Posted: 19 September 2008 at 12:44pm | IP Logged

Ok.. I am brand new to this, and could not be more of a newb. 

I think what I am trying to do is fairly simple and straightforward... but I need help getting started.
I just installed Rewrite/2 on my 2003 server.
My default httpd.ini file that was created is this:

[ISAPI_Rewrite]

# 3600 = 1 hour
CacheClockRate 3600

RepeatLimit 32

# Block external access to the httpd.ini and httpd.parse.errors files
RewriteRule /httpd(?:\.ini|\.parse\.errors).* / [F,I,O]
# Block external access to the Helper ISAPI Extension
RewriteRule .*\.isrwhlp / [F,I,O]

I have about a dozen sites, and I need to put in a rule to redirect the non-www to www.

I added what I thought was the following default rule at the bottom for one of my many sites as a test:

[ISAPI_Rewrite]

# 3600 = 1 hour
CacheClockRate 3600

RepeatLimit 32

# Block external access to the httpd.ini and httpd.parse.errors files
RewriteRule /httpd(?:\.ini|\.parse\.errors).* / [F,I,O]
# Block external access to the Helper ISAPI Extension
RewriteRule .*\.isrwhlp / [F,I,O]

# Move anything from non- www.example.com -> www.example.com
# e.g. example.com -> www.example.com
RewriteCond %HTTPS off
RewriteCond Host: (?!^www.example.com)(.+)
RewriteRule /(.*) http\://www.example.com/$2 [I,RP]

..of course I changed the www.myexample.com to one of my domain names www.mydomain.com, saved, tested, and while it worked for www.mydomain.com.  It also set ALL of my domains pointing to www.mydomain.com.
This immediately cracked me up, and also has now led me here.

Since I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know what I'm missing.

Basically I need this particular redirect for all my sites...
So is my issue that I just need to add ALL of them in, and then each site address will resolve correctly?  Or have I missed something obvious and simple in what I have done, with my single domain test attempt?

Thanks in advance!

Posted: 19 September 2008 at 3:38pm | IP Logged

Thank you for the quick response.

I just tried it.  Same problem is occurring.

If you enter http://mydomain.com minus the www, it will correctly send to www.mydomain.com.  So the non-www to www issue works.. but... it also takes ALL my sites on that server, and no matter which one I type in an address for, it is going to www.mydomain.com.

As a test, I added two domains to the .ini file, to see if maybe I just needed to have an address in for each separate site on the server.

RewriteCond %HTTPS off
RewriteCond Host: (?!www\.)[^.]+\.[^.]+
RewriteRule (.*) http\://www.mydomain.com$1 [I,RP]

RewriteCond %HTTPS off
RewriteCond Host: (?!www\.)[^.]+\.[^.]+
RewriteRule (.*) http\://www.differentdomain.com$1 [I,RP]

It completely ignored the second entry and sent www.differentdomain.com as well as ALL my other sites to www.mydomain.com

Any ideas?
Maybe because it is a new .ini file fresh from the install, and I don't have enough default entries?  I'm reaching.

Posted: 19 September 2008 at 5:37pm | IP Logged

I just made the attempt.

With the following:

[ISAPI_Rewrite]

# 3600 = 1 hour
CacheClockRate 3600

RepeatLimit 32

# Block external access to the httpd.ini and httpd.parse.errors files
RewriteRule /httpd(?:\.ini|\.parse\.errors).* / [F,I,O]
# Block external access to the Helper ISAPI Extension
RewriteRule .*\.isrwhlp / [F,I,O]

RewriteCond %HTTPS off
RewriteCond Host: (?!www\.)([^.]+\.[^.]+)
RewriteRule (.*) http\://www.mydomain.com$1$2 [I,RP]

The result is that www.mydomain.com address works fine, however just mydomain.com address has a standard "cannot display page" error.  So the non-www to www 'redirect' is now not working quite right. 

Partial good news is that the other sites on the server are no longer being forced to the same url, and are no longer affected by the entry.

We are getting closer?! ;)

Posted: 21 September 2008 at 7:36pm | IP Logged

My mistake, I thought I had to identify the actual domain in the rule.

Lexey you are awesome.  It appears to be working on all sites!

Thank you very much,
Mark