Anonymous Access (Apache: The Definitive Guide)

5.8. Anonymous Access

It often happens that even though you have passwords controlling the access to certain things on your site, you also want to allow guests to come and sample the site's joys -- probably a reduced set of joys, mediated by the username passed on by the client's browser. The Apache module mod_auth_anon.c allows you to do just this. It should be compiled in automatically -- check by looking at Configuration. If it wasn't compiled in, you may get this unnerving error message:

Invalid command Anonymous

when you try to exercise the Anonymous directive. The Config file, in ... /site.anon/conf/httpd.conf, is as follows:

User webuser
Group webgroup
ServerName www.butterthlies.com

IdentityCheckon
NameVirtualHost 192.168.123.2

<VirtualHost www.butterthlies.com>
#CookieLog logs/cookies
ServerAdmin sales@butterthlies.com
DocumentRoot /usr/www/site.anon/htdocs/customers
ServerName www.butterthlies.com
ErrorLog /usr/www/site.anon/logs/customers/error_log
TransferLog /usr/www/site.anon/logs/access_log
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin /usr/www/cgi-bin
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost sales.butterthlies.com>
CookieLog logs/cookies
ServerAdmin sales_mgr@butterthlies.com
DocumentRoot /usr/www/site.anon/htdocs/salesmen
ServerName sales.butterthlies.com
ErrorLog /usr/www/site.anon/logs/error_log
TransferLog /usr/www/site.anon/logs/salesmen/access_log
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin /usr/www/cgi-bin

<Directory /usr/www/site.anon/htdocs/salesmen>
AuthType Basic
AuthName darkness
AuthUserFile /usr/www/ok_users/sales
AuthGroupFile /usr/www/ok_users/groups
require valid-user

Anonymous_Authoritative off
Anonymous guest anonymous air-head
</Directory>

<Directory /usr/www/cgi-bin>
AuthType Basic
AuthName darkness
AuthUserFile /usr/www/ok_users/sales
AuthGroupFile /usr/www/ok_users/groups
#AuthDBMUserFile /usr/www/ok_dbm/sales
#AuthDBMGroupFile /usr/www/ok_dbm/groups
require valid-user
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Run go and try accessing http://sales.butterthlies.com/. You should be asked for a password in the usual way. The difference is that now you can also get in by being guest, air-head , or anonymous. The Anonymous directives follow.

5.8.1. Anonymous

Anonymous userid1 userid2 ...

The user can log in as any user ID on the list, but must provide something in the password field unless that is switched off by another directive.

5.8.2. Anonymous_NoUserID

Anonymous_NoUserID [on|off]
Default: off
Directory, .htaccess

If on, users can leave the ID field blank but must put something in the password field.

5.8.3. Anonymous_LogEmail

Anonymous_LogEmail [on|off]
Default: on
Directory, .htaccess

If on, accesses are logged to ... /logs/httpd_log or to the log set by TransferLog.

5.8.4. Anonymous_VerifyEmail

Anonymous_VerifyEmail [on|off]
Default: off
Directory, .htaccess

The user ID must contain at least one "@" and one "."

5.8.5. Anonymous_Authoritative

Anonymous_Authoritative [on|off]
Default: off
Directory, .htaccess

If this directive is on and the client fails anonymous authorization, he fails all authorization. If it is off, other authorization schemes will get a crack at him.

5.8.6. Anonymous_MustGiveEmail

Anonymous_MustGiveEmail [on|off]
Default: on
Directory, .htaccess

The user must give an email ID as a password.