Redirect domain.com to www.domain.com? - apache

Got a bit of a problem - my current DNS and apache setup allows my site to be accessed from both http://domain.com/ and http://www.domain.com/. However, the CMS application currently in use requires the URL be http://www.domain.com/, or problems arise.
For the sake of argument, consider modifying the CMS as out of the question. How would I force http://domain.com/ to redirect to http://www.domain.com/ on a DNS/Apache level? I don't have much experience with DNS acrobatics, and .htaccess is pretty multifaceted so it's hard to pin down a proper solution. Therefore, I'm relying on your opinions and expertise. Thanks in advance!

Related

HTTP access was forced to visit HTTPS

I have a few web sites that are hosted in a VPS.
Today, I found that when visiting "http://api.rsywx.com", it forces me to visit "https://api.rsywx.com", and the redirects me to "https://rsywx.net" (which is SSL enabled).
I checked my virtual host files, and did not find out anything forcing this redirect.
Anyone can point me some direction on how this can happen?
Redirects can be done on different ways and levels. Most elegant ways in descending order (my opinion):
Apache conf (mostly in /etc/apache2/apache2.conf)
.htaccess - file
in the index.php or the used backend script/code
(- could be even done in the frontend with javascript files but for that the page must be loaded and then will be redirected.. So nothing somebody should use)
Problem solved. I added one line in my Silex application's entry index.php to require HTTPS access, which is meant to be locally tested only.

MediaWiki on Subdomain (.htaccess rewrite)

I am using an Apache Server (cant config apache root files) and running my core website (Invision Power) in the root domain "example.com". We decided to expand our services with a wiki using MediaWiki which is installed and can currently be reached on "example.com/w/".
I am utterly noobish with .htacess and Rewrite Conds/Rules and looking for help! We want our wiki to be access via wiki.example.com - and this URL should NOT change in the adressbar. Each page (wiki.example.com/Main_Page) should be accessed like this.
Please keep in mind that we want our core website keep working as it did for years now. So example.com and any other folders should not be affected by the Rewrite Rule.
Can someone please help - do you need any further information??
THANK YOU SO MUCH
Best Regards

How can I use an .htaccess file in Nginx?

I am currently migrating my website from Apache to nginx, but my .htaccess file is not working. My website is inside the /usr/share/nginx/html/mywebsite folder. How can I use .htaccess in my nginx server?
This is my .htaccess file:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule video/watch/([a-zA-Z0-9_#$*-]+)/?$ "videos-single.php?id=$1" [NC]
Nginx doesn't support .htaccess (see here: "You can’t do this. You shouldn’t. If you need .htaccess, you’re probably doing it wrong.").
You've two choices (as I know):
import your .htaccess to nginx.conf (maybe the htaccess to nginx converter helps you)
use authd-htpasswd (I didn't try it)
Disclosure: I am the author of htaccess for nginx, which is now open source software.
Over the past years, I created a plugin which implements htaccess behaviour into nginx, especially things like RewriteRule, Allow and Deny, which can be crucial for web security. The plugin is used in my own productive environments without a problem.
I totally share the point of efficiency and speed in nginx, and why they didn't implement htaccess.
However, think about it. You cannot make it worse if you're using nginx plus htaccess. You still keep the great performance of nginx, plus you can drive your legacy appliances effortlessly on one webserver.
This is not supported officially in nginx. If you need this kind of functionality you will need to use Apache or some other http server which supports it.
That said, the official nginx reasoning is flawed because it conflates what users want to do with the way it is done. For example, nginx could easily check the directories only every 10 seconds / minute or so, or it could use inotify and similar mechanisms. This would avoid the need to check it on every request... But knowing that doesn't help you. :)
You could get around this limitation by writing a script that would wait for nginx config files to appear and then copy them to /etc/nginx/conf.d/. However there might be some security implications - as there is no native support for .htaccess in nginx, there is also no support for limiting allowed configuration directives in config files. YMMV.
Using the config file is one option, but the cool thing about the .htaccess file is that it provided a way for a web developer to have some control over server settings without having root access to the server. There doesn't seem to be anything like this on nginx which is a real bummer.
I understand how the way it's setup on apache slows down response times, but hoped there could be an nginx way to do the same thing without the performance hit... At least a way to do rewrites with regex on urls if nothing else.
"Is there no nginx way to do bulk redirects using regular expressions that doesn't slow down response times."
Just edit your database with myphpmyadmin.
Open myphpmyadmin select your database then find your "yourprefix_Posts" table.
Open it then click the "Search" tab, then "Find and Replace".
Select "post_content" in the dropdown
In the "Find" field, type URL you want to change: "website.com/oldURL".
In the "Replace" field, type the new URL: "website.com/newURL".
(To use regular expression, tick the "Regular Expression" box.)
NOTE: You can test this out by simply leaving the "Replace" field blank.
ALWAYS BACKUP database before making changes. This might sound scary but its really not. Its super simple and can be used to quickly replace just about anbything.

Is there an Apache/Plesk server setting that governs https:// behavior?

Context:
I've recently moved a site to a new host, and moved the SSL certificate from the old host to the new one. The code, written in PHP, is a big mess made by someone no longer available many years ago. Because of this, I'm hoping to figure out something related to the configuration of the server that can fix the issue so I don't have to reverse-engineer the rather messy code.
Problem:
When users navigate to an area of the site that uses https://, all goes according to plan. The problem, however, arises when they click a link in the navigation that is normally to an http:// part of the site. On hover, you can see that the target URL incorrectly includes "https://". When the user tries to go to a non-secure area with https:// in front, either by clicking one of those altered links or by typing it into the location bar of the browser, they are redirected to the directory without any domain. For example, if you try to go to "https://domain.org/site/", the browser is redirected to only "/site", which of course cannot be found.
Theoretical solutions:
Is there a setting in Plesk which governs the "stickiness" of https? One way to fix the problem is to stop the non-secure links from acquiring https://.
Is there an obvious reason why whatever script or file the site is using to redirect would break when an un-secure area is accessed via https://? Is there a server setting that would have made this function differently on the new server via the old server?
I don't have access to see what exactly the configuration of the old server was. Is it likely that this could be caused by a difference in PHP version? If so, any suspicions about what the problem would be?
Is there some workaround with .htaccess that can manually redirect all but certain secure areas of the site to http:// when they are accessed via https://, presumably before the site's redirect script is activated?
Thank you for any help!!
Yes, since Plesk 17 (Onyx):
For older versions you can create .htaccess files which will rewrite request from https pages to http, based on referrer:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^https://domain.org [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://domain.org/$1 [L,R=301]

Configuring Mass Virtual Hosting + SSL on development machine

Is there a way to use this, or something like it, for SSL enabled hosts?
VirtualDocumentRoot /www/vhosts/%0/public
I want to avoid having to configure Apache every time I start working with a new domain on my development box. It would be nice to just add a directory, follow standard naming conventions, and be able to automatically access the site with HTTP or HTTPS.
I realize this definitely isn't the route to go for a production server, but it should be ok just for development.
One example came pretty close using mod_rewrite, but it still requires updating a configuration mapping file when you add a host (which I'm trying to avoid).
http://sweon.net/2008/01/hosting-multiple-ssl-vhosts-on-a-single-ipportcertificate-with-apache2.
Any ideas?
Thanks
The author of the article I referenced above was nice enough to come up with a solution.
This is working on Apache 2.2:
RewriteRule ^/(.*)$ /var/www/%{HTTP_HOST}/htdocs/$1 [E=VHOST:${lowercase:%{HTTP_HOST}}]