PHP and MySQL

33.3    HTTP Authentication by Hand

Not leaving HTTP authentication to the server has several advantages:

• You don't have to fiddle with a text file or use Apache's not-so-simple database functions, but can instead control everything with PHP.

• Compared to IIS, you have the advantage that you do not have to work with user accounts.

• You can work (relatively) independently of the web server.

HTTP authentication is quick to implement. Do you remember what happens at the beginning of HTTP authentication? The browser receives HTTP message 401, which you can output using PHP:

header("WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm=\"Application XY PHP\""); header("HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized");  

Note

Caution: In some configurations, especially in connection with ...