HTTP redirection "broken" in Domino 6?

HCL Domino Domino Forum
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Has anyone found a solution for a major difference between Domino 5 and 6 HTTP redirection? It might not mean much if you don’t host multiple complex Web sites on Domino, but if it’s not user error (mine), I think it’s really a BIG problem.

In Domino 5, this works in a Web Configuration document:

Hostname: http://www.acme.com

Home URL: /welcome.nsf/hello?OpenPage

Assuming DNS of www.acme.com points to the Domino server, going to http://www.acme.com results in viewing the above “hello” page. And (good news) the browser only shows http://www.acme.com, not the messy full URL. This makes it easy to change the location/name of the home page without breaking bookmarks.

In Domino 6.0.3, the same thing should work in an Internet Site document. In fact, the above example is directly from the Domino 6 Help file, which shows specifying the Home URL as a relative link without the protocol/domain.

But it doesn’t work in a bunch of what-if tests. The browser gets a 404 error, and NO ERROR shows up on the Domino console. This suggests that Domino isn’t trying to find the Home URL, it’s just rejecting the request because no Internet protocol/domain is specified. In Domino 5, the incoming protocol/domain is used with the relative Home URL, but apparently in Domino 6 it is not. This is a major behavior change that might be inadvertent (bug?), since Domino 6 Help shows that the Domino 5 method is also the way to do it in Domino 6.

What DOES work in Domino 6 is this:

Hostname: http://www.acme.com

Home URL: http://www.acme.com/welcome.nsf/hello?OpenPage

This has two unfortunate problems. First, the full Home URL is displayed in the browser; it’s messy, and if someone bookmarks it, and the name or location of the “home” page is changed, the bookmark breaks.

And perhaps worse, hard-coding the Internet domain in the Home URL means the Internet site document can’t work across multiple servers. The page part of the URL would work “virtually” on any Domino server that contains it – a sweet feature of Domino 5 – but including the Internet domain locks it into one IP address/domain/server in Domino 6. Bummer!

Or, am I overlooking something?

– John

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Subject: HTTP redirection “broken” in Domino 6?

Did you end up with a solution for the problem you described in "HTTP redirection “broken” in Domino 6? I am having the same problem I think. We’ve just set up a new domino 6.5 server and I’ve created a HTTP internet document with entries: Home URL: CRCFE_WebSite.nsf

HTML directory: domino\html\Site-CRCFE

But I get a 404 error:

07/20/2004 05:45:07 PM  HTTP Web Server: Lotus Notes Exception - File does not exist [/CRCFE_WebSite.nsf]

HOWEVER, if I replace the notes DB with an HTML file ie:

Home URL: index.html

HTML directory: domino\html\Site-CRCFE

the page IS found and displayed.

Alternately, if I put the full path to the DB in Home URL the DB IS found and displayed, but the URL shows the whole path, which I dont want.

Any clues?

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Subject: HTTP redirection “broken” in Domino 6?

I am not using site documents, but I definitely can specify the relative URL.

If fact I am using it with the DWA redirect database to redirect a user to their mail database after authentication:

Home URL: /dwaredirect.nsf?open

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Subject: HTTP redirection “broken” in Domino 6?

I have the same problem:

My domain name redirects to the required “home” page when it is entered, but any links to other pages I have on the home pages do not work any more. This is because the folder and database name is omitted from these links.

SO my URL: ‘www.domain.com’

successfully opens: ‘www.domain.com/folder/db.nsf/home?openpage’

BUT

my old link to page1: ‘page1?openpage’

now works out as: ‘www.domain.com/page1?openpage’

which does not work as the folder and db are ignored !

STRANGE SOLUTION

If I change the original redirection URL to point to a frameset, i.e. ‘www.domain.com/folder/db.nsf/homeframe?openframeset’, make that frameset a single frame and put the original home page in that frame, then all links work as opening the frameset seems to have correctly associated all links in the underlying pages with the folder and database name !

However I want a solution where I can just open pages and not rely on a frameset.

I’m not a web guru so any more ideas anyone ?

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Subject: HTTP redirection “broken” in Domino 6?

I don’t know what is different in your configuration, but it works.

http://www.dangsite.com does not show the Url with a .nsf.

I can provide a snapshot to show what is the configuration on this website. In fact I have a total 16 sites which are based on web domains (12 unique domains) and some sub-web domains.

These configurations were set up in R6 and are working in R6.5

I have been able to get every internet site feature to work.

HTH – Cheers – if you want to show more detail via email feel free to do so

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Subject: RE: HTTP redirection “broken” in Domino 6?

I appreciate your help, and I’ve e-mailed you additional details.

One possible factor: The Domino 5 server that works is on Windows NT, while the Domino 6 server that has a problem is on Red Hat Linux. But since full URLs work, and most relative URLs work, I’m not suspecting the OS. The problem seems related to Internet Site doc behaving differently from Web Config doc.

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Subject: RE: HTTP redirection “broken” in Domino 6?

I do not think the OS is an issue here. Let me check my email…