How to make phpMyAdmin ask for my username and password

I am using rhel 5 and php 5 with mysql 5. My server is already configured and running all applications smoothly. I am accessing mysql as root and supplying my password. However, when I access phpmyadmin through browser, it is not asking for my password. Somebody please tell me how can I set it to prompt for username and password. Since I am not familiar with php and mysql please tell me how to do it in simple way.

Solution 1:

This is easy to be done.
Go to /my/path/to/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php. Open it up with your favorite editor and:

// Uncomment this line if it's commented. 
// Then insert a random string in the quotes ('').
// Have in mind not to enter symbols as " or ' in the quotes.
// You could use something like this - dsd87892@829109skmclwopa&
// It doesn't matter what exactly you type as long as it's not ' and " :)
$cfg['blowfish_secret'] = ''; /* YOU MUST FILL IN THIS FOR COOKIE AUTH! */

// Then find this and set it to cookie. ( I don't know what's the default. )
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie'; 

Everything now should be working fine and should ask for a user and password.
Additionally you could add an HTTP Auth as @Cocowalla said - for even more security.

Hope this helps :)

Solution 2:

You can use Apache HTTP authentication for phpMyAdmin, or you can specify a username and password in the config.inc.php file in your phpMyAdmin installation directory.

More information available here.