How to Enable & Set Up .htaccess File on Apache

Introduction

The .htaccess file is an important configuration file for Apache web servers. It is used to control access to the server, set up redirects, and customize the server’s response to certain requests. Enabling and setting up the .htaccess file on Apache is a relatively simple process. This guide will walk you through the steps of enabling and setting up the .htaccess file on Apache.

How to Enable & Set Up .htaccess File on Apache

1. Locate the Apache configuration file.

The Apache configuration file is typically located in the /etc/apache2/ directory.

2. Enable the .htaccess file.

Open the Apache configuration file in a text editor and locate the section. Within this section, add the following line:

AllowOverride All

This will enable the .htaccess file to be used by Apache.

3. Create the .htaccess file.

Create a new file in the root directory of your website and name it .htaccess.

4. Add the desired directives.

Add the desired directives to the .htaccess file. These directives will be specific to your website and can include things such as redirects, authentication, and more.

5. Restart Apache.

Once you have added the desired directives to the .htaccess file, restart Apache for the changes to take effect.
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What is an htaccess File?

The .htaccess file in Apache is a tool that allows configurations at the directory and subdirectory level. Using .htaccess enables you to configure website permissions without altering server configuration files.

This tutorial will show you how to set up and enable htaccess on Apache. Also, it instructs on how to restrict access to specific localizations on the server, manage IP addresses, and redirect traffic.

How to Enable and Set Up .htaccess File on Apache Guide

Prerequisites

  • A working Apache web server
  • Access to a terminal window/command line
  • Access to a user account with sudo privileges
  • A text editor, such as Nano, included by default

Step 1: Enable Apache .htaccess

By default, the .htaccess file is not enabled.

1. Open the default host configuration file by entering the following command in the terminal:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

2. Locate the section labeled <Directory /var/www>.
In that section, change the AllowOverride None entry to all:

AllowOverride All

htaccess AllowOverride All command

Save the file and exit.

3. Next, restart the Apache service:

sudo systemctl apache2 restart

Step 2: Create .htaccess File

Like most Linux software packages, Apache functions on configuration files. The .htaccess file is one of these. It works by specifying a setting along with a value.

To create and open the .htaccess file for editing, enter:

sudo nano /var/www/my_website.com/.htaccess

Replace my_website with the name of your actual website. If this file doesn’t exist, your text editor will create it.

Step 3: Restrict Directory Listings

There may be locations on your server that you want to restrict access to. You can do this by creating a list of usernames and passwords that are authorized to have access.

1. Start by creating a new file, .htpasswd in a different directory:

sudo nano /user/safe_location/.htpasswd

Enter a username and password for each user that you want to create. Make sure to use strong passwords, and enter only one username/password pair per line.

Save the file and exit.

2. Next edit .htaccess to enable authentication:

AuthUserFile /user/safe_location/.htpasswd

AuthGroupFile /dev/null

AuthName "Please Enter Password"

AuthType Basic

Require valid-user
restrict directory listing in apache wit htaccess

Replace /user/safe_location/htpasswd with the location of your choice. Don’t store it in the same directory as your web content, for security reasons.

AuthUserFile – This sets the location for your .htpasswd file.

AuthGroupFile – We’re not using a group, so this is a placeholder.

AuthName – This is the prompt to the user – you may rephrase if you’d like.

AuthType – Type of authentication used – don’t change this.

Require valid-user – Allows any one of several authorized people to log on. You could change this to Require user new_user to restrict access only to someone with the username new_user.

Manage IP Addresses

There are many ways you can manage IP addresses:

  1. Allow only specific IPs.
  2. Block specific IP addresses.
  3. Block visitors by the referrer.

Allow IP Addresses

To allow IP addresses, you can switch the behavior to allow a few designated IP addresses, and block the rest.

Enter the commands:

order deny, allow 

allow from 192.168.0.54

allow from 192.168.0 
allow ip addresses example

Block IP Addresses

To block IP addresses in htaccess, enter: order allow, deny

To block a single IP address, enter this code next: deny from 192.168.0.54

If you leave off the final digit, it will block all IP addresses in the 0 – 255 range:

For Example: deny from 192.168.0

blocking all ip addresses with htaccess

Note: You can save your .htaccess file after each operation listed below. If you’re done making changes, just reload your Apache service before testing. Also, when editing the file, it’s helpful to make comments. Use the # sign to mark a line as a comment, which will let you make notes that the system won’t read as commands.

