Marco asked if it's possible to setup apache to restrict host access and use http auth. I never had such a setup, so I gave it a try.

First I created a directory that uses http auth

cd /var/www
mkdir test
cd test
htpasswd -c htp blackm

Note: always put your password files outside your webroot!

The directory need some options to be turned of:

< Directory /var/www/test >
    AllowOverride AuthConfig Limit
< /Directory >

Put this in your apache configuration and reload it. AuthConfig make http auth working in .htaccess and Limit is for the mod_access directive

Now go back to /var/www/test and create the file .htaccess

Order Allow,Deny
Allow from [your hostname or ip] [an other one]

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Restricted Area"
AuthUserFile /var/www/test/htp
Require valid-user

It is important that the mod_access directive are before the http auth ones. By doing this way, only hosts (your hosts) are allowed to enter username and password. This should prevent your accounts from being cracked using brut force attacks.