Set authentication on Apache server with openshift

Question

I read this http://www.apacheweek.com/features/userauth and I try to accomplish the same in Openshift but i don't know how.

Im using rhc and I tried to connect across ssh to my app, but I don't have permissions to use sudo su so I can't continue.

For example when I try to create the file nano /usr/local/etc/httpd I can't because I don't have root privileges.

> ls -la /usr/local/etc
total 20
drwxr-xr-x.  2 root root 4096 jun  5 20:58 .
drwxr-xr-x. 14 root root 4096 dic 11  2013 ..
-rw-r--r--.  1 root root 1807 may 19 15:23 oom-kill-disable.conf
-rw-------.  1 root root 1675 may 21 14:51 ops_file_transfer_upload_id_rsa
-rw-r-----.  1 root root  399 jun  5 20:58 partitioner_disk_definitions.yaml

If I have a wrong approach i would appreciate you can guide me.

UPDATE As @davelopercorey suggest now I'm using .htaccess file

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Authentication"
AuthUserFile ${OPENSHIFT_REPO_DIR}.htpasswd
Require valid-user

And adding user and his password

htpasswd -cb .htpasswd myuser mypass

Authenticating prompt is showing but my user and pass are not validating well.

I have use whereis htpasswd to ensure im writing the correct path and issues still persists.

Answer 1

The final solution. Thanks to @developercorey

In openshift there is a enviroment variable called $OPENSHIFT_REPO_DIR, is the path of your working directory i.e. /var/lib/openshift/myuserlongid/app-root/runtime/repo/

I create a new enviroment variable called SECURE wrapping the folder path.

rhc set-env SECURE=/var/lib/openshift/myuserlongid/app-root/data --app myappname

Finally I connect to my app with ssh

rhc ssh myappname

And create the .htpasswd file

htpasswd -c $SECURE/.htpasswd <username>

Note: The -c option to htpasswd creates a new file, overwriting any existing htpasswd file. If your intention is to add a new user to an existing htpasswd file, simply drop the -c option.

.htaccess file

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Authentication"
AuthUserFile ${SECURE}/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

Answer 2

We can use internal OPENSHIFT_DATA_DIR variable, so for ~/app-root/data/.htpasswd in my case is enough:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Authentication"
AuthUserFile ${OPENSHIFT_DATA_DIR}/.htpasswd
Require valid-user

Answer 3

If you are using one of the cartridges that supports .htaccess files (such as python or php), you can put your .htpasswd file anywhere in the file system. I suggest placing it in your ~/app-root/data directory, then you can point to it from your .htaccess file at that location and use the authentication that you want based on the rules that you put in your .htaccess file for different file types or directories, etc.

Answer 4

First connect to the server using ssh:

rhc ssh yourappname

then go to app directory:

cd ${OPENSHIFT_REPO_DIR}

run the following command , and then copy the result:

${OPENSHIFT_REPO_DIR}

and create in this directory file .htaccess:

nano .htaccess

but replace "/var/lib/openshift/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/app-root/runtime/repo/" on the previously copied, it should be in the file .htaccess:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Authentication Required"
AuthUserFile "/var/lib/openshift/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/app-root/runtime/repo/.htpasswd"
Require valid-user

then create .htpasswd file:

htpasswd -c .htpasswd yourusername

Then you save it.