Redirect to another site but show the original URL in browser

Question

Redirect to another site but show the original URL in browser

FelipeSantosBRA 61

Hi.

I need help with a question about URL Rewrite.

Currently the redirection rule below works correctly.

<rule name="test_redirect" stopProcessing="true">
    <match url="^(.*)$" />
	    <conditions>
		    <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^name.domain.com$" />
            <add input="{HTTPS_HOST}" pattern="^name.domain.com$" />
	    </conditions>
    <action type="Redirect" url="http://IP address/service" redirectType="Permanent" />
</rule>

Now what I need is that the browser's address bar still displays the original url.

Example: "http://name.domain.com" redirects to "http://IP address/service" but the browser's address bar still displays "http://name.domain.com".

Can anyone help me with this?

Thanks.

FelipeSantosBRA 61 Reputation points

2024-02-26T20:27:36.0966667+00:00

Hi. I managed to find an article about my case: https://blogs.iis.net/iisteam/url-rewrite-v2-1 . But I can't create a server variable "UNENCODED_URL" that works with the rules created. And I don't know how to set the "useOriginalURLEncoding" flag to "false".

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FelipeSantosBRA 61 Reputation points

2024-02-26T20:27:36.0966667+00:00

Hi. I managed to find an article about my case: https://blogs.iis.net/iisteam/url-rewrite-v2-1 . But I can't create a server variable "UNENCODED_URL" that works with the rules created. And I don't know how to set the "useOriginalURLEncoding" flag to "false".

Answer 1

Yurong Dai-MSFT 2,846 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @FelipeSantosBRA,

To achieve a redirection where the browser's address bar still displays the original URL while redirecting internally to another URL, you need to use a reverse proxy setup instead of a HTTP redirection.

Firstly, you need to install the ARR module, download link: https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/application-request-routing

After the installation is complete, you can see the ARR module at the IIS server level. Double-click to open it, select Server Proxy Settings, and check Enable proxy.

User's image Then set the rewrite rules in the site, here's how you can achieve this with URL Rewrite:

<rule name="test_reverse_proxy" stopProcessing="true">
    <match url="(.*)" />
    <conditions>
        <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^name.domain.com$" />
        <add input="{HTTPS_HOST}" pattern="^name.domain.com$" />
    </conditions>
    <action type="Rewrite" url="http://IP address/service/" />
</rule>

This rule will internally rewrite requests from http://name.domain.com to http://IP address/service, but the browser's address bar will still display http://name.domain.com. For more information about IIS reverse proxy, please refer to the following documents: Setup IIS with URL Rewrite as a reverse proxy for real world apps Reverse Proxy with URL Rewrite v2 and Application Request Routing

If the answer is the right solution, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the email notification for this thread. Best regards, Yurong Dai

FelipeSantosBRA 61 Reputation points

2024-02-27T17:05:59.9966667+00:00

Thank you very much for your help. I'll test this and get back to you soon.
FelipeSantosBRA 61 Reputation points

2024-02-27T17:06:42.8766667+00:00
Hi, @Yurong Dai-MSFT , I followed along to the tutorial, but didn't it work:

The page loaded with an error: Error_Rewrite.png

The "/service" has been added to the original URL.

Where is the error? Are there some configuration missing?

Thanks.
Yurong Dai-MSFT 2,846 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-02-28T09:27:29.2333333+00:00

Does your name.domain.com point to this IP address? And are these two different sites?
FelipeSantosBRA 61 Reputation points

2024-02-28T17:11:51.61+00:00
Hi, @Yurong Dai-MSFT .

Regarding your questions about redirections:

Does your name.domain.com point to this IP address****? >> Yes, using the URL Rewrite module.

And are these two different sites? The URL "http://IP address/service/" is the official website. Now the URL "name.domain.com" is a just a friendly DNS name.

In short, in the DNS Server, an A record was created pointing "name.domain.com" to the IIS Server IP address, and a redirection rules was created using the URL Rewrite module.
Yurong Dai-MSFT 2,846 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-02-29T09:52:33.9733333+00:00

Unfortunately, the reverse proxy solution only works for two different sites, not different hostnames between the same site. Now that you have created a "name.domain.com" record in the DNS server pointing to the IP address of the IIS server, you can bind this domain name directly to your IIS site. Then access your website directly through http://name.domain.com/service. Why do you need redirect rules?

Please correct me if my understanding is wrong.
FelipeSantosBRA 61 Reputation points

2024-03-04T20:40:28.04+00:00

In fact, there is only one website. The objective is for the user to access the URL "http://IP address/service/" through the friendly name "name.domain.com".

I can't use the DNS Server, because of the "/service" in the URL. You can configure this without any problems using Apache.
Yurong Dai-MSFT 2,846 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-03-05T09:42:44.8766667+00:00

Unfortunately, this cannot be achieved in IIS. Redirect rules can help you, but require accepting browser address bar changes.
FelipeSantosBRA 61 Reputation points

2024-03-05T13:12:15.6933333+00:00

Ok. I got it. Thanks.

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Redirect to another site but show the original URL in browser

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