Domain Redirects

A domain redirect is like a diversion or rerouting of web traffic from one URL to another. It is useful when you want to redirect users from one page to another, often because the original page has been removed or moved elsewhere.

Difference between static and dynamic redirects

• Static redirects: Static redirects are configured directly in the web server's configuration file. They are permanent and are performed by the web server itself, without any server-side code processing. They are useful for permanently redirecting pages that have been moved to a new location.
• Dynamic redirects: Dynamic redirects are configured via server-side code or through a content management system (CMS) that processes the client request and decides whether or not to perform a redirect. They are more flexible and can be used to redirect traffic based on certain conditions or criteria, such as the URL path or request parameters.

Difference between page-to-page redirects and domain-to-domain redirects

• Path-to-path redirect: A path-to-path redirect redirects traffic from a specific path on a domain to another path on the same domain. This is useful when remodeling a website or changing page paths without changing the primary domain.

• For example, if a user visits "www.mysite.com/old-path" and that path has changed or moved, a path-to-path redirect can redirect the user to "www.mysite.com/new-path".

• Domain-to-domain redirect: A domain-to-domain redirect redirects traffic from one domain to a completely different domain. For example, if you own the domain "www.myolddomain.com" and want to redirect all traffic to "www.mynewdomain.com", you would use a domain-to-domain redirect.

• For example, if a user visits "www.mysite.com/old-path" and that path has been changed or moved, a redirect from one path to another can redirect the user to "www.mysite.com/new-path".

Redirect Structure on RevasOS

• Title: The title of the redirect provides a brief description of what the redirect does. For example, "Redirecting from page A to page B".

• Request Evaluation Expression: This is an expression used to evaluate the source URL of the request and determine if it matches certain criteria. Using regular expressions (regex), we can define specific patterns that the URL must match to trigger the redirect. For example, "matches(http.request.url.path, "^/en-us/redirect2")" checks whether the source URL starts with "/en-us/redirect2".

• Target expression: This is an expression used to generate the destination URL of the redirect based on the source URL. Typically, a regex expression replace is used to manipulate the source URL to create the desired destination URL. For example, "regex_replace(http.request.url.path, "^/en-us/redirect2(.*)", "/en-us/contatti${1}")" replaces "/en-us/redirect2" with "/en-us/contatti" in the source URL path, preserving any query string parameters.

Practical example

Let's say we want to redirect all requests that start with "/en-us/redirect2" to the "/en-us/contatti" page. Using our CMS framework:

• Request evaluation expression: "matches(http.request.url.path, "^/en-us/redirect2")".
• Target expression: "regex_replace(http.request.url.path, "^/en-us/redirect2(.*)", "/en-us/contatti${1}")".

This way, any request that starts with "/en-us/redirect2" will be redirected to the page "/en-us/contatti", preserving any query string parameters.

Redirect types

A redirect also carries with it information about its type, so as to tell the browser how to behave in handling the request and in saving the redirect in the cache:

1. 301 Moved Permanently: This code indicates that the requested resource has been permanently moved to another location. Browsers and search engines will cache this redirect, so any future requests for the original URL will automatically be redirected to the target URL. This is the most common redirect to use when changing the URL of a page.

2. 302 Found (Moved Temporarily): This code indicates that the requested resource has been temporarily moved to another location. Browsers and search engines may continue to request the original URL, as this is a temporary redirect. However, it is recommended to use the 307 or 308 code instead to explicitly indicate the temporary nature of the redirect.

3. 307 Temporary Redirect: Similar to the 302 code, indicates a temporary redirect and specifies that the client should continue to request the original URL for future requests.

4. 308 Permanent Redirect: Similar to the 301 code, indicates a permanent redirect and specifies that the client should cache the redirect and automatically use the destination URL for future requests.

RevasOS uses 301 redirects by default.