mod_auth_dbm.html revision e3d0ad4177632a17c3f1fa733a9623abf54cd289
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<H1>Module mod_auth_dbm</h1>
is not compiled in by default. It provides for user authentication using
<menu>
<li><A HREF="#authdbmgroupfile">AuthDBMGroupFile</A>
<li><A HREF="#authdbmuserfile">AuthDBMUserFile</A>
</menu>
<hr>
<A name="authdbmgroupfile"><h2>AuthDbmGroupFile</h2></A>
<!--%plaintext <?INDEX {\tt AuthDbmGroupFile} directive> -->
<strong>Syntax:</strong> AuthDBMGroupFile <em>filename</em><br>
<Strong>Context:</strong> directory, .htaccess<br>
<Strong>Override:</strong> AuthConfig<br>
<strong>Status:</strong> Extension<br>
<strong>Module:</strong> mod_auth_dbm<p>
The AuthDBMGroupFile directive sets the name of a DBM file containing the list
of user groups for user authentication. <em>Filename</em> is the absolute path
to the group file.<p>
The group file is keyed on the username. The value for a user is a
comma-separated list of the groups to which the users belongs. There must
be no whitespace within the value, and it must never contain any colons.<p>
Security: make sure that the AuthDBMGroupFile is stored outside the
document tree of the webserver; do <em>not</em> put it in the directory that
it protects. Otherwise, clients will be able to download the
AuthDBMGroupFile unless otherwise protected.<p>
Combining Group and Password DBM files: In some cases it is easier to
manage a single database which contains both the password and group
details for each user. This simplifies any support programs that need
to be written: they now only have to deal with writing to and locking
a single DBM file. This can be accomplished by first setting the group
and password files to point to the same DBM:<p>
<blockquote><code>
</code></blockquote>
The key for the single DBM is the username. The value consists of <p>
<blockquote><code>
Unix Crypted Password : List of Groups [ : (ignored) ]
</code></blockquote>
The password section contains the Unix crypt() password as before. This is
followed by a colon and the comma separated list of groups. Other data may
optionally be left in the DBM file after another colon; it is ignored by the
authentication module. This is what www.telescope.org uses for its combined
password and group database. <p>
<A HREF="#authdbmuserfile">AuthDBMUserFile</A>.<p><hr>
<A name="authdbmuserfile"><h2>AuthDBMUserFile</h2></A>
<!--%plaintext <?INDEX {\tt AuthDBMUserFile} directive> -->
<strong>Syntax:</strong> AuthDBMUserFile <em>filename</em><br>
<Strong>Context:</strong> directory, .htaccess<br>
<Strong>Override:</strong> AuthConfig<br>
<strong>Status:</strong> Extension<br>
<strong>Module:</strong> mod_auth_dbm<p>
The AuthDBMUserFile directive sets the name of a DBM file containing the list
of users and passwords for user authentication. <em>Filename</em> is the
absolute path to the user file.<p>
The user file is keyed on the username. The value for a user is the
crypt() encrypted password, optionally followed by a colon and
arbitrary data. The colon and the data following it will be ignored
by the server.<p>
Security: make sure that the AuthDBMUserFile is stored outside the
document tree of the webserver; do <em>not</em> put it in the directory that
it protects. Otherwise, clients will be able to download the
AuthDBMUserFile.<p>
Important compatibility note: The implementation of "dbmopen" in the
apache modules reads the string length of the hashed values from the
DBM data structures, rather than relying upon the string being
NULL-appended. Some applications, such as the Netscape web server,
rely upon the string being NULL-appended, so if you are having trouble
using DBM files interchangeably between applications this may be a
part of the problem. <p>
<A HREF="#authdbmgroupfile">AuthDBMGroupFile</A>.<p>
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