first step.

Step 1 — Installing the Apache Utilities Package

Let’s begin by updating our server and installing a package that we’ll need. In order to complete this tutorial, we will be using a utility called htpasswd, part of the apache2-utils package, to create the file and manage the username and passwords needed to access restricted content.

First, update your server’s package index:

sudo apt update

Then install the Apache utilities package:

sudo apt install apache2-utils

With this installed, you now have access to the htpasswd command.

Step 2 — Creating the Password File

The htpasswd command allows you to create a password file that Apache can use to authenticate users. You’ll create a hidden file for this purpose called .htpasswd within your /etc/apache2 configuration directory.

The first time you use this utility, you need to add the -c option to create the specified .htpasswd file. Here, we specify a username (sammy in this example) at the end of the command to create a new entry within the file:

sudo htpasswd -c /etc/apache2/.htpasswd sammy

You will be asked to supply and confirm a password for the user.

Leave out the -c argument for any additional users you wish to add, as in the following example, so you don’t overwrite the file:

sudo htpasswd /etc/apache2/.htpasswd another_user

If you check the contents of the file, it will contain the username and the encrypted password for each record:

cat /etc/apache2/.htpasswd

Output
sammy:$apr1$eponJaBR$9uyVIRpDpbHoseI.hS1cq/
another_user:$apr1$dDXiQxte$RGn3CVfFLQOPf5lSJgNvV1

Now you have your users and passwords in a format that Apache can read.

Step 3 — Configuring Apache Password Authentication

In this step, you need to configure Apache to check the .htpasswd file before serving your protected content. You can do this in one of two ways: either directly in a site’s virtual host file or by placing .htaccess files in the directories that need restriction. It’s generally best to use the virtual host file, but if you need to allow non-root users to manage their own access restrictions, refer to the second option to check the restrictions into version control alongside the website, or have a web application using .htaccess files for other purposes already.

Choose the option that best suits your needs.

Option 1: Configuring Access Control within the Virtual Host Definition (Preferred)

The first option is to edit the Apache configuration and add password protection to the virtual host file. This will generally give better performance because it avoids the expense of reading distributed configuration files. This option requires access to the configuration, which isn’t always available, but when you do have access, it’s recommended.

Begin by opening up the virtual host file that you wish to add a restriction to. For our example, we’ll be using the /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf file that holds the virtual host. Open up the file with a command-line text editor such as nano:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/your_domain.conf

Inside, with the comments stripped, the file should look similar to the following:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerName your_domain
    ServerAlias www.your_domain
    DocumentRoot /var/www/your_domain
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Authentication is done on a per-directory basis. To set up authentication, you will need to target the directory you wish to restrict with a <Directory ___> block. In our example, we’ll restrict the entire document root, but you can modify this listing to only target a specific directory within the web space:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerName your_domain
    ServerAlias www.your_domain
    DocumentRoot /var/www/your_domain
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

<Directory "/var/www/your_domain">
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Within this directory block, specify that you are setting up Basic authentication. For the AuthName, choose a realm name that will be displayed to the user when prompting for credentials. Use the AuthUserFile directive to point Apache to the password file you created. Finally, make it a requirement that only a valid-user may access this resource, which means anyone who can verify their identity with a password will be allowed in:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerName your_domain
    ServerAlias www.your_domain
    DocumentRoot /var/www/your_domain
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined

<Directory "/var/www/your_domain">
      AuthType Basic
      AuthName "Restricted Content"
      AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.htpasswd
      Require valid-user
  </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file when you are finished. If you are using nano, you can do so by pressing CTRL + X followed by Y then ENTER.

Before restarting the web server, you can check the configuration with the following command:

sudo apache2ctl configtest

If everything checks out and you get Syntax OK as output, you can restart the server to implement your password policy:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Since systemctl doesn’t display the outcome of all service management commands, use the the status command to be sure the server is running:

sudo systemctl status apache2

Output
● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor prese>
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2022-04-29 17:12:24 UTC; 4s ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
    Process: 4493 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SU>
   Main PID: 4514 (apache2)
      Tasks: 55 (limit: 9508)
     Memory: 5.8M
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ├─4514 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─4516 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             └─4517 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

Now, the directory you specified should be password protected.

Option 2: Configuring Access Control with .htaccess Files

Apache can use .htaccess files in order to allow certain configuration items to be set within a content directory. Since Apache has to re-read these files on every request that involves the directory, which can negatively impact performance, Option 1 is preferred, but if you are already using .htaccess file or need to allow non-root users to manage restrictions, .htaccess files make sense.

To enable password protection using .htaccess files, open the main Apache configuration file with a command-line text editor such as nano:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Find the <Directory> block for the /var/www/ directory that holds the document root. Update this line to reflect your document root. Next, turn on .htaccess processing by changing the AllowOverride directive within that block from None to All. The contents of this <Directory> block will now read as follows:

. . .

<Directory /var/www/your_domain>
  Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
  AllowOverride All
  Require all granted
</Directory>

. . .

Save and close the file when you are finished.

Next, add a .htaccess file to the directory you wish to restrict. In our demonstration, we’ll restrict the entire document root (the entire website) which is based at /var/www/your_domain, but you can place this file in any directory where you wish to restrict access:

sudo nano /var/www/your_domain/.htaccess

Within this file, specify that you want to set up Basic authentication. For the AuthName, choose a realm name that will be displayed to the user when prompting for credentials. Use the AuthUserFile directive to point Apache to the password file we created. Finally, you will require a valid-user to access this resource, which means anyone who can verify their identity with a password will be allowed in:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Restricted Content"
AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

Save and close the file. Restart the web server to password protect all content in or below the directory with the .htaccess file:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

Then run systemctl status to verify the success of the restart:

sudo systemctl status apache2

Output
● apache2.service - The Apache HTTP Server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/apache2.service; enabled; vendor prese>
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2022-04-29 17:18:17 UTC; 3s ago
       Docs: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/
    Process: 4721 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/apachectl start (code=exited, status=0/SU>
   Main PID: 4744 (apache2)
      Tasks: 55 (limit: 9508)
     Memory: 5.9M
     CGroup: /system.slice/apache2.service
             ├─4744 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             ├─4745 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
             └─4746 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start

The directory you specified should now be password protected.

Step 4 — Confirming Password Authentication

To confirm that your content is protected, try to access your restricted content in a web browser by navigating to https://your_domain_or_server_IP.

You will be presented with a username and password prompt that looks like the following:

If you enter the correct credentials, you will be allowed to access the content. If you enter the wrong credentials or hit “Cancel”, you will receive the “Unauthorized” error page:

Conclusion

You’ve now set up basic authentication for your site.

There is much more that you can do with Apache configuration and .htaccess. To learn more about the flexibility and power available in Apache configuration, try one of the following tutorials:

• For a better understanding of the main configuration file, read the section about Getting Familiar with Important Apache Files and Directories in our Apache installation guide.

• Learn more about how to set up virtual host files in Apache

• Learn about rewriting URLs, customizing error pages like the previous “Unauthorized” message, or including common elements on all your pages with Server Side Includes in our guide How To Use the .htaccess File.