301 Redirect Questions On IIS - Please Help!

[seoplease]

Hi guys,

I can setup 301 redirect on Apache in 10 seconds. But i know nothing about doing it on IIS.

However, a client has his site hosted on an IIS server. The reseller hosting company says there is no way for them to do a 301 redirect from the non-www version of the site (e.g. example.com) to the www version (e.g. www.example.com) on the IIS platform.

They suggested they do it by putting the example.com domain on an apache server, and then we could configure the .htaccess file to 301 redirect the example.com domain to the www.example.com domain.

This sounds like a very inefficient way to do it! They want to charge the client more money to do it, also.

What is involved in getting a 301 redirect in place from the non-www urls to the www URLs on IIS? Can any IIS server do this easily by installing some config utility on IIS? Does this software come installed on every IIS?

What do i need to say to push the host to get this 301 redirect in place for my client - on the IIS server - at no extra cost to the client?

Thanks for your help!

[pageoneresults]

Can any IIS server do this easily by installing some config utility on IIS? Does this software come installed on every IIS?

Yes, it can be done. They will need to install ISAPI_Rewrite.

[seoplease]

What is ISAPI_Rewrite? I am assuming it is the software here: [isapirewrite.com...]

[defanjos]

Yes, you are correct.

[jonrichd]

The easiest way to do this (and it really costs your host nothing to do) is to create another website on the server, which would be example.com. Then, go into the properties box for that website, and under Home Directory, choose "A redirection to a URL", and use www.example.com for the redirect. Also make it permanent (that gives you the 301). It takes about as long to do as it did to read this paragraph.