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using htaccess to fake https

Hello,

i am trying to test a website on my server, I do not have an SSL certificate. If the test is successful it will move to a different server, so no need to buy SSL for me. I need to do a 30 minute test.

Some pages on this website are looking for https and I am getting 404 errors and others are looking for http, what I was hoping to do with the htaccess file was that if https is requested, then rewrite and deliver, if http is requested, then deliver that instead,

what i came up with so far is (it doesn't work)...

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^/(.*):SSL$   https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L]
RewriteRule ^/(.*):NOSSL$ http://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L]

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laneduncan

Seems like a better option would be just to create a self-signed SSL certificate. That'd give you a better test, wouldn't it? And it doesn't cost anything.

Here's a run-through on creating a wildcard certificate:

http://lanestechblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/creating-self-signed-wildcard-ssl_13.html

jblayney

ASKER

Hello laneduncan,

thanks for the info, i read through the link you sent and it looks like it requires me to be a server administrator, which I am not. I am a web developer and don't have that kind of access to the server.

laneduncan

Aha. That makes more sense. Still, a web server does have a default (self-signed) certificate.

But there are a lot of setups where that wouldn't be configured correctly. You being able to do this will depend on some settings on the server side (in the httpd.conf file; specifically, the "allowOverride" setting); if that's enabled, something like this ought to do it:

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on
RewriteRule .* http://%{SERVER_NAME}%{REQUEST_URI} [R,L]

jblayney

ASKER

Hello again,

i do not have access to the httpd.conf file, I can do URl rewriting with the htaccess file though, so i am assuming it is set properly (correct me if I am wrong on that)

that being said, the code is not solving my problem. I am still getting 404 errors when I try certain pages which i can see are being redirected to https

laneduncan

That's good (that you can override; not that it's not working!).
What, exactly, are you seeing? Are the URLs getting redirected correctly, but the server isn't able to find that file? That is: what's the address and protocol in the address line on the browser when you get the 404 error?

Dave Baldwin

The reason you can't do what you want is that SSL/https negotiation is done Before any files are served. Which means before the '.htaccess' file is read and processed.

laneduncan

True, But you wouldn't be getting a 404 error if SSL isn't configured correctly. That's the puzzle to me.

jblayney

ASKER

the error i get is

Not Found

The requested URL /earth-line/posecom/login.php was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

I also added with no luck...
RewriteBase /earth-line/posecom/

laneduncan

What's the actual address (including the protocol http/s) on the address line in the browser?

jblayney

ASKER

http://www.darkstarmedia.net/earth-line/posecom/

this is my testing server, the links that mess up are sign in or create an account, i don't really like posting my server online though, will i be able to delete this after?

Dave Baldwin

There is a certificate for *.korax.net which is probably the hosting provider's server.

jblayney

ASKER

Hello Dave,

I called the web host and inquired, I do not have access to that.

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laneduncan

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Dave Baldwin

When I have needed to test pages that use "https" on the live servers, I put a line in the php that selects 'http' if it's on my local servers or 'https' otherwise.