Hello,
I want to setup my Apache 2.4 server in a way to redirect all requests in following way:
http://domainname.tld/ to http://www.domainname.tld/ and https://domainname.tld/ to https://www.domainname.tld/
my vhost conf file is as follows:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName www.domainname.tld
ServerAlias www.domainname.tld
DocumentRoot ......
# other vhost settings
# ...
# ...
# ...
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName domainname.tld
ServerAlias domainname.tld
Redirect "/" "http://www.domainname.tld/"
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName www.domainname.tld
ServerAlias www.domainname.tld
DocumentRoot /..............
# SSL configuration
# ...
# ...
# ...
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerName domainname.tld
ServerAlias domainname.tld
Redirect "/" "https://www.domainname.tld/"
</VirtualHost>
I don’t have any rewrite rules in my htaccess file.
http redirect works ok, but if i open https://domainname.tld my request is redirected to the very first vhost configuration on my server.
Please can you tell me what’s wrong with my vhost configuration?
As far as I know the best way to achieve this type of redirect is to modify the vhost configuration instead of adding rewrite rules to the htaccess file. The very best way to solve this doesn’t involve mod_rewrite at all, but rather uses the Redirect directive placed in a virtual host for the non-canonical hostname(s).
Please share your comments! Thank you in advance!
This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.
You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!
This article explains the solution for my question:
How To Avoid SSL Certificate Mismatch Errors When Redirecting Multiple Virtual Hosts - Because the SSL protocol encapsulates HTTP traffic, adding or removing the ‘www’ subdomain must be done correctly.
<VirtualHost :443>
ServerName EXAMPLE-1.com
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /PATH/TO/CERT.crt
SSLCertificateChainFile /PATH/TO/CHAIN/FILE.pem
SSLCertificateKeyFile /PATH/TO/KEY.key
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost :443>
ServerName WWW.EXAMPLE-1.com
...
</VirtualHost>
All you need to do is add the certificate paths inside the redirect block so the key exchange can take place prior to the redirect.
Become a contributor for community
Get paid to write technical tutorials and select a tech-focused charity to receive a matching donation.
DigitalOcean Documentation
Full documentation for every DigitalOcean product.
Resources for startups and AI-native businesses
The Wave has everything you need to know about building a business, from raising funding to marketing your product.
The developer cloud
Scale up as you grow — whether you're running one virtual machine or ten thousand.
Get started for free
Sign up and get $200 in credit for your first 60 days with DigitalOcean.*
*This promotional offer applies to new accounts only.