I have recently embarked on configuring an Apache Web server on an RH 7.2 box. I have successfully configured and started it, but I am having trouble with configuring some sort of authentication with it. Below, you will find my attempt at setting up Basic Authentication in the main server file. Pardon my ignorance, but I seem to be having trouble understanding the documentation. I also tried creating a .htaccess file in the htdocs directory called apacheweb.htaccess with the very same information below starting with the AuthType and ending with Require user... I have done research to see if I could clear this up, but I have been unsuccessful. Now, I figured it was time to ask you Apache security gurus out there - although I'm sure this will be an easy one for you guys. I think that I am forgetting something really simple! How frustrating!

# Each directory to which Apache has access, can be configured with respect
# to which services and features are allowed and/or disabled in that
# directory (and its subdirectories).
#
# First, we configure the "default" to be a very restrictive set of
# permissions.
#
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>

<Directory "/usr/local/apache/htdocs">
AuthType Basic
AuthName "For Authorized Users Only"
AuthUserFile /usr/local/apache/passwd/passwords
Require user username username username username
</Directory>