Yes, Modular Merchant's Digital Delivery system is compatible with distributing files located in a password protected directory. Doing this has two parts: first, password protect the directory that contains the files you are selling. Second, update the URLs of the Download Files in your store database to include the password information.
Below is a tutorial on both of these parts. To take advantage of this feature, follow these steps:
Step 1. Password protect the directory that houses your downloads using Plesk and/or a .htaccess file.
The first step, of course, is to add password protection to the directory containing the download files that your customers purchase. Password protecting the directory prevents unauthorized access.
For example, if a directory containing your downloads isn't password protected, then someone who discovers the URL (web address) of the directory containing your downloads could potentially view — and download — all of the files in directory simply by viewing the directory's URL in a web browser.
However, if the directory containing your downloads is password protected, then entering the URL of the directory containing your downloads would result in a popup window requesting a user name and password would be displayed instead. Without the knowledge of this user name and password the files contained in the directory cannot be viewed.
How do I password protect the directory or directories containing the download files I'm selling?
The method used to password protect a directory will vary from server to server. However, for clients who have their the directory they want to protect hosted with Modular Merchant, the directory can be password protected from within their Plesk control panel. The steps to do this are:
1. Log in to your Plesk control panel. A link to your Plesk control panel is available in the Hosting section of your store's administration area.
Figure 1: The Plesk control panel can be accessed from within the Hosting section of your store's administration area.
2. Once logged in to Plesk, locate the Domains section of the page. Click on the domain name that you want to work with.
3. In the Hosting section of the next page, click the icon titled Directories. The Directories tool is used by Plesk to add password protection.
4. On the next page, click the icon titled Add a New Directory. This will open the editor screen to password protect a new directory on your website.
5. In the editor screen, enter the path to the directory you want to protect.
Figure 2: Enter the path to the directory on your website that you would like to protect.
6. On the next screen click the Add a New User icon.
Figure 3: Enter the user name and password that will be required to access any files in the protected directory.
Remember the user name and password that you enter here! You will need it in the next step. The directory on the website is now password protected. Any user that attempts to access any webpage or file within the directory will be prompted to supply the user name and password you've set.
What if the directory I want to password protect isn't hosted with Modular Merchant?
For website directories hosted remotely, it's recommended that the they be password protected using a .htaccess file. Contact your service provider for instructions on how to set up and install a .htaccess file on their server.
Step 2. Update the URLs of the Download Files in your store that are housed on this server.
Now that the directory containing your store's Download Files is protected, the URLs of those Download Files will need to be updated to include the user name and password required to access the directory. The user name and password will be appended to the URLs of the Download Files themselves. When the customer downloads a file they have purchased from within your store's download area, the system will extract the user name and password out of the Download File's URL and use it to access the protected directly. All of this is done behind the scenes, transparent to the customer.
1. First, load the Digital Products module, located in the Modules section of your store's administration area.
Figure 4: The Digital Products module is located in the Modules section of your store's Administration Area.
In the Digital Products module's options page, locate the option titled Search & Replace Download File URLs. This tool can be used to add the user name and password to a batch of Download Files all at once, so that you won't need to manually update all your Download File URLs one-at-a-time.
Figure 5: Use the Search & Replace tool to change the URLs of multiple Download Files at once.
The Search & Replace tool is easy to use. Simply enter a portion of the original URL in the field titled Step 1 and a version of what that URL will be changed into in the field titled Step 2.
Figure 6: Enter the text to search for in the Step 1 field, and the text it will be changed to in the Step 2 field.
When adding a protected directory's user name and password to a Download File's URL, the user name and password must be inserted between the "http://" and subdomain (such as "www"), with a colon in-between and a "@" symbol after.. For example: The user name I'm using is "dudley" and the password is "qR4473e". In this example, the URL "http://www.website.com/files/" would be changed to "http://dudley:qR4473e@www.website.com/files/".
After completing fields Step 1 and Step 2, click the "Go" button to make your changes. The system will scan all of the URLs in your Download Files database, and will change any instances of the text entered in the Step 1 field with that entered in the Step 2 field. If the text only matches a portion of the URL, the portion of text that matches will still be changed.
Note: The Search & Replace tool is available in Modular Merchant version 3 and above. If your store is running a previous software version, contact Modular Merchant Support for assistance. The Support Team can either help in upgrading your store to version 3 or they can schedule a time to have a technician perform the URL change in the store database for you.
The steps above will allow you to add password protection to one or more directories on your website. Once protected, a user name and password will be required to view or otherwise access any webpages or files contained within the directory. Then, the Search & Replace Download File URLs tool available in your Modular Merchant store's administration area can be used to update the links to the downloads you sell to the protected version.
We hope this tutorial has been helpful. If you have any questions about the steps above, let us know!
For the Bandwidth Conscious:
Note that the secure method for accessing and distributing files from within a password protected directory requires more bandwidth usage. This is because files housed within a password protected directory must be accessed and distributed in a different way by the Digital Delivery system in order to remain secure.
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