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Cannot see REMOTE_USER variable in Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) using PHP 5.1.6.

Hi,

I'm usually an IIS, .NET windows type developer, but at the moment I'm trying to do some PHP.

I'm trying to get the REMOTE_USER server variable so that I can see who is logged on to the company Intranet and I'm using Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) , PHP 5.1.6.

I've used the CheckPHP function to get all the config settings and I can see many of the server variables but not REMOTE_USER.

Can anyone help? Please bear in mind that I'm very new to linux, apache and PHP, and only really found a few console commands.

Many Thanks

Chris

hampus_b

The way to access remote_user is like this:

<?
echo $_SERVER['REMOTE_USER'];
?>

Try also to create a php-file with the following content:

<?

phpinfo();

?>

save it as info.php and point your browser to it.

Search for "Apache Environment" in the result. Does REMOTE_USER show up?

James Looney

Good morning,

Here is the list of Server Variables:
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.server.php

For your environment, write a quick php script and put just this in it:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Run that and it'll show you all the variables available to you on your server.

I think the ones you are looking for are either

$_SERVER['REMOTE_USER']
$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] (for the ip)
or
$_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER']

Hope that all helps.

chrispont

ASKER

Sorry guys, I've tried phpinfo(); and cannot see the REMOTE_USER there (athough I can see REMOTE_ADDR and this shows the IP address of the client, not the authenticated user name).

I've tried $_SERVER['REMOTE_USER'] in some scripts and this is always empty.

James Looney

If you force the login using php's extension to HTTP_AUTH, you can output the username using $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER']

for example, try this script:

<?php
if (!isset($_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER']))
{
header('WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="My Realm"');
header('HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized');
echo 'Text to send if user hits Cancel button';
exit;
}
else
{
echo "<p>Hello {$_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER']}.</p>";
echo "<p>You entered {$_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW']} as your password.</p>";
}

Tobias

Hi !

You need to create a .htaccess and .htpasswd file.

The variable $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'] is used when you have put in place an authentication method.

Follow this tutorial and you would be able to get the user.

http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/htaccess/3

Best Regards

James Looney

Well, that'll get you the same thing as what I have proposed, just with more files. If you are already using php for your page, you can do the HTTP_AUTH via php and then use $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'] to get the username.

Tobias

Yes I don't have say that is different. Just trying to explain more how it's working. I don't care about get more points, just help people.

James Looney

Right. Same here. :)

My point was just that he is used to IIS and not apache, so he may not want to deal with extra files (.htaccess, .htpasswd) in setting this up.

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