how to add additional admin users in oscommerce with htpasswd

NOTE - there is some risk to the procedure outlined here. Use at your own risk....

We needed to allow access to an oscommerce site so that a vendor could install a contribution. The FTP part was easy, just set up an FTP user for them and then delete the user when the job is done. The hard part was allowing access to the oscommerce admin panel. The user id and password for that wass the same as the cpanel access. Changing the cpanel user id would block access to the oscommerce admin panel. We didn't want to give the vendor the cpanel and oscommerce access permanently.

The solution turned out to be a file called .htpasswd. The idea is that you can add users to that file which will then allow them access to protected areas such as the admin panel for oscommerce.

1. find and edit your passwd file. You will have to look above your public_html folder or it's equivalent. it will be in a folder such as .htpasswds/admin (make a copy if possible. Note you may revoke your own access if you are not careful. Be sure EVERYTHING is backed up)
2. Find an online hpassword generator . This will take the user id and password you are setting and create a hashed password. It appears that different sites create different hashes but they seem to work even with the differences
3. Copy the resulting line from the htpassword generator and add it to the passwd file
   Be VERY careful editing that file.
4. Test the access to the password protected area such as the oscommerce admin panel. Be sure that the new password is actually working and not your old password (ie close your browsers and start a new browser window.
5. Test the user id and password with a totally bogus combo just to make sure you are still protected.

When you want to revoke access for that user, you can just go in and edit the passwd file and delete the appropriate line.

We investigated this due to our needs for an oscommerce site. This will probably work for control panels other than cpanel and should work on most linux/unix hosting.

Backups easier to do - but often forgotten

I had 2 very lucky clients this week. Both had blue screen of death
failures. In both cases i was able to get the machine running or
retrieve the data with bartpe.

NEither person had any backups of their data. Usb hard drives are
inexpensive. Now is the time to secure your data!

Verizon wireless and web favorites

As I mentioned in a previous post I upgraded my phones due to taking the old phone swimming in the ocean.

One of the great features is the web access. The phone is an LG VX8300 . For $5 a month, you can get web access (You also need to consider that the airtime counts against your voice plan minutes).

Typing the urls into the browser and saving them to my favorites is a bit of a pain with the small keypad. (You have to hit the keys several times to get the correct letter). I found that if I sign into my Verizon account, I can get to a page where I can manage my favorites.

• Features and Downloads
• Mobile web (on the left)
• Look for the Bookmarks/Favorites link
• Look for the "customize" tab

From there, you can manage your favorites. You can create folders and copy and paste URLS from your desktop browser. It's a quick way to set up your Favs and save a little bit of web airtime.

The rep did suggest upgrading to an LG Envy which has a mini querty keyboard along with a 2 megapixel camera (vice the 1.3 on the 8300). I still have time to do that and will probably go that route. Even so, it is nice to have the ability to manage my web favorites from a browser on my desktop.

Update on Hotel wireless.. Another DUH-OH moment

I posted about a week ago on hotels with poor wireless connectivity.

http://cgmendla.blogspot.com/2007/08/pet-peeve-hotels-with-poor-wireless.html

Well, I wanted to update the post. As we were leaving our room, our son asked if the green Cat 5 belonged to us or the hotel.. Green Cat5? I don't own no steenking green Cat-5. Well, if there is a patch cable, then there should be an ethernet jack.

I took a closer look on the wall under the desk. The plate holding the phone jack also had a cat-5 jack (labeled in miniscule type). It appears that the rooms have wired as well as wireless connectivty. I had mentioned to poor wireless connectivity to several of the staff including the front desk and business center. Not one of them mentioned that the rooms were wired.

So, from now on I need to take a closer look before assuming that there is no wired connectivity. I also found that you cannot rely on the staff with regard to internet access.

The good thing was that the cellular broadband card worked almost as well as a wired connection and the unlimited access plan did not end up costing me extra.

Don't swim with your cellphone

Here is a great tip. Don't swim in the ocean with your cell phone. Itried it and killed my phone. Salt water and electronics just don' t mix.

Fortunately we were in an area that had a Verizon store and I was able to get a new phone the next day.

The event showed the importance of having a backup of your phone's data especially while travelling. I had not done a backup of my phone contacts so they were lost. I did have a hard copy and also had the data on my laptop and PDA. That meant that I still had all my contact information, but didn't have it at my fingertips.

Since it was an older phone, I didn't have to worry about much else. It was not a camera phone so I didn't lose any pictures. I was not using the web access so I didn't lose any settings such as favorites.

At any rate, a moment's forgetfullness cost me a phone. On the other hand, the newer phones have a lot more capability.