Deny access to all files except index file - Apache2 - linux

Question

I'm configuring an Apache2 server, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to deny access to all files/directories except the index file.
My website resides inside /var/www/
This is my current setup in the /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file:
<Directory />
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Options None
AllowOverride None
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/>
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
How do I solve my problem? Thanks!

Answer 1

Try adding a <FilesMatch> for index.php. If it doesn't work in this position, move it above the directory's Deny from all. Change index.html to whatever your index file is.
<Directory />
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
Options None
AllowOverride None
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/>
# Deny first, then allow
Order deny,allow
# Deny everyone from everything
Deny from all
<FilesMatch index\.html>
# but allow index.html
Allow from all
</FilesMatch>
</Directory>

Answer 2

I think you're better off simply piping everything to the index file, not denying access to everything else.
This can be done through RewriteRule:
RewriteEngine On
# index goes to index (this is first to prevent infinite loop)
RewriteRule ^/index\.html$ - [L]
# everything else goes to index
RewriteRule .* /index.html [L]