How to redirect multiple domains to "www." with mod_alias "Redirect" directive?

Question

I'm trying to redirect multiple VirtualHosts without a preceeding "www." from one VirtualHost to another, like so:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    ServerAlias example.org
    ServerAlias example.net
    # I either need some kind of Apache conditional here...
    Redirect 301 / http://www.example.com/
    # ... or I need to substitute the Redirect *URL* with a variable
    # for the ServerName/ServerAlias
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName www.example.com
</VirtualHost>

I could just create several VirtualHost containers and redirect each one individually, but I prefer not to repeat my code, if possible.

I'm using Apache 2.2 and I prefer not to use mod_rewrite to redirect. I'm fair with Apache, but far from an expert.

This cannot be accomplished using `mod_alias`, because it does not support conditionals or `%{variables}`. I believe `mod_rewrite` is necessary to do this. — Stefan Lasiewski, Feb 01 '19 at 01:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 16 '12 at 17:49

1

I wrote the following condition that I'm using in an .htaccess file for redirecting any domain without the "www", this work for any domain name. The domain look could be done more comprehensive, for instance I only look for number, letters and underscore in the domain name since I know all the domains where this rule will apply will have just that, but you could easily replace the regular expression with a more complex one if you need.

  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([a-zA-Z0-9-_]*)\.([a-zA-Z0-9]{2,3})$ [NC]
  RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%1.%2/$3 [L,R=301]

answered Oct 16 '12 at 17:49

Flupkear

123
1
7

Thanks for the effort. I'm trying to avoid `mod_rewrite`. – Jeff Oct 16 '12 at 17:53
Sure, too bad you can't use the above conditions in your virtual host definition. – Flupkear Oct 16 '12 at 18:21

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 16 '12 at 19:13

The solution I used isn't "Don't Repeat Yourself" friendly, but it works and helps me achieve my preference of not using mod_rewrite. Any better solutions and I'll happily mark your answer right.

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    Redirect 301 / http://www.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.org
    Redirect 301 / http://www.example.org/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName www.example.com
    ServerName www.example.org
</VirtualHost>

alexus · Answer 3 · 2012-10-16T19:40:39.807

0

assuming they all going to one virtual host, i'd do this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName _default_:80
   Redirect / http://www.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName www.example.com
   DocumentRoot /var/www/html/
</VirtualHost>

* UPDATE *

Maybe this will help you? Apache 2.4 module mod_macro 1.2.1

edited Oct 16 '12 at 19:40

answered Oct 16 '12 at 19:22

alexus

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No, they're each going to their respective www.example.tld on the same VirtualHost. – Jeff Oct 16 '12 at 19:32
Appreciate that! Unfortunately I'm stuck with Apache 2.2 for now. I believe > 2.3 has conditionals. – Jeff Oct 16 '12 at 19:42
The current version for Apache 2.4 is 1.2.1. For Apache 2.2, use 1.1.11. For Apache 2.0, use 1.1.6. It won't work with Apache 1.3 for which you should use version 1.1.2. – alexus Oct 16 '12 at 19:59

How to redirect multiple domains to "www." with mod_alias "Redirect" directive?

3 Answers3