Background Information

How do you enable .htaccess files for Apache? When you create the files in directories, they do not work.

Answer

You will need to modify the vhost configuration files found in /etc/httpd/rightscale.d

If the server is a load balancer and has HAProxy installed on it, you will need to modify: http-8000-www.yoursite.com.vhost.

If it is a standalone server (such as part of an auto-scaling array) you will need to modify: http-80-www.yoursite.com.vhost.

Change the line from AllowOverride None to AllowOveride All in order to password protect a directory that you can put the following into: /home/webabbs/yourappdir/current/dirtoprotect/.htaccess.

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Password Required"
AuthUserFile /www/passwords/password.file
AuthGroupFile /www/passwords/group.file
Require Group admins

You can automate this in a RightScript as follows. This script password protects the www root (you will need to modify the path if you need to protect a different directory):

#!/bin/bash

if [-f /etc/httpd/rightscale.d/http-8000-$WEBSITE_DNS.vhost]; then
  sed -i "s/AllowOverride None/AllowOverride All/g" /etc/httpd/rightscale.d/http-8000-$WEBSITE_DNS.vhost
fi
if [-f /etc/httpd/rightscale.d/http-80-$WEBSITE_DNS.vhost]; then
  sed -i "s/AllowOverride None/AllowOverride All/g" /etc/httpd/rightscale.d/http-80-$WEBSITE_DNS.vhost
fi
cat > /home/webapps/$APPLICATION/current/.htaccess << EOF
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Password Required"
AuthUserFile /www/passwords/password.file
AuthGroupFile /www/passwords/group.file
Require Group admins
EOF

service httpd restart