SiteControl provides a Web-based tool that enables you to quickly and easily password-protect selected directories on your Web server. You can use this tool to create users, assign them to groups, and then grant rights to specific directories to these groups of users. When a user attempts to access a password-protected directory, a log in prompt will appear before access is granted.
Caution: If you are using Microsoft FrontPage, you cannot use PPD. If you need to password protect directories, you can use FrontPage's built-in security features.
Enabling PPD is essentially a three-step process:
- create a User;
- create a Group to which that user belongs;
- select the directory you wish to protect and allow a Group to access it.
- To enable PPD
- To delete a user, group or directory
- To manage a user
- To manage a group
- To manage a directory
To enable PPD:
- Sign in to SiteControl.
- Go to Manage Services tab.
- Go to Website section.
- Scroll down, find and click the Password Protected Directory link. You can also click Password Protected Directory in the left navigation panel in SiteControl.
- Select the proper domain name from the Currently Managing drop-down menu.
- Under the Users column, click Add New.
- Enter the username and password.
Note: Usernames must be between 4-19 characters long and can only contain alphanumeric characters, dots ("."), underscores ("_"), and dashes ("-"). Passwords must have at least 6 characters, must contain at least 1 non-alphabetic character and cannot contain the following characters: &`'""\/<>$#.
Click Submit. You should now see the user listed under the Users column. - Repeat Steps 6 and 7 for additional users.
NOTE: These users are independent of any e-mail or FTP users currently active in your account, and are solely restricted to PPD. Furthermore, PPD users can login to password-protected directories using only the username and password you assign above, so please take note of the information and pass it onto the appropriate person once all the steps below are completed. - Once users have been created, you must create Group(s) to which those users belong. Remember, only groups can be assigned access, not users.
- Under the Groups column, click Add New.
- Enter the name of the group in the Group Name field.
Note: Group names must be must be between 4-19 characters long and can only contain alphanumeric characters, dots ("."), underscores ("_"), and dashes ("-").
In the "Not in Group" list, select the user(s) you wish to add to this group and then click the right arrow >> button so that it appears in the "In Group" list.
HINT: To highlight more than one user at a time, press and hold the CTRL key while selecting the users. - Click Submit. You should now see the group listed under the Groups column.
- Repeat Steps 10-12 for additional groups.
- Now you can select the directory to be password-protected.
- Under the Directories column, click Add New.
- In the Path field, select the directory you wish to protect. Only existing directories will be displayed.
Enter a name or phrase in the Realm field. This will be the name/phrase that is displayed to the user when he/she tries to access the protected directory.
In the "Forbidden Group" list, select the group(s) you wish to grant access and then click the right arrow >> button so that it appears in the "Allowed Group" list.
HINT: To highlight more than one group at a time, press and hold the CTRL key while selecting the groups. - Click Submit.
- You should now see the directory listed under the Directories column.
To delete a user, group or directory:
- Follow Steps 1-5.
- To delete, check the box next to the appropriate user, group or directory.
- Click Delete Selected.
NOTE: Deleting a user removes that PPD user name completely from the password protection system. The user name will no longer be valid and cannot be used to access any of the directories.
NOTE: Deleting a group removes it from the system, but the users who were in that group are not deleted. To provide them access to a directory, you must add them to another group and grant that group access to a directory.
NOTE: When you delete a directory, the physical directory is not removed from the Web server, but the group associations for that directory are removed.
To manage users:
- Follow Steps 1-5.
- Manage Users allows you to change the user’s password or disable the user. Disabling a user name temporarily suspends all of its privileges, but does not remove it from the groups to which it belongs.
- To change the password, simply enter the new password in the "Change Password" and "Re-type password" fields, and click Submit.
- To disable the user name, enter the user's current password in the "Re-type password" field, check the box next to Disabled and click Submit.
To manage groups:
- Follow Steps 1-5.
- Manage Group allows you to rename the group or modify its user members.
- Under the Groups column, click the group you wish to manage.
- To change the group name, enter a new name in the Rename Group field and click Submit.
- To add a user to the group, select the name in the "Not In Group" list, and then click the >> button. You can CTRL-select multiple users.
Click Submit. - To remove a user from the group, select the name in the "In Group" list, and then click the << button. You can CTRL-select multiple users.
Click Submit.
To manage directories:
- Follow Steps 1-5.
- Manage Directory allows you to change the name of the Realm or modify the set of groups that is allowed to access the directory.
- Under the Directories column, click the directory you wish to manage.
- To change the Realm name, enter a new name in the Rename Realm field and click Submit.
- To add a group to the directory, select the group name in the "Forbidden Group" list, and then click the >> button. You can CTRL-select multiple users.
Click Submit. - To remove a group from the directory, select the group name in the "Allowed Group" list, and then click the << button. You can CTRL-select multiple users.
Click Submit.