Overview

This article aims to describe the steps on how to create a Rewrite rule through IIS and the web.config. Rewrite rules can be written to generate URLs that can be easier for users to remember, simple for search engines to index, and allow URLs to follow a consistent and canonical host name format. Rewrite rules will also redirect users from one domain to another.

Solution

1. Go to the IIS Manager.
2. Select your site.
3. In the Feature view, click URL Rewrite.
   • If you don't see the URL Rewrite module, you can download it from here.
     
4. In the Actions pane, on the right side, click on Add rules 
   
5. Select the Blank Rule template. 
   
6. The Edit Inbound Rule screen will open so you can customize the redirection rule. 
   
7. You can follow this article, in order to have a better understanding of how to create the rules.

Creating custom rewrite rules in the web.config file

If you would like to customize your rewrite rules manually, this is stored on an XML file called web.config (located in your root website directory),

You can:

1. Edit the web.config file.
2. Set up a redirect rule in an XML format under the <rules> tag:
   For example:
   

   <rules>
   <rule name="Spanish Redirect" stopProcessing="true">
   <match url=".*" />
   <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny" trackAllCaptures="true">
   <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="website.es" />
   </conditions>
   <action type="Redirect" url="https://website.com/es/{R:0}" redirectType="Permanent" />
   </rule>
   </rules>

Following the below patterns, you can easily create a custom rewrite rule by inserting the rule in the <rules> tab.

 Redirecting from a path to a subdomain

• From any page in www.domain.com/Path1
• To http://www.path.domain.com/

<rule name="Path to Subdomain" stopProcessing="true">
      <match url=".*" />
      <conditions>
          <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="www.domain.com" />
          <add input="{PATH_INFO}" pattern="/Path1.*" />
      </conditions>
      <action type="Redirect" url="http://www.path.domain.com/" />
</rule>

Redirecting from a domain except for certain paths

• From any page in www.domain.com
  • Except for www.domain.com/Path1
• To https://www.anotherdomain.com/

<rule name="All except Path to Another Domain" stopProcessing="true">
      <match url=".*" />
      <conditions>
          <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="www.domain.com" />
          <add input="{PATH_INFO}" pattern="/(Path1).*" negate="true" />
      </conditions>
      <action type="Redirect" url="https://www.anotherdomain.com/" />
</rule>

For more information about the XML and how could you change it, please go to this link.

Testing

To verify the rewrite is working correctly, you must try to visit the old URL to see if you are redirected to the new URL from the browser.

Related Articles

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Redirects and Their Functionality in DNN

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