Apache mod rewrite

mod_rewrite

[ac1982]

Hi, I need your help on the following. I need to modify the apache conf and the .htaccess to make the URL from:

http://255.255.255.255/~account/

to

http://255.255.255.255/

thanks in advance

[ac1982]

In addition to the above I did the below test to see if mod_rewrite is working with no success.

#1 .htaccess, RewriteRule is disabled

RewriteEngine on
#RewriteRule ^alice\.html$ bob.html 

Links:

http://255.255.255.255/~account/alice.html [Ok] 
http://255.255.255.255/~account/bob.html [Ok]


#2 .htaccess, RewriteRule is enabled

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^alice\.html$ bob.html

Links:

http://255.255.255.255/~account/alice.html [404 Not Found]
http://255.255.255.255/~account/bob.html [Ok]

[ac1982]

any comments will be much appreciated

[MinosTheNinth]

I am sorry for very quick reply, but now I'm a bit in hurry. Anyway hope, this will help you.

With rule ^alice\.html$ bob.html you say, that everything that only exact "alice.html" is rewriten.

The ^ character marks start of tested URI and $ marks end.

Try exclude ^ character from rule and it should work as you expected.

[ac1982]

thanks for reply I found out that the issue was the RewriteBase. Also what about my initial post to set apache conf and the .htaccess can anyone help me with that?

[MinosTheNinth]

RewriteRule ^/~account([/]?)$ / [R=301,L]

This rule will redirect anyone who will try to access /~account or /~account/ to root folder of your webpage.

"R" means redirection - the browser is sent to new address and it also change URL in URL bar. The 301 code means, that this is permanent redirection. If it is not permanent redirection, then use code 302.

Hope this will help.

[ac1982]

at the moment the only way to access my site is by typing:

http://www.domain.com/~account_name/public/

what i need is to access it without typing the account_name:

http://www.domain.com/public/

thank u

[lucy24]

I need to modify the apache conf and the .htaccess

No, you don't. One or the other. If you have access to the config file, use it. Anything directory-specific goes in a <Directory> envelope. At most, allow htaccess for trivial things like indexing (overrides Indexes and/or Options). If you don't have access to the config file, you've no choice but to use htaccess.

at the moment the only way to access my site is by typing:

http://www.example.com/~account_name/public/

what i need is to access it without typing the account_name:

http://www.example.com/public/

:: please stop here and detour to the post about using example.com since Our Moderator went to the trouble of writing it and examples won't work with anything else ::

Is yours the only account name in the domain? Did there use to be more of them and you've now got rid of the others? Does the content live inside the /~account_name/ directory? Are there directories other than /public/ ?

So far I can't figure out whether you need a Redirect or a Rewrite, and whether you've got an internal problem or a DNS one.

[ac1982]

I am truly sorry if I have confused you, let me try explain again as simple as I can:

I have created a new account in WHM/CPanel with a dedicated IP.
And to access that account files I need to

http://<dedicated_ip>/~account_name/

Then I changed in my domain registrant, so my domain points to the new dedicated IP.
I checked after a a couple of hours and when I typed

 www.mydomain.com

I am redirected to

 http://www.mydomain.com/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi 

for some unknown reason for me, but when i type

 http://www.mydomain.com/~account_name/

my website is shown.

So what I am trying to achieve is when a visitor goes to

www.mydomain.com 

to view the website that is in

http://www.mydomain.com/~account_name/

without the need to add ~account_name at the end of the URL neither been redirected to cgi-sys page.

I hope its more clear now. :|

[edited by: ac1982 at 6:51 am (utc) on Aug 29, 2012]

[g1smd]

Your URL examples are unreadable.

Please use example.com in this forum to suppress URL auto-linking.

[ac1982]

sorry please check again I have updated my post

[lucy24]

I checked after a a couple of hours and when I typed www.example.com
I am redirected to http://www.example.com/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi for some unknown reason for me

Do you mean that your address bar changes? What is the content of the page you end up at? It looks like the default starter page for some CMS-- in other words, not necessarily a mistake.

but when i type http://www.example.com/~account_name/ my website is shown.

Again, does the address bar change?

It sounds as if something got mixed up when you were updating the DNS information, assuming that's what you meant by "changed in my domain registrant". And assuming you really meant "changed IN", not simply "changed".

First step: test with a tool such as Firefox LiveHeaders. (Other browsers probably have equivalents by now.) This will show you exactly what is happening.

Also: look at your raw logs. Each redirect will be visible as a 301. Unfortunately the logs will not say what the redirect points to-- but if it is a human visitor (including yourself) the 301 will be followed by a fresh request for a different URL. Browsers go where they are told to go.

It's no use asking what to do until everyone knows exactly what's happening right now. Otherwise you risk creating an even bigger mess.

[ac1982]

When I typed www.example.com I am redirected to http://www.example.com/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi. How can I change the configuration to load http://www.example.com/~account_name/ instead?

[lucy24]

First you need to find the place that sends you to /cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi

Start with the DirectoryIndex section. You may have a leftover directive from a CMS you're no longer using. Then study the rest of the htaccess. I'm assuming you don't have access to the config file itself.

If you can't find anything, see what happens if you temporarily disable the htaccess file. Either delete it (KEEP A COPY!) or rename it to something like "foobar" --no leading dot, make up a silly name-- that a robot is not going to guess within your two minutes of testing. If the redirect goes away, it was in your htaccess somewhere. If not, it's either in the config file or you've got more than one htaccess to keep track of.

You can't simply add a redirect, or you risk going around in circles. Or, at best, getting multiple redirects on every request.