Best way to redirect

I had content on my domain (www.mydomain.com) and I'm now simply going to have a forum (www.mydomain.com/forum). What's the best way to redirect? Through cpanel--or with an htaccess file? And if I use htaccess, what should be in it?

Thanks.

Are you moving pages from the root to the forum directory, or are you just getting rid of the root page?

Originally Posted by Michael Biddle

Are you moving pages from the root to the forum directory, or are you just getting rid of the root page?

I'm just getting rid of the content in the root directory.

Place this in root .htaccess

Code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.yourdomain.com/forum/$1 [R=301,L]

Any request to yourdomain.com or yourdomain.com/page.php will be sent to yourdomain.com/forum/ or yourdomain.com/forum/page.php
for example.

But the point remains, why put something into a folder if you have nothing in root?

moving the forum to root is usually the 'better' thing to do.

Originally Posted by Brian Cummiskey

But the point remains, why put something into a folder if you have nothing in root?

moving the forum to root is usually the 'better' thing to do.

I was just thinking about that this morning in the shower. The thing is, I already have the forum set up in /forum. How can I move the whole thing to root without reinstalling and reconfiguring? Help would be most appreciated.

it's pretty easy.

Moving to forum root - vBulletin SEO Forums

Instead of step 2, change your vboptions -> site url setting to the new location, and also make sure your htaccess for non-www to www redirect path is also correct. That's all you need to do.

Originally Posted by Brian Cummiskey

it's pretty easy.

Moving to forum root - vBulletin SEO Forums

Instead of step 2, change your vboptions -> site url setting to the new location, and also make sure your htaccess for non-www to www redirect path is also correct. That's all you need to do.

So in terms of moving the files themselves, do I just ftp them to a folder on my local drive and then re-upload them to the root of domain? And I do this *after* I change the URL settings in vboptions? No issues with connecting to database?

If you have ssh access, that is the better way. you can simple do a mv command and it will only take a few seconds instead of hours to ftp down and up again (if you have a lot of attachments, etc)
SSH commands

Yes, change the vboptions setting first, or you might not be able to get into the admin panel again (always a good idea to leave that window/tab open while you move)

The database won't move. it's still 'localhost' or whatever its set to now. that isn't changing.

Originally Posted by Brian Cummiskey

If you have ssh access, that is the better way. you can simple do a mv command and it will only take a few seconds instead of hours to ftp down and up again (if you have a lot of attachments, etc)
SSH commands

Yes, change the vboptions setting first, or you might not be able to get into the admin panel again (always a good idea to leave that window/tab open while you move)

The database won't move. it's still 'localhost' or whatever its set to now. that isn't changing.

I do have ssh access, but I'm not familiar with ssh commands. So if I go in there with, say, Putty, the command would be what? mv *.* /?

Related question. What's involved in doing away with the "www" in the URL? Is it just a matter of removing it in admincp? Or are there other settings that have to be changed on the server?

Copying is usually best, that way if you mess up the source is still there. You can delete it later.

Code:

cp -r /home/sitepath/public/forums /home/sitepath/public

should do the trick, obviously replacing it with your actual path and folder names.


Getting rid of the www is the same concept-- set the vboptions -> site url and homepage values without it, and make sure the htaccess is set without www's as well.

[How to] Setup www.yourdomain.com or yourdomain.com (www vs. non-www) - With .htaccess 301 redirects - vBulletin SEO Forums