Apache-HPUX PAM authentication problem

[Hofman P A]

Dear All,

We are trying to setup a webserver with a username/password protected area on it which allows
only localy known users to log in. The users that are allowed to log in on the protected area
of the webserver are the users that exist in /etc/passwd. The system is trusted so all password related
information for these users is stored in the /tcb directory structure.

To test the protected area of the webserver we have setup apache to work with a local htpasswd file using the following
statements in apache's httpd.conf configuration file :

Alias /protected "/data/protected/www"

AuthName "Protected Area"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /data/protected/etc/htpasswd
require valid-user


We have created a testuser in the /data/protected/etc/htpasswd and given the testuser account a password.
When we access the webserver using the http://XXXXXX/protected url we must enter a username and password.
If we specify the testuser and it's password we are granted access to the protected area.

So far so good.

Since we do not want to administer yet another user/password list we want apache to use the local
account database /etc/passwd (/tcb) instead of using a sepperate htpasswd file.
We need a apache pam module which allows us to do this. Since we have converted to host we use as a webserver
to a trusted system the module must be able to work with bigcrypt.


System/Apache specifications :

OS :
root@XXXXXX:/->uname -a
HP-UX XXXXXXX B.11.11 U 9000/800 3464706070 unlimited-user license

Apache:
root@XXXXXX:/->/opt/hpws/apache/bin/httpd -v
Server version: Apache/2.0.54 HP-UX_Apache-based_Web_Server
Server built: Aug 16 2005 13:59:04

If more information regarding this problem is needed please let me know.

Regards,
Arjan Dronkers.

[Ivan Ferreira]

I think that your problem cannot be resolved with local users, because apache won't be able to read secured information, like shadow or tcb. I suggest you to use LDAP for authentication for apache and OS.