.htaccess – Purpose, Considerations
.htaccess is a hidden file in the web server which comes in handy when the sites are hosted in shared environment.
Considerations:
Slight hit to performance takes place when .htaccess directive is set as Apache checks each directory for its existence before any file access in that directory
Next consideration will be with regards how the site owners manage the setting changes and its security which can be misused.
Some of the uses of .htaccess:
i) Applications require .htaccess for it to beautify the URL
ii) Folder or file permission settings can be set using .htaccess
iii) Error documents can be handled through .htaccess
iv) Can be used to allow/disallow bots
Apache advise the usage of httpd.conf file in Apache Server to set the necessary server directive settings and to avoid using .htaccess if it is not necessary.
