Ssl – How To Redirect Before Checking for SSL

apache-2.4sslssl-certificateubuntu-14.04

I have an SSL certificate for my domain, let's call it example.com.
Also I have another domain, let's call it example.net

When I get HTTPS requests for domain example.net it fails but example.com it works. I want to redirect HTTPS requests for example.net to https://example.com.

Notice: they are both hosted on the same server (Ubuntu 14.04 – Apache 2.4). I tried a CNAME record for example.net to redirect it to example.com but also fails (my browser tell's me that the certificate is vaild only for example.com).

So what to do? Do I have to get another SSL certificate for example.net?

Best Answer

If you want both sites to support HTTPS, including a mere redirect, you need both to have valid certificates.

There is no way to bypass this as it is part of the well-thought mechanism that protects the user from being led to the wrong site.

Related Solutions

Apache SSL – Is It Bad to Redirect HTTP to HTTPS?

The [R] flag on its own is a 302 redirection (Moved Temporarily). If you really want people using the HTTPS version of your site (hint: you do), then you should be using [R=301] for a permanent redirect:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} !^443$
RewriteRule ^/(.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [NC,R=301,L]

A 301 keeps all your google-fu and hard-earned pageranks intact. Make sure mod_rewrite is enabled:

a2enmod rewrite

To answer your exact question:

Is it bad to redirect http to https?

Hell no. It's very good.

Ssl – the ssl certificate only work with ‘www.example.com’ and not with ‘example.com’

Since your certificate is valid for both example.com and www.example.com, and both domains are configured to use the same directories, there is no reason that I can see for having them as separate VirtualHosts. I would remove the second VirtualHost and change the first one to look like this:

   <VirtualHost *:443>
            ServerAdmin admin@example.com
            ServerName www.example.com
            ServerAlias example.com

[the rest of the config should look the same as it does in your post]

    </VirtualHost>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Apache SSL – Is It Bad to Redirect HTTP to HTTPS?

Ssl – the ssl certificate only work with ‘www.example.com’ and not with ‘example.com’

Related Topic