URL Rewrite rules with Ghost blog hosted on Windows Azure

Question

I am attempting to set up a blog using Ghost hosted on Windows Azure.

I have deployed and get everything set up using the pre-configured repo created by AzureWebApps on GitHub.

Everything is worked as expected and I have configured records on my own domain name which are working as you navigate to the site.

The issue I have is that the *.azurewebsites.net domain name appears in search engine results and when you navigate (for example, to www.mysite.com/rss) it switches out the custom domain name and replaces it with the builtin azurewebsites one.

looking at the web.config, there are two rewrite rules

<rules>
    <rule name="StaticContent">
      <action type="Rewrite" url="public{REQUEST_URI}"/>
    </rule>
    <rule name="DynamicContent">
      <conditions>
        <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" negate="True"/>
      </conditions>
      <action type="Rewrite" url="index.js"/>
    </rule>
</rules>

I found a chap named Gareth had done a post about a rewrite rule that will "block" the *.azurewebsites.net domain, and I put this rule into the rule set above the default two, and this got me almost there. The rss link now works.

The issue now arises when I navigate to www.mysite.com/ghost (which is the admin page, on https) it complains that there are too many rewrite rules.

I can see why this is the case, but I can't figure out a combination of rules to satisfy launching the webapp with the custom domain and being able to navigate to other pages within the site. I'm pretty sure it's something obvious.

Do you create a CNAME record on DNS to bind the azure domain `*.azurewebsites.net`? Do you set up the `Custom Domains and SSL` at the `All settings` of Azure new poral (please refer to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-custom-domain-name/#enable-the-domain-name-on-your-web-app)? Do you modify the `websiteUrl` using the custom domain in the `config.js` file (see https://github.com/AzureWebApps/Ghost-Azure/blob/master/config.js) of Ghost-Azure? — Peter Pan, Jan 18 '16 at 09:39

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 18 '16 at 10:18

Based on my understanding, I think you had create a CNAME record to bind your custom domain name with the Azure website domain name. However, I don't know whether you set up the Custom Domains and SSL at the All settings of your Azure WebApp on the new portal. As reference, you can refer to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-custom-domain-name/#enable-the-domain-name-on-your-web-app to be sure.

According to the url rewrite rule from Gareth's article, It seems to works fine for all urls. I think the issue might be caused by the code self that render the urls using the configure variables like the websiteUrl in the config.js file of Ghost blog, see https://github.com/AzureWebApps/Ghost-Azure/blob/master/config.js.

Hope it helps, and waiting for your feedback. Any concern, please feel free to let me know.

I edited the code in config.js to just point to "www.mysite.com" and now everything works (without the need for the extra rule in web.config). The only issue is when I navigate to to the admin portal (which is SSL) I get a connection is not private error - but I can proceed and it works. This is a small niggle but it's a large step in the right direction - thanks! — lookitskris, Jan 18 '16 at 21:53

URL Rewrite rules with Ghost blog hosted on Windows Azure

1 Answers1