How to use SEAS accounts for authentication

This form of authentication supports SEAS account credentials and works on the following domains:

• https://www.seas.upenn.edu
• https://www.cis.upenn.edu
• https://www.webdav.seas.upenn.edu

Note that it must be accessed via https://. Trying to access protected directories over http:// will return an error.

Create your .htaccess file

1. Create a new file called ".htaccess" using your favorite text editor.
2. The file should contain something similar to this:

   AuthType Basic
AuthName "SEAS Auth"
AuthBasicProvider external
AuthExternal seas_auth
Require user clifford marilyn

   Replace "clifford marilyn " with the usernames of the people who should have access. Each username should be separated by a space.
3. Save the file and upload it to the directory you want to protect using your favorite FTP client (more info).

Note: If you are comfortable using vi or emacs on the command line, it may be easier to create the file directly on the server.

Setting the directory permissions

Note: it is not advisable to use the chgrp-httpd script if you are protecting files in your CGI directory. Instead, chmod the protected directory to 700.

This final step is important to make make sure people with local accounts can't access your files via the unix file system. Set the correct permissions on your protected folder by running the following command from within the directory you want to protect:

chgrp-httpd .

Other options

To let anyone with a valid SEAS account access the directory, use this:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "SEAS Auth"
AuthBasicProvider external
AuthExternal seas_auth
Require valid-user

Note: Since there are over 4000 SEAS accounts, data shared with all of them should not be considered private.

For more options of things to do with your htaccess file, please visit Apache's site.