How to protect an nginx page with basic auth

option 1: openssl utils

add a username to htpasswd

sudo sh -c "echo -n 'alice:' >> /etc/nginx/.htpasswd"

set an encrypted password

sudo sh -c "openssl passwd -apr1 >> /etc/nginx/.htpasswd"

option 2: apache utils

sudo apt update
sudo apt install apache2-utils

sudo htpasswd -c /etc/nginx/.htpasswd alice

edit nginx site

vim /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

server {
    listen 80 default_server;
    listen [::]:80 default_server;

    root /usr/share/nginx/html;
    index index.html index.htm;

    server_name localhost;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
        auth_basic "Restricted Content";
        auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
    }
}

restart nginx

sudo service nginx restart