Why is my server redirecting automatically?

[isorg]

I have noticed that all the new directories on my server are behaving strangely. For example, if I type in http://www.example.com/test it automatically redirects to http://example.com/test/. It has taken out the "www". Why does this happen? It is happening on all the domains on my Apache/1.3.39.

It does not happen with http://www.example.com/test/index.html.

Where should I be looking for the culprit? The .htaccess files are empty. I am guessing this is a new feature in Apache, because I have only noticed this since upgrading to a new server.

[phranque]

you should look for directives in the directory section(s) of your httpd.conf file(s).

[jdMorgan]

Likely a result of mod_dir being invoked to 'fix' the missing trailing slash, with example.com defined as the ServerName, and UseCanonicalName On

You can either turn off UseCanonicalName, or define www.example.com as the ServerName, with example.com as the ServerAlias.

Jim

[isorg]

Thanks a million, this was exactly the info I was looking for! :-)

The httpd.conf file states that UseCanonicalName is a new setting from Apache 1.3 onwards. My previous server used Apache 1.2 I think, so I did not experience this effect before. I turned UseCanonicalName OFF and the server is behaving nicely now!

Thanks again.

[g1smd]

You may now have opened your site up to some new duplicate content issues.

You may well need to add a separate site-wide non-www to www redirect to ensure that non-www URLs cannot be indexed.

[isorg]

Oh I see :-(

Can you recommend something I can put into httpd.conf that would do this?

[g1smd]

Yes. That code is published here several times per week, check back for recent posts that ask about www and non-www URLs. There are quite a few.

[isorg]

Thanks, will look into it. :-)