Securing a Directory and Logging Logins

December 1, 2008 7:50 AM

Need to password protect a directory on my site in a fashion that allows me to see which approved users are logging in, and when. I know .htaccess will let me do do the security and the separate accounts, but can I get a report on user activity? Or is there a better way?

Obviously, a Google search returns plenty. So much, though, is from sites I'm totally unfamiliar with - I'm interested in advice from the community I trust.

posted by boombot to computers & internet (3 comments total)

If you are using .htaccess based authentication, then the webserver log files should log the user associated with each request. Some log analysis software will break things out by user, but I don't know which ones.
posted by Good Brain at 8:06 AM on December 1, 2008

If you are running apache, the file access_log will contain this information, though in a crude form. Parse it with the programming language of your choice ( perl was invented for this ) or use a log analysis tool.
posted by ghost of a past number at 8:07 AM on December 1, 2008

" can I get a report on user activity?"

Yes. It'll be in your web server's access.log.
posted by majick at 8:07 AM on December 1, 2008