Securing A Traditional Class Web Folder

Use the following basic instructions to password-protect a traditional class web page.  Be sure to replace "abc123" with your actual class designation, and "Winter16" with the quarter you're teaching, and "password" with a secure password that you will give students to access the folder.

1. Create the folder you want to secure:

   mkdir /cse/classes/abc123/Winter16/PRIVATE

2. Change into that folder:

   cd /cse/classes/abc123/Winter16/PRIVATE

3. Create a .htpasswd file:

   htpasswd -b -c .htpasswd abc123 password

4. Create a .htaccess file with the following contents:

   AuthType Basic
   AuthName "ABC123 Class Web Page"
   AuthBasicProvider file
   AuthUserFile /cse/classes/abc123/Winter16/PRIVATE/.htpasswd
   require valid-user

5. Make sure the permissions are set correctly:

   chmod 755 /cse/classes/abc123/Winter16/PRIVATE
   chmod 644 /cse/classes/abc123/Winter16/PRIVATE/.htpasswd
   chmod 644 /cse/classes/abc123/Winter16/PRIVATE/.htaccess

Then you can test your secure folder at a URL similar to the following:

https://classes.soe.ucsc.edu/abc123/Winter16/PRIVATE/