using htaccess and php for members login

[tippytarka]

i'm designing a site with a members login and i've been reading up using .htaccess to secure directories and content. so here's my question....

i've already coded the script for the login where my usernames and passwords are stored in a mysql database. here's the script...

<?

$user = $_POST["userid"]; 
$pass = sha1($_POST["password"]); 

	include("connect.php"); 

$query = "
		SELECT * 
		FROM users 
		WHERE username = '".mysql_escape_string(trim($user))."'        
		AND PASSWORD = '".mysql_escape_string(trim($pass))."'"; 
		
$result = mysql_query($query); 



if (mysql_fetch_row($result)) {
	session_start();
	header("Cache-control: private");   
	$_SESSION["access"] = "granted"; 
	session_register("$userid");
	$url_success = "../secure/secure.php";
    echo("<meta http-equiv = refresh content=0;url=".$url_success.">");
	exit;
} else {
	$url_failure = "../entrance.php";
    echo("<meta http-equiv = refresh content=0;url=".$url_failure.">");
}


?>

then after creating the script i'd thought about protecting the directories that i want to be accessed by members only, which led me to read up on .htaccess files. But, how do i make the htaccess file look for the passwords in the mysql database?

do i use a php include path in the .htaccess file (and the php include connects and queries the database?). can someone explain and point me in the right direction on what to do?

Cheers!

 

[lgarner]

Get & install mod_auth_mysql. I'm pretty sure it's part of standard RH distributions, or Google for it.

Activate it in an httpd conf file with
LoadModule mysql_auth_module modules/mod_auth_mysql.so

The .htaccess looks something like this:
AuthName "My Private Stuff"
AuthType Basic
AuthMySQLEnable on
AuthMySQLUser userid
AuthMySQLPassword password
AuthMySQLDB user_database
AuthMySQLUserTable user_table
AuthMySQLNameField user_field
AuthMySQLPasswordField password_field
AuthMySQLPwEncryption md5 (or what you use)
require valid-user

There's also mod_authz_mysql, which might work better for you.