Question

I have yet another .htaccess question, simple for you, not so much for me.

Let’s say my main site is found at http://domain.com. I do all of my pre-release testing at sandbox.domain.com and sandbox.domain.co. I just realized that Google has gone ahead and indexed my sandbox sites… Ugggh!

The document root folder on my Apache server with the live site is always called ALIVE, and in order to make my sandbox contents live I quickly rename the folders, ie ALIVE->OLDx, SANDBOX->ALIVE.

My goal is to prevent indexers and users from accessing my sandbox pages. I am trying to design a .htaccess file for document root that only allows my ip address when accessed from a sandbox subdomain (sandbox.domain.com), otherwise it allows everyone when accessed from the main domain (domain.com). This would eliminate the process of remembering to update the .htaccess file each time I release a new site.

This doesn’t seem too difficult, but I haven’t been able to find the right combination. Any pointers in the right direction will be much appreciated!

Answer 1

Create a .htaccess inside each folder (like sandbox):

order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from YOUR IP HERE