How to setup http redirect for links to other urls on my site?

Question

I'm trying to use cname and http redirect to hide that I'm linking to other domains on my site. I know how to setup the cname through my hosting service, but I'm unsure how to setup the http redirects. Do I need to setup each redirect link in the .htaccess file? Is there an easier and more efficient way?

Answer 1

I'm guessing that you are using the Apache webserver. You'd want to use the Apache mod_rewrite and mod_proxy modules.

Because you want to hide the original domain you have to proxy through your webserver. Note that this feature is not available at some hosting providers for security/abuse reasons. Also note that mosts companies don't allow you to proxy their sites (content) for fishing reasons.

In your .htaccess file you can than use mod_rewrite to proxy requests to other websites:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule foo(.*) http://www.example.com/bar/$1 [P,L]

• Match agains Servername/DirectoryName/Foo[Wildcard everything]
• Rewrite to http://www.example.com/bar/[Insert matched wildcard]
• Proxy the request [P]
• Stop rewriting [L]

To proxy a remote image as if it's on your server you would use:

RewriteRule ^myimage.jpg$ http://www.example.com/itsactuallymine.jpg [P,L]