htpasswd with Nginx on CentOS 7

To setup basic HTTP authentication with Nginx on CentOS 7, first install httpd-tools.

[root@centos7 ~]# yum install -y httpd-tools

Create user and password:

[root@centos7 ~]# htpasswd -c /etc/nginx/.htpasswd pikedom
New password: 			    some_secure_password
Re-type new password: 		some_secure_password
Adding password for user opsview

Amend your Nginx vhost configuration:

[root@centos7 ~]# vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/mydownloads.opsview.com.conf

Add the following lines:

...
    auth_basic "Authentication Required: ";
    auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
...

Check and reload vhost configuration:

[root@centos7 ~]# nginx -t
[root@centos7 ~]# systemctl restart nginx