Sub-domains and redirects simplify web access

[Alan B]

Find out, in this new article on the WebHostingBuzz Blog:
http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/blog/2...fy-web-access/

All blog posts are available at: http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/blog/

[Tony]

Once you realize how convenient redirected sub-domains can be, and how easy they are to create, I’m sure you’ll think of plenty of uses

Heh. Or not.

We merged another site into ours years ago and I briefly thought about a subdomain then. But it's never made that much sense to me. I just put it in a subfolder so it's as easy to use the one as the other.

subdomain version: sca.shannondale.org
'normal' version: shannondale.org/sca

[Alan B]

Sure, that's one example of a short original URL. They're not all like that. Plus, I can say from experience that some clients think it looks cool and professional that their temp. site is at client.mydomain.com, rather than mydomain.com/client

[Colin]

Tell you what Alan, this just ain't working for me, the redirection is set up as specified, but the redirect still goes to domain.com:2095 without any path at all.

[Alan B]

That's strange. I tested this myself on my server, and I've done the same thing on previous servers.

Why don't you copy and paste precisely the text you're entering in the fields, and also post a screenshot. It may be you're making a key error or something that you're missing.

[Alan B]

For a start, that's the wrong URL. That is the port for SSL, so the URL should begin with https, as in:
https://wtixfm.com:2096/3rdparty/roundcube/

Also, your DNS is misconfigured. That may or may not be related to your redirect issue, but it's always a good idea to get all DNS correct before trying to solve other errors.

[Colin]

DNS from here:
http://www.webhostingbuzz.com/forum/...formation.html

How is it misconfigured?

Also, attempting to use HTTPS fails to connect. Changing to 2095 also fails.

[Alan B]

Using https fails where?
If you go to https://wtixfm.com:2096/3rdparty/roundcube/ in your browser, do you reach the login page?
If it's just the redirect that fails, how does it fail (i.e. what happens)?

Re the DNS, I thought you were on a reseller server, so if you're on a standard shared server then ignore my comment.

[Colin]

I AM on a reseller server.

The direct link succeeds.

In the webmail folder for the sub-domain, without HTTPS:[code]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^webmail.wtixfm.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.webmail.wtixfm.com$
RewriteRule ^/?$ "http\:\/\/wtixfm\.com\:2095\/3rdparty\/roundcube\/" [R=301,L]
[/code]

With HTTPS:[code]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^webmail.wtixfm.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.webmail.wtixfm.com$
RewriteRule ^/?$ "https\:\/\/wtixfm\.com\:2096\/3rdparty\/roundcube\/" [R=301,L]
[/code]

AND NOW FOR THE PECULIAR!

Ya see that link under Document Root that loads the specified folder up in the filemanager? Well, the folder it loads does not have the .htaccess file in it, and seems to be called bmail. Me thinks it be a tad borked.

[Alan B]

It sounds as though you may need to contact support.

As for DNS, since you're on a reseller server why not use personal nameservers? Then you could have A records in the nameservers, which would be a more reliable setup. Plus, personal nameservers makes it much easier to move several domains if you ever move to a different server.

[Colin]

BRB, site's been hacked, ...

[Colin]

I'm now having issues with connecting to that webmail sub-domain on a irregular basis.

[Alan B]

Well, if the site was hacked then all kinds of nasty changes could have been made. Unless you have active content, such as a customer database or forum, I would lock down new better account names and passwords and rebuild the account from scratch.

[Colin]

Did a bunch of account name and password changes on the site, but it does worry me that someone found an exploitable hole in how Mambo works to get a file replacement action to occur to begin with, Mambo doesn't write to the PHP file system.

[Alan B]

It's become darned difficult to stay current on all patches and potential security exploits on CMS and other packages.

[Colin]

I swear, am tempted to forget about all the fancy stuff and demand a Dos Server!