Modifying the HTTP Host File to Redirect to HTTPS

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Damon Luong

As it stands now, the server will provide both unencrypted HTTP and encrypted HTTPS traffic. For better security, it is recommended in most cases to redirect HTTP to HTTPS automatically. If you do not want or need this functionality, you can safely skip this section.

To adjust the unencrypted Virtual Host file to redirect all traffic to be SSL encrypted, we can open the /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf file:



sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

Inside, within the VirtualHost configuration blocks, we need to add a Redirect directive, pointing all traffic to the SSL version of the site: /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf 

<VirtualHost *:80>
        . . .

        Redirect "/" "https://your_domain_or_IP/"

        . . .
</VirtualHost>

Save and close the file when you are finished.

About Damon Luong

San Jose, California
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