301 redirect problems on site not yet moved

[Wardy]

I have re-designed one of my sites, the old site is all static pages on a Windows server, I have made the new sites and it is on a new server and is running on Wordpress.

I have just finished testing it and so am nearly ready to switch over the nameservers to the new server, however I'm having some problems with 301 redirects.

I have tried to set up a few 301 redirects on the new server to test before I change nameservers but they don't appear to be working. I would have imagined that they should (even though the actual page isn't hosted on the new server) or am I being very stupid here and I can't test a 301 redirect until the nameservers have been changed.

Redirect 301 /magazines.htm http://.../~account/magazine-freebies

Obviously the above with the stars (*) is the server address and route to my account.

[ShaMenz]

Hi Wardy,

Are you saying that the domain you wish to redirect to is not yet hosted on that server or did I lose you along the way?

[Wardy]

Sorry, I thought as I was typing it that it might come across slightly confusing!

www.mysite.co.uk (old versions) is still live on current hosting.

The re-design of www.mysite.co.uk is ready and has been uploaded to a new server.

I have not changed the nameservers of www.mysite.co.uk to point to the new server yet and so the new re-designed site can only be viewed by visiting the physical address of where it is located on the new server: http://123.12.123.12/~mysite

However, I tried to just set up a test 301 redirect on the new server to test my 301 redirects would be working when I do change the nameservers from old to new server but they don't appear to work.

e.g. I tried to test the 301 by

http://123.12.123.12/~mysite/magazines.htm (no actual page there but represents  www.mysites.co.uk/magzines.htm when I do change nameservers)

Set up 301 redirect to try and take this to http://123.12.123.12/~mysite/magazine-freebies

So really the existing old site doesn't play any part in this as I am testing it all on the new server first?

Does this make any more sence or made it even more confusing?

[ShaMenz]

OK, so what you are actually trying to do is redirect from one page on the new server to another page on the new server, regardless of anything that is happening on the old server?

Sha

[ShaMenz]

If you post the content of your .htaccess file we can see if there is a problem with your syntax.

Other things to remember:

1. Don't qualify your FROM or TO (when you fail over your domain the .htaccess will break the site

2. Remember that your WordPress installation will break when you fail over your domain as it has been installed to your test domain.

Hope that helps,

Sha

[Wardy]

Yes this is correct. Although I've tried it with the old page on the new server and with the old page not there on the new server but I can't get the re-direct to work.

Below is the contents of my .htaccess file.

Thankyou for your help!

BEGIN WordPress

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /~freefsuk/
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /~freefsuk/index.php [L]</ifmodule>

END WordPress

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C).script.(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]

Options -Indexes

protect the htaccess file

<files .htaccess="">order allow,deny
deny from all</files>

protect wpconfig.php

<files wp-config.php="">order allow,deny
deny from all</files>

<files wp-login.php="">Order Deny,Allow
Deny from All
Allow from ...*</files>

Redirect 301 /magazines.htm http://edit/~mysite/magazine-freebies

[ShaMenz]

Hi Wardy,

The .htaccess file is read from top to bottom and the first Rule which matches is the Rule that will be used. This means that currently, your Wordpress Rule is a "catch-all" and the 301 will never be executed.

So, the 301 needs to be placed above the Wordpress Rule in the .htaccess

Hope this helps,

Sha

[Wardy]

Thanks for the reply again Sha!

So I have put

Redirect 301 /magazines.htm http://edit/~mysite/magazine-freebies

at the very top of the .htaccess but the redirect still does not take place.

This is how it now looks. I'm sorry if I'm being daft here by the way!

Redirect 301 /magazines.htm http://edit/~mysite/magazine-freebiesagazine-freebies

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C).script.(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]

BEGIN WordPress

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /~freefsuk/
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /~freefsuk/index.php [L]</ifmodule>

END WordPress

Options -Indexes

protect the htaccess file

<files .htaccess="">order allow,deny
deny from all</files>

protect wpconfig.php

<files wp-config.php="">order allow,deny
deny from all</files>

<files wp-login.php="">Order Deny,Allow
Deny from All
Allow from ...**</files>

[ShaMenz]

Hi Wardy,

I think we are nearly there

This is what the first block of your .htaccess should look like:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

**RewriteRule  ^/magazines.htm$ /magazine-freebies [R=301,L]**RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C).script.(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]

The rest remains the same, but you will need to remove the old rule from the end of the file.

Hope that helps,

Sha

[Wardy]

Thanks again for the reply and being patient!

It still isn't working for me.

Obviosuly magazines.htm hasn't been uploaded at any point on the new server but that won't make any difference would it?

[ShaMenz]

Hi Wardy,

Check your Private Messages please.

Also, a couple of questions.

1. Is the file called .htaccess?
2. I the page magazine-freebies a static URL or a Wordpress Blog Category Page?

Please make your .htaccess file look like this

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule  ^/magazines.htm$ /magazine-freebies

Just these two lines, and test to see if it works.

Sha

[Wardy]

Hi Sha,

yes it all works, I think my problem was because of trying it on a test server etc.

You have abeen a great help!

[ShaMenz]

Ah...Great news!

Glad to help and I hope the new site will do well for you

Sha