Question 91263 in Apache Question posted in
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Why do I have an https www redirect error with my single SSL certificate enabled domain? – Apache

My web server is in the cloud, a VPS on Vultr. I have added the following lines to my apache.conf file:

    Options -Indexes +FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride All
    Require all granted
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.(.*)
    RewriteRule ^.*$ https://%1/$1 [R=301,L]
    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off [OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www. [NC]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(?:www.)?(.+)$ [NC]
    RewriteRule ^ https://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,NE,R=301]

These lines will redirect an http://www.example.com or an http://example.com to an https://example.com. It works very well. I do not use htaccess files.

I always try to think how a user could mess things up and in this case, I think they could enter https://www.example.com. And sure enough, it messes things up.

I want to add that I only have a LetsEncrypt certificate for the example.com domain. I do not have one for the www.example.com subdomain, like many others add to their server.

In the sites available file for the domain /etc/apache2/sites-available/example.com.conf I have:

<VirtualHost  example.com:80>
   ServerAdmin [email protected]
   ServerName  example.com
   ServerAlias  example.com
   # above line eliminates www.example.com
   DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com
   ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log
   CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

I do not use a VirtualHost file for the 443 port.

I have read other stackoverflow comments and questions about the issue of https://www.example.com. I reference a near identical request that does not eliminate my problem, but maybe they have a certificate for the www subdomain, allowing the proposed solution there to work. Best Practice: 301 Redirect HTTP to HTTPS (Standard Domain)

My assumption is that possibly:

  1. My apache.conf code has an error.
  2. I need an additional certificate for the www subdomain.
  3. Some other solution.

What is the best way to proceed here? Or do others just ignore this since it will be overshadowed by the browser screaming about how unsafe the site is?

Tags:

2

Answers


  1. 0

    I need an additional certificate for the www subdomain.

    If you want to access the site by https://www.example.com then you need a certificate exactly for this exact domain, i.e. www.example.com and not just example.com. There is no way around this since any redirects can only be issued by the server once the TLS connection is established, i.e. after the certificate validation.

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  2. 0

    After much research, I have decided to go back to the https://www.example.com approach. There are several reasons.

    Most websites would not notice the difference between using www and not using it. Large websites would, since they would need additional subdomains to be able to properly utilize cookies.

    The other issue is the CNAME in the DNS settings. It is consdiered best practice to not use a bare domain with the CNAME. For example, Namecheap doesn’t allow it. You must use the www subdomain with the CNAME entry.

    Another concern is email. I don’t know all of the details but email can get messed up by not using the www subdomain.

    Some browsers actually remove the www from the URL even though it is there when they display the address. And some talk exists of a future where the www will be removed entirely.

    But as of today, there is a consensus that the DNS system would have to be changed at a very basic level to accomodate no www in the address.

    These things make me wary of staying with a non-www address domain URL. For now, I will return to the old school https://www.example.com.

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