Basic Authentication in nginx for any domain, server or location block

sudo yum install httpd-tools
sudo htpasswd -c /etc/nginx/conf.d/vhosts/.htpasswd USERNAME
Enter Password: xxxxx
sudo chmod 644 /etc/nginx/conf.d/vhosts/.htpasswd

Update the domain.conf file like /etc/nginx/conf.d/vhosts/myrestricteddomain.com.ssl.conf

Ideally, use it in server config

server {
satisfy all; 
auth_basic "Restricted Area";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/conf.d/vhosts/.htpasswd; 
	location / {

Save and restart nginx

Basic Authentication with Nginx with proxy port (react/node app etc)

Reference: https://docs.nginx.com/nginx/admin-guide/security-controls/configuring-http-basic-authentication/

Requirements: apache2-utils or httpd-tools

Use htpasswd utility and create a .htpasswd file, see reference

htpasswd -c  /etc/nginx/.htpasswd usernamethatyouwant
chmod 644 /etc/nginx/.htpasswd

After that, just add lines in nginx conf

location / {
	auth_basic "Backend Area";
    auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd; ## path to your passwd file
	## ...
	## xyz code
	##... 
	proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4000; ## Proxy port for your app
	proxy_set_header Authorization ""; ## DONT FORGET THIS. reset the auth header
	include proxy.inc;
}

Restart nginx now or test first using “nginx -t”