Nginx redirect/rewrite hostname only

nginx

I'm having some trouble redirecting https requests to my Nginx server when the only the short hostname of the server is used. I tried all combination of examples out there but nothing seems to trigger a redirect/rewrite.

For instance, the server is called web01, and I want all requests to go to https://web01.domain.com. I have the http -> https rewrite working perfectly to the FQDN. However, if I try to go to https://web01, it will proceed try and load the page and obviously error on certificate mismatch. I want it to rewrite the request to the FQDN. How can I configure the rewrite/redirect?

What I have now:

server {
    listen *:80;
    rewrite ^ https://web01.domain.com$request_uri permanent;
}

server {
    listen 443 default ssl;
    server_name web01.domain.com;
}

Best Answer

The issue here is that when you access the server with https://web01, your browser expects to get an SSL certificate for web01 common name.

However, if your certificate is for the full domain name web01.domain.com, you will get a certificate error, because the domains do not match.

You will need to get an SSL certificate for web01 common name and configure a corresponding virtual host in your nginx configuration.

Correct way in new versions of nginx

Turn out my first answer to this question was correct at certain time, but it turned into another pitfall - to stay up to date please check Taxing rewrite pitfalls

I have been corrected by many SE users, so the credit goes to them, but more importantly, here is the correct code:

server {
       listen         80;
       server_name    my.domain.com;
       return         301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
       listen         443 ssl;
       server_name    my.domain.com;
       # add Strict-Transport-Security to prevent man in the middle attacks
       add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000" always; 

       [....]
}

Nginx & Https Redirection

Unfortunately, a redirection response can only take place after the SSL session has been established.

This is clearly a certificate issue; you need a certificate that contains www.domain.com with domain.com as the SAN (Subject Alternative Name). Most CA's give a single SAN for free, e.g., digicert.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

NGINX Redirect – How to Rewrite All HTTP Requests to HTTPS While Maintaining Sub-Domain

Correct way in new versions of nginx

Nginx & Https Redirection

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