| List of methods used to redirect a web site using Apache: |
Web site forwarding and redirection methods:
- One can forward a web page URL or home page using the following web page with the "Refresh" directive:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" Content="0; URL=http://www.company.com/dir1/">
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This commands the browser to refresh the page with the new specified URL. This forwards a single page only and not the entire domain. It can forward the default home page for the domain giving the appearance of forwarding the domain.. or:
<html>
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" Content="3; URL=http://www.company.com/dir1/">
</head>
<body>
This page will forward to http://www.company.com/dir1/ in three seconds.
<p>
Please update your links.
</body>
</html>
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- Use a CGI script to forward a home page: (mod_cgi)
- File: httpd.conf
ScriptAlias / /var/www/cgi-bin/redirect-script/
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File: /var/www/cgi-bin/redirect-script #!/usr/bin/perl
print "Status: 301 Moved\r\n" .
"Location: http://www.new-domain.com/\r\n" .
"\r\n";
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or: #!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use CGI qw/:standard/;
print redirect('http://www.new-domain.com');
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- Use a PHP script to redirect:
<?php
header("Location: http://www.new-domain.com/");
?>
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- Use a Javascript to redirect:
<html>
<head>
<script language="Javascript" type="text/javascript">
<!-- Hide script
//<![CDATA[
window.location.href="http://www.new-domain.com/"
//]]> End script hiding -->
</script>
</head>
</html>
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- Use Apache module (mod_rewrite)
- File: httpd.conf
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule /.* http://www.new-domain.com/ [R]
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Forwards all references in entire domain.
- Use Apache module (mod_alias )
- File: httpd.conf
- Redirect Domain:
Redirect / http://www.new-domain.com/
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or Redirect permanent / http://www.new-domain.com/
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- Redirect Page:
Redirect /web-page.html http://www.new-domain.com/destination-web-page.html
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Note: - Redirect directives take precedence over Alias and ScriptAlias directives.
- Other "Redirect" options include: temp (error 302) default - temporary redirect status, seeother (error 303) resource has been replaced and gone (error 410) resource has been permanently removed.
Example httpd.conf with virtual hosts for multiple domains which all redirect: <VirtualHost XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX>
ServerName directtolinux.com
ServerAlias www.directtolinux.com
ServerAlias direct-to-linux.com
ServerAlias www.direct-to-linux.com
ServerAlias digitalpenguins.com
ServerAlias www.digitalpenguins.com
Redirect permanent / http://www.yolinux.com/
</VirtualHost>
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- Apache 301 redirect using the .htaccess file:
- If one wants to permanently forward an entire web site to a new URL or forward a single page permanently and have the search engines update their database, one should use a 301 redirect. This may redirect to a new server or to itself but to a different domain. This tutorial shows how. This method is a variation of using the mod_alias redirection shown above except that it allows the customer to redirect themselves by providing a .htaccess file themselves.
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yolinux.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yolinux.com/$1 [R=permanent,L]
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This example forwards http://yolinux.com to http://www.yolinux.com/ to unify your site to a single URL. This can also simplify your web logs if they can not distinguish between the two
