Dynamic Apache authentication via PHP

Question

I would like to implement a dynamic authentication process using Apache and PHP. My current project is break into two parts:

1. I have a classic LAMP project running, where users already have a login/password that I use to grant them access to different part of my system.

2. Some documents (Text, Office, ...) are hosted on a separate DAV server (same server but different domains) and users may edit them directely from their Office program (Word, Excel ...) using Dav/ActiveX/IE combination.

I would like to allow the users registered on my first system to use different DAV method based on their current right (stored in the DB)

For example, Mr X may have access to document A with PUT/GET method, but no access to document B.

I generally solve this kind of problem by using a PHP authentication, but, as far as I know, my authentication occured within the Microsoft Office application. Office directly "discuss" with Apache so I certainly need to override the .htaccess file for example. I have too many users to store them by hand in the .htaccess (~10K) and many files on the DAV server (~1K). Moreover, users rights may change over time.

Is there a way to generate dynamic htaccess files? Or to add some sort of handlers to "tell" Apache to allow or prohibit a user/password to certain file(s)?

Answer 1

All you need is http://modauthmysql.sourceforge.net/

You can configure your apache by .htaccess to authenticate against mysql DB. Of course you can use existing Mysql tables with users in it.

Here is my working configuration:

    <Directory "/u05/data">
            AllowOverride All

            Order Allow,Deny
            Allow from All
            Deny from None

            AddType application/octet-stream .rar
            AuthName "Download zone - secured"
            AuthType Basic

            AuthMYSQLEnable on
            AuthMySQLUser http_auth
            AuthMySQLPassword http_auth
            AuthMySQLDB mydatabase
            AuthMySQLUserTable users
            AuthMySQLNameField user_name
            AuthMySQLPasswordField user_password
            AuthMySQLPwEncryption crypt

            require valid-user
    </Directory>