301 Redirect Issue with Azure Web App

Question

301 Redirect Issue with Azure Web App

Kameron Kennemer 0

I am seeking assistance with a 301 redirect issue on my Azure-hosted WordPress site(app service web app). Despite configuring application-side 301 URL forwarding to redirect from www.mydomain.com to mydomain.com, and vice versa. The redirects are consistently not working. I also tried doing it server-side with the nginx.conf file to include redirect rules server block and they had no effect. My site exists as both which I don't want. Dont really care which, just want one. A record in Azure points to IP C name points to the default Azure address, app service ssl cert works, and everything is bound. Just stuck with two URLs and want only one. I've been messing with this for months and I'm sick and tired of it. Any ideas? Something changed in the last update where your default URL would change from the Azure one to your custom domain name but now it does not and the instructions have not been updated.

Ryan Hill 30,281 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-11-04T16:08:15.61+00:00

@Kameron Kennemer what are you TLS/SSL settings? What's the sub status code of the redirect?

Something changed in the last update where your default URL would change from the Azure one to your custom domain name but now it does not and the instructions have not been updated.

Which instructions are you referring to?
Kameron Kennemer 0 Reputation points

2023-11-04T18:14:19.3733333+00:00
Hello Ryan,

TLS/SSL Settings:

I have an SSL certificate from Azure for my domain.

HTTPS Only is currently set to "off" in the Azure App Service settings although all traffic is still being redirected to HTTPS. (Not sure this is relevant but I thought I'd mention it anyway)

The minimum TLS version/connect to the app is set to TLS 1.2

Substatus Code of the Redirect:

Unfortunately, I am not currently seeing a specific status code for the redirect since the redirect itself is not functioning as expected. If there is a log location or a method you can recommend for me to check this, I would be happy to provide that information.

**Forwarding Methods/Results:

DNS host:**
Network Solutions- Has a built-in/straightforward URL forwarding service. (this doesn't seem to work with the (myapp.azurewebsites.net architecture), when setting up URL forwarding from the apex domain to the www custom subdomain it has no effect. When trying to configure URL forwarding from the www subdomain to the apex domain it breaks the site (unable to reach please check your firewall settings)

Server-side:

Attempted to implement forwarding using the following server blocks in the Nginx config

For HTTP

server { listen 80; server_name itcurio.com; return 301 https://www.itcurio.com$request_uri; }

server { listen 443 ssl; server_name itcurio.com; # include your SSL settings here return 301 https://www.itcurio.com$request_uri; }

For HTTPS

This has no effect whatsoever.

**Application Side:
**
Used Yoast WordPress Plugin 301 redirect function with no effect, yoast also has a toggle to write the redirect to the Nginx config automatically. I've used this dozens of times before with no issues on other projects. Tried the Simple Redirect WordPress plugin with no effect.

After thinking about it I find it hard to believe that doing a simple URL forward should ever be this complicated and I'm obviously missing something right in front of my face.

Regarding the instructions that have not been updated, I am referring to the Azure documentation for setting up custom domains and SSL bindings for Azure App Services. Previously, after binding a custom domain and SSL certificate, the default URL provided by Azure (e.g., myapp.azurewebsites.net) would automatically become the custom domain. However, this no longer seems to be the case, and the documentation does not reflect any new steps that might be required to restore this functionality. I understand the is a difference between URL forwarding and URL resolution but it seems the URL is not being resolved. I'm not sure this actually has anything to do with it though.

I would really appreciate you helping me figure this out. Maybe the info you asked for is in a log? I can provide it, please let me know.

Thanks

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Ryan Hill 30,281 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-11-04T16:08:15.61+00:00

@Kameron Kennemer what are you TLS/SSL settings? What's the sub status code of the redirect?

Something changed in the last update where your default URL would change from the Azure one to your custom domain name but now it does not and the instructions have not been updated.

Which instructions are you referring to?

Answer 1

Ryan Hill 30,281 Microsoft Employee Moderator

I see @Kameron Kennemer and thank you for the additional context.

Since you modified your nginx configuration, it may not be taking affect. Make a copy of /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default and place it the site home directory. Then, create a startup.sh script that uses the new configuration.

#!/bin/bash

cp /home/site/default /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
service nginx reload

Refer to NGINX Rewrite Rules for Azure App Service Linux PHP 8.x for details.

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301 Redirect Issue with Azure Web App

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