Lab
Cloud
Security

Configure Directory and File Access and Add Basic Authentication

In this lab, we go over the fundamentals of directory and file access. The idea of this lab is to overwrite the default configuration and allow access to the two files in the `DocumentRoot` with `.htaccess`. On top of this, we need to cover basic authentication and IP-based access.

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Path Info

Level

Intermediate

Duration

1h 30m

Last updated

Aug 24, 2025

Challenge

Create the Access File
```
sudo touch /var/www/html/.htaccess
```

Challenge

Configure Authentication and Access

Create a user and password along with the htaccess file

sudo htpasswd -c /var/www/htpasswd Joe

sudo vim /var/www/html/.htaccess

Insert into the file

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Restricted Files"
AuthBasicProvider file
AuthUserFile "/path/to/file"
Require user Joe
Require ip [Your IP ADDRESS]

Save and Close

ESC
:wq
ENTER

Challenge

Test the Configuration

Open your browser and navigate to http://SERVER_IP/index.html

Author

Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

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