When site is “Under Construction”

http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/htaccess-for-webmasters.html

This lets google crawl, lets me access (1.1.1.1) without a password, and lets access from anyone WITH a password. It also allows for XHTML and CSS validation through w3.org

Article: Instruct Search Engines with a 503 Service Unavailabe header and Retry-After header while site is offline

AuthName "Under Development"

AuthUserFile /home/askapache.com/.htpasswd

AuthType basic

Require valid-user

Order Deny,Allow

Deny from all

Allow from 1.1.1.1 w3.org googlebot.com google.com google-analytics.com

Satisfy Any

Hide the Apache Version number and Server information

http://serversignature.com/Apache2-Turning-ServerSignature-off

By default many Apache installations tell the world what version of Apache you're running, what operating system/version you're running, and even what Apache Modules are installed on the server. Attackers can use this information to their advantage when performing an attack. It also sends the message that you have left most defaults alone.

The ServerSignature appears on the bottom of pages generated by apache such as 404 pages, directory listings, etc.

The ServerTokens directive is used to determine what Apache will put in the ServerHTTP response header. By setting it to Prod it sets the HTTP response header as follows:

 Server: Apache

To disable server signature, you will need to open your /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file,

and search for "ServerSignature" and press return. If you find it, edit it to:

ServerSignature Off
ServerTokens Prod

If you don't find it, just scroll to the end of the file and add these two lines.
Then, we need to reload apache configuration to put this new change in effect:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

htaccess Tricks for Webmasters

http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/htaccess-for-webmasters.html

Apache For Webmasters is some of my favorite htaccess examples from some of my favorite .htaccess tutorials. These cut-and-paste ready htaccess code snippets are very useful for website and server administrators.

Apache Custom Error Messages

http://www.htmlcenter.com/blog/apache-custom-error-messages/

You log onto your shell and create a file called .htaccess in your document root. Let's assume that you want to display a custom error page for "File not found"-errors (code: 404).

Put the following code inside the .htaccess:

ErrorDocument 404 /path/to/error/document.html

Save it. Viola! It's all done.

You may also refer to a remote document:

ErrorDocument 404 http://errors.domain.com/404.php

The syntax is as follows:

ErrorDocument <3-digit-code> action

Can't get enough of them?

Successful Client Requests
200	OK
201	Created
202	Accepted
203	Non-Authorative Information
204	No Content
205	Reset Content
206	Partial Content
Client Request Redirected
300	Multiple Choices
301	Moved Permanently
302	Moved Temporarily
303	See Other
304	Not Modified
305	Use Proxy
Client Request Errors
400	Bad Request
401	Authorization Required
402	Payment Required (not used yet)
403	Forbidden
404	Not Found
405	Method Not Allowed
406	Not Acceptable (encoding)
407	Proxy Authentication Required
408	Request Timed Out
409	Conflicting Request
410	Gone
411	Content Length Required
412	Precondition Failed
413	Request Entity Too Long
414	Request URI Too Long
415	Unsupported Media Type
Server Errors
500	Internal Server Error
501	Not Implemented
502	Bad Gateway
503	Service Unavailable
504	Gateway Timeout
505	HTTP Version Not Supported

Have fun!