Install and Password Protect During Testing

Hello all,

I am going to be installing WP on a server, but as the client and I configure everything, I’d like the site to be password protected and do a simple redirect to an index.html file. Or at least re-direct and I can live without the password protection? What’s the easiest way to do this?

Also, I have a local version of the site running under Leopard on my Mac. I have DBManager installed. Is it pretty straightforward to backup and then install that DB to the new server? Taking a look at the backup SQL, it looks like siteurl and some other local settings would need a search-and-replace with the new server info. I am most concerned about maintaining the category ID’s as I have a very customized theme that uses the ID’s for specific CSS stuff. Any tips appreciated. Thanks!