Block Visitors by Referrer

You may want to prevent people from being redirected from a specific site to your server. This might be helpful if you want to isolate traffic patterns. You might also use it if you were getting excess server traffic from a questionable source.

Open the .htaccess file and add the following block:

RewriteEngine on

# Options +FollowSymlinks

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} blockeddomain\.com [NC]

RewriteRule .* - [F]

The NC option instructs to ignore the upper or lower case so that the rule can’t be bypassed by entering BlockedDomain.com.

If you want to add more domains, note the following:

RewriteEngine on

# Options +FollowSymlinks

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} blockeddomain\.com [NC,OR]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} blockeddomain2\.com

RewriteRule .* - [F]

The OR flag tells the system that you’re not done adding blocked referrers yet. Omit this option on the last entry.

Redirect Traffic

You can use the .htaccess file to redirect traffic.

Open the file and enter the following:

Redirect301/Other_Website.com/index.html/My_Website.com/index.html

This command takes any traffic that’s searching for Other_Website.com and redirects it to My_Website.com.

Set a 404 Page

You can use the .htaccess file to point basic functions to a new location. One example is the 404 page.

1. Open the .htaccess file and enter:

ErrorDocument 404 /404.html

This line tells the system to look at the website’s content directory for a /404.html file as the error page.

2. Create the 404 page using this command:

sudo nano cd /var/www/My_Website.com/public.html/404.html

This should open the 404.html file in your text editor.

3. Next, add the following code:

<!doctype html>

<html>

 <body>

   404 Error: Page not found

 </body&gt;

</html>
404 page not found coding setup

This page can now be customized to display any kind of error message you want. You can also customize any other error pages you’d like. Just specify the ErrorDocument number, for example, Error 500 than point .htaccess to the new error.html file that you create.

Conclusion

Enabling .htaccess can be an incredibly valuable tool for managing your Apache web server.

This guide provides basic commands and settings, with some of the most likely scenarios you might encounter.

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How to Enable & Set Up .htaccess File on Apache

The .htaccess file is a powerful tool for configuring your Apache web server. It allows you to control access to your website, redirect visitors to different pages, and even customize the way your website looks and behaves. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to enable and set up an .htaccess file on Apache.

Prerequisites

  • A web server running Apache
  • Access to the server’s configuration files

Step 1 — Enabling the .htaccess File

The first step is to enable the .htaccess file. This is done by editing the Apache configuration file. Depending on your setup, this file may be located in different places. On Ubuntu, it is usually located in the /etc/apache2/ directory. Open the file in your favorite text editor:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Once the file is open, look for the section. This section contains directives that apply to the directory in which the file is located. Add the following line to the section:

AllowOverride All

This directive tells Apache to allow the .htaccess file to override the server’s configuration. Save and close the file.

Step 2 — Creating the .htaccess File

Now that the .htaccess file is enabled, you can create it. The .htaccess file is a plain text file, so you can create it using any text editor. Create a new file in the directory where you want the .htaccess file to be located. For example, if you want the .htaccess file to be located in the root directory of your website, create the file in the /var/www/ directory:

sudo nano /var/www/.htaccess

Once the file is open, you can add directives to it. For example, you can add the following directive to redirect visitors to a different page:

Redirect /old-page.html /new-page.html

Save and close the file.

Step 3 — Testing the .htaccess File

Once you’ve created the .htaccess file, you can test it by accessing the page you’ve configured. If the .htaccess file is working correctly, you should see the page you’ve configured. If not, check the Apache error log for more information.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we’ve shown you how to enable and set up an .htaccess file on Apache. We’ve also shown you how to add directives to the file to control access to your website and redirect visitors to different pages. Now that you know how to use the .htaccess file, you can start customizing your website.

Jaspreet Singh Ghuman

Jaspreet Singh Ghuman

Jassweb.com/

Passionate Professional Blogger, Freelancer, WordPress Enthusiast, Digital Marketer, Web Developer, Server Operator, Networking Expert. Empowering online presence with diverse skills.

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