Apache basic authentication setup.

apache-basic-authentication

1) Open the http.conf file for editing: 

# sudo pico /etc/apache2/http.conf.  

2) Add specifics for each var/www directory to be placed under Basic Authentication:

<Directory "/var/www/my-web-app-directory">
  AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/htpasswords
  AuthName "Some silly message."
  AuthType Basic
  Require valid-user
  AllowOverride None
  Order allow,deny
  allow from all
</Directory>

3) Save and close pico editor

4) Add user and pwd with "htpasswd" command:
# htpasswd -c /etc/apache2/htpasswords the-app-user
New password: mypassword
Re-type new password: mypassword
Adding password for user the-app-user

5) Add an .htaccess file to your web app directory.  Blank/empty is fine.

6) Restart apache:
# sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart