ISAPI Rewrite

Have you ever wanted to manage multiple domain names under a single account in IIS (Internet Information Services)? A common way to do this is to handle it from code. There are some disadvantages when handling this directly from code. Static pages aren't redirected, non-developers will need to purchase or dust off their programming books, and evidence remains that a redirection was done.

Along came ISAPI Rewrite www.isapirewrite.com to solve this issue. Running at the ISAPI level in IIS, this is done before any page or code is accessed so it works equally well on static and dynamic content. It overcomes all the objections mentioned above.

With common redirection code, the user would see something like this:
http://www.domain1.com
http://www.domain2.com/domain2
http://www.domain3.com/domain3

With the ISAPI Rewrite component, the user will see this:
http://www.domain1.com
http://www.domain2.com
http://www.domain3.com

Even though behind the scenes the sites can be in completely different sub-folders, the person visiting the website won't have any concept of this. They will simply see the clean domain names.

ISAPI Rewrite will rewrite (kind of like a redirect) the user to a sub-folder even though the web browser doesn't realize this.

This is done very fast and efficiently and managed by a file called httpd.ini which should be placed in the root of the site. It controls which domain names are handled by which sub-folder by utilizing different regular expression rules.

Some tips to remember when creating the rules.

# is used to comment out a line

The following characters must be preceded by a "" to be recognized as a literal character ( meaning a character that represents itself)

".", "*", "?", "+", "(", ")", "{", "}", "[", "]", "^" and "$".
This becomes important when typing (www.domain.com) it would have to look like (www.domain.com)

Parentheses are used to group items together to be marked as what is to be matched, such as "(apple)*" would match all of the string "appleappleapple".

You can see more helpful expression tips here, http://www.isapirewrite.com/docs/examples

Some examples of the rules you will see in the httpd.ini file look like this:

#manual redirect of one domain
RewriteCond Host: (www.)?domain1.com
RewriteRule (.*) /domain1$2

#redirecting to another URL
RewriteCond Host: (www.)?domain1.com
RewriteRule (.+) http://www.domain2.com$1 [R]

#Rewrite just one domain but keep the old link working
RewriteCond Host: (www.)?domain1.com
RewriteRule (?!/domain1)(.*) /domain1$2 [I]

Many tricks come with a catch, and this is no exception. One disadvantage that I have come across is that the response.write from ASP or ASP.NET does not work well in conjunction with this component. Absolute paths are required since relative paths are done after ISAPI Rewrite handles the request and aren't redirected as would be expected. The workaround is to use absolute paths with the full domain name in the redirect. If Server.Transfer is to be used, it should be tested as well. It runs into similar issues.

Additionally, when using ASP or ASP.NET, the new virtual root folder should be marked as an application so that the new virtual root's folder is used for global.asa(x), web.config and /bin.



Article Source: http://www.BharatBhasha.com
Article Url: http://www.bharatbhasha.com/technology.php/23303

Articles In LimeLight

Win Social Security Disability For Bipolar: How To Build A Bullet Proof Case By Sarah Freeman Added on Friday, May 16, 2008 Can A Blog Actually Make Money? By Brian Garvin Added on Saturday, May 17, 2008 Drug Rehab – It’s A Hard Road But You Don’t Have To Do It Alone By Mary Waltrip Added on Thursday, May 15, 2008 What Is Online Trading In Forex? By John J Callingham Added on Saturday, May 17, 2008 Replace Negative Thinking With Positive Thinking By Ronnie Nijmeh Added on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 The Path To Sainthood By Elizabeth Guide Added on Friday, May 16, 2008 Personal Injury Compensation Accident Claims By Carolyn Clayton Added on Friday, May 16, 2008 Single Table And Super Satellites Buy-in By Michael Binns Added on Saturday, May 17, 2008 How Do You Get Paid When You Make Money Online? By Troy Shanks Added on Saturday, May 17, 2008 Seven Gifts Of The Holy Spirit By Elizabeth Guide Added on Friday, May 16, 2008 General Instructions For Diabetics By Safron Jeen Added on Monday, April 21, 2008 The New Reality Of Energy By Julie Redstone Added on Thursday, May 15, 2008 Payday Loans And Cash Advances Are The Oldest And Most Reliable Short Term Cash Solution By Kurt Maschoff Added on Saturday, May 17, 2008 Car Hire Hamburg Airport – A Great Way To Travel Germany By Lakshmi Reddy Added on Thursday, May 15, 2008 The Paleozoic Era By Claudia Mann Added on Thursday, May 15, 2008 Bold & Sassy Chef Aprons By Max Johnson Added on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Problems and Crisis By Jose Riesco Added on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Internet And Business Online – A Tale Of Cause And Effect By Scott Lindsay Added on Friday, May 16, 2008 How To Get A Great Deal On House Painting By IPRWire Staff Writer Added on Sunday, April 27, 2008 The Basics Of Html Tagging By Dave Text Added on Sunday, April 27, 2008