Web Users and Passwords

You can associate user names and passwords with realms. This means that when the browser sends a URL which includes the realm match string, the server tells the browser to display a dialog requiring the user to type in a user name and a password for access to that host or page.

User names and realms provide authentication , they only allow authorized users who know the password access to certain data. For encrypted transmission of confidential information, see SSL Web Security .
Note that many people can share a user name and password for a WebSTAR realm. You will be able to track transactions by their IP address or host name, if necessary.
If a visitor doesn't have the correct user name and password for that realm, they will get a chance to re-enter the data. If they choose Cancel , they will see the "Not Authorized" Error Message .

For more details, see WebSTAR URL Security Processing .

Most browsers retain the user name and password (authentication), so the user only needs to enter it on the first access. This is convenient, but creates a small security problem: anyone who enters the password from a public computer, such as one at a library or cyber cafe, will be authenticated until the browser is restarted.

Editing User Entries

To create and edit Web User Name and Password entries, you must use the WebSTAR Admin application, as described below.

You can't use the Browser Admin to create User entries.

User Entry Editing Notes

Before creating User entries, you must create the realm with its match string to the protected folder.
Each user name within a realm must be unique. WebSTAR will only check one password per user name.
You can create several entries with the same user name for many realms. The password for that user name can be the same, or it can vary.
The length of the user name and realm information together must be less than 30 characters.
Do not use a bullet (·) or colon (:) in your user name or password. Those characters are used by the import/export file format.
You can't have a blank password--you must at least have a single character (which can be a space) for the password.
The password is limited to 64 characters.
When you choose a password, make sure that it does not contain Macintosh-specific characters that cannot be typed from a PC-compatible Web client. You're safe with letters, numbers, underscore, (_), dash (-), and period.
For better security, choose passwords carefully (see Safe Passwords ). But note that passwords are not encrypted by the browsers, so for best security, use SSL as well.
If you prefer, you can edit the Users list in a text editor or database and import it into WebSTAR: for instructions, see Importing and Exporting Large Users Lists .

WebSTAR Admin Users List

Choose the Users item in the WebSTAR Admin Settings window to open the Users List. You'll see a list like this, showing you all the Users and passwords in all the realms.

Don't try to enter your user names in order: the server will store them internally in the best order for fast processing.

To make a user name entry, select entry before the new entry, and click the New button. Select the Realm from the popup menu, and fill in the User Name and Password fields. Names and passwords are not case sensitive.

For more instructions, see Working With Admin Lists .

The new user name will appear in the scrolling list, along with the realm to which it is assigned and the password.

User names are available immediately as soon as you add them; there is no need to stop or start the server. In addition, WebSTAR can continue to serve files while you are adding user name and password information.

Example Realm and User Entry

To assign a user name and password to a realm, follow these steps:

1 Create a folder in your WebSTAR folder named mytest , and make a little HTML file named default.html .
2 Open the WebSTAR Admin application and connect to your server, then choose Server Settings from the Options menu.
3 Choose Realms from the options list at the left and create a realm named My_Test with a Match String of mytest .
4 Choose Users from the Options list at the left.
5 Press the New button, to create a new User entry.
6 Select the realm in the Realm pop-up.
7 Type a user name and a password in the appropriate fields.
8 Press the Save button to save the results to the server.
9 Test that you are allowed to see the realm by opening a browser and trying the URL:

 
http://www.domain.com/mytest/default.html

10 You should see a dialog requesting a user name and password for the MY_TEST area. Enter the name and password, and view your test default file.

Importing and Exporting Large Users Lists

You can edit thousands of Web User entries in the WebSTAR Admin application, but you may find it inconvenient: the list is not in alphabetical order, and cannot be sorted. If your connection to your server is slow, the transfer time may be quite long.

If your Web User list becomes unwieldy, we recommend that you store and update this data in another application, such as a database. WebSTAR includes Import/Export functions for the user names and passwords.

You can keep user names and passwords in a database, and make all changes in that database. For every change, you then export the list to a file on disk, and import it into WebSTAR. If you do this, be sure that you always make changes in the database, and do not make any changes using WebSTAR Admin, or your lists may become unsynchronized.

To export, click the Export button in the WebSTAR Admin Users panel, and save the file to your disk.

To import, make sure that all your entries are in the file to be imported--you may want to export your existing users list, and combine it with the additional entries. You should always back up your WebSTAR Web Users file. Then click the Import button and choose the text file you have created, and it import the replacement users list.

Importing passwords will replace the existing password file: it does not append to it. Always copy your WebSTAR Web Users file and store it somewhere safe before importing new passwords.

Web Users Export File Format

The import/export format of this file consists of one user entry per line, followed by a Carriage Return. Each line has a user name, a bullet, the realm, a tab, then the password.

The user name and realm together should be less than 30 characters.

 
user name·realm <tab> password <CR>

 
user name·realm <tab> password <CR>

For example, a file might look like this:

 
Workers·OUR_WORK        TeamWork99

 
Widgets·CUSTOMERS       GetWidgets

 
Human Resources·HUMRES  Be8Safe05

The last character in the file should be a CR (Carriage Return) at the end of the last entry. Make sure there aren't any extra Carriage Returns at the end of the file.