Administration Guide › Configuring the SPS Server Settings › Virtual Host Settings in the server.conf File › Handling Redirects by Destination Servers

Handling Redirects by Destination Servers

Some destination servers can respond to a request from the SPS with a redirection.

Note: A redirection that is the result of a request to the SPS is not the same as a redirect that occurs in a proxy rule. For information about a redirect in a proxy rule, see nete:redirect.

Because the redirection initiated by the destination server is likely to a server behind the DMZ, the URL specified in the redirection results in an error. However, you can include parameters in a virtual host configuration that substitute the virtual host server name and port number in place of a redirect from a destination server.

To substitute the virtual host server and port for redirect writing, configure the following:

enableredirectrewrite

Enables or disables redirect rewriting. If this directive is set to a value of yes, the URL for a redirect initiated by a destination server is examined by the SPS. If the redirect URL contains a string found in the list of strings specified in the associated redirectrewritablehostnames parameter, the server name and port number of the redirect are replaced by the server name and port number of the virtual host.

If the parameter is set to a value of no, any redirects initiated by destination servers are passed back to the requesting user.

redirectrewritablehostnames

Contains a comma-separated list of strings that the SPS searches for when a redirection is initiated by a destination server. If any of the specified strings are found in the server or port portion of the redirect URL, the SPS substitutes the name and port number of the virtual host for the server name and port portion of the redirect URL.

If you specify a value of "ALL" for this parameter, the SPS substitutes the server name and port number of the virtual host for all redirects initiated by the destination server.

For example, consider a virtual host configuration in the server.conf file that contains the following parameters:

<VirtualHost name="sales">

hostnames="sales, sales.company.com"
enableredirectrewrite="yes"
redirectrewritablehostnames="server1.company.com,domain1.com"

</VirtualHost>

When a user makes a request from http://sales.company.com:80, the SPS forwards the request to a destination server according to proxy rules. If the destination server responds with a redirect to server1.internal.company.com, the redirect is rewritten before being passed to the user as sales.company.com:80.

Note: The proxy rules for the SPS must be configured to handle the redirected requests.