Redirect HTTP to HTTPS in Apache

Securing your website by setting redirect from HTTP to HTTPS in Apache can be achieved easily if your SSL/TLS certificate is generated and ready to use. It can be done using a virtual host and .htaccess file. I’m going to cover both of them.

Prerequisites

• Apache
• Generated SSL/TLS Certificate
• sudo privileges

Mod_Rewrite

First step is to enable the mod_rewrite module.

• Debian-based:

  sudo a2enmod rewrite
  

• RHEL-based:
  Open the httpd.conf file and ensure that you have the following line:

  LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
  

Redirect HTTP to HTTPS using Apache Virtual Host

Using a virtual host is the most common and preferred way of redirecting the traffic from HTTP to HTTPS in Apache.

Open the following virtual host files:

• RHEL based: /etc/httpd/conf.d
• Debian based: /etc/apache2/sites-available

and use the config below:

<VirtualHost *:80> 
  ServerName devcoops.com
  ServerAlias www.devcoops.com

  Redirect permanent / https://devcoops.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
  ServerName devcoops.com
  ServerAlias www.devcoops.com

  Protocols h2 http/1.1
  # Load the SSL/TLS Path Config
</VirtualHost>

Restart the Apache Server.

• Debian-based:

  sudo systemctl reload apache2
  

• RHEL-based:

  sudo systemctl reload httpd
  

Redirect HTTP to HTTPS using .htaccess

Put the following lines in your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://devcoops.com/$1 [L,R=301]

Conclusion

If you need any other specific rules regarding Apache Virtual Hosts or .htaccess don’t hesitate to put a comment below. Feel free to leave a comment below and if you find this tutorial useful, follow our official channel on Telegram.