Topic: Configuring Apache to deal with common alt URL's

[bailywolf]

I have this server which serves pages using the standard "www.pagename.com/whatever" URL, but it fails without the 'www'.

To weird things up, the pages do server if the URL is structured like "http://hostname.pagename.com/whatever" sans 'www' but with the server's host name stuck on the front.

I inherited this box and this configuration- no idea why it's set up this way- but in fixing it, I'd like to prevent any links (internal or external) from breaking.

I think I'd simply like all links or connections to either of the above valid URL's to resolve as the standard 'www.pagename.com/whatever'. So, for example, if a link is hard coded to go to "http://hostname.pagename.com/whatever", it connects to the resource normally, but the URL the user sees gets changed to "www.pagename.com/whatever". And, of course, that keyed or linked pages without the 'www' connect properly.

I know that's two more or less different issues, but in looking around they seem to have the same set of possible solutions.

I've looked into the URL rewrite engine and 'mod_rewrite' but this seems like a whole lot of complex functionality for what strikes me as a really simple issue.

Redirects or Aliases might work, but I don't know about resolving URL's without the 'www' using this method.

The box is an IBM i5/OS running Zend Core's odd double-team of an Apache instance running in PASE (IBM's semi-UNIX environment) linked with a ProxyPass to the native Apache instance running under the i5/OS. The things you have to do to get PHP5 to run on an iSeries...

But beyond making sure I have the directives in the right config file, I don't know if this will make any difference. When running our sites off just the native Apache instance under i5/OS we had exactly the same issue.

Anyone tangle with this kind of thing before?

Thanks,

-B

[James Blond]

did you set up an server alias with the www? Did you tell our DNS server that ?