Domains, Aliases and redirects

With admin.savvii.com you can add multiple domains to one hosting package. This is useful for example with a multisite. These extra aliases will then work as additional main domains. You can also use a redirect to ensure that traffic from a certain domain reaches a specific part of your site. In this article we explain what the differences are, and how to achieve the desired end result. For all domains you can add as alias or redirect, the A-records in the DNS must point from the domain to the server at Savvii, and the AAAA-records have been removed.

Aliases and redirects

The difference between aliases and redirects is this: when you add a domain as an alias to your site, the server knows that traffic from that domain must be sent to your site. So your site is known by several domain names. This can be used, for example, for a multisite. When you set up a redirect, you indicate that traffic from a certain (sub)domain must be forwarded to a specific part of your website. For example, you can forward blog.domain.nl to domain.nl/blog, or dutchdomain.nl to yoursite.com/en. You can also keep the requested URI (path behind the domain name, or Request_URI) exactly the same: a redirect from DomainA.nl/example/contact to DomainB.nl/example/contact. 

Setting up aliases

To add an extra main domain to your site in admin.savvii.com, go to the site management page. There, click on the Overview tab. Here you can use the Add Domain button to add the domain you want to link to your site. Choose here whether you want to use the domain with or without www. (Note: you also set this as Home and Site-URL in WordPress, keep it the same! Fill in the desired version of your domain, and choose No redirect (default). Click on Save to save the change. 

If you have set the version of your extra domain with www., you can set up a redirect for the domain without www. or vice versa.

Setting up redirect

To add a redirect to your site in admin.savvii.com, go to the site management page. There, click on the Overview tab.

Here you can use the Add Domain button to enter the domain you want to use to set up a redirect. Then select the domain you want to set a redirect to from at Redirect to domain.

At Redirect to path you can then fill in a path. After you have entered these details; all traffic will be redirected when it comes in from the domain you enter at Domain. 

The variable {request_uri} is important here. This is the part of the requested URL behind the primary domain. In domain.nl/help/contact the request_uri consists of /help/contact. If you do not enter anything in the field Redirect to path, the request_uri is automatically added to the redirect. Traffic from DomainA.nl/help/contact will then be forwarded to DomainB.nl/help/contact, without you having to set this up yourself. 

Do you want to redirect to a custom path? Then you have to specify manually where {request_uri} should be placed. Keep in mind that this variable already contains the first forward slash (/), so you don't have to enter it yet. It is also necessary to start the path with a forward slash (/). Do you only want to redirect to the main domain, and ignore the request_uri? Then fill in only the forward slash (/) as a value for Redirect to path.

In the example below you can see the setting of a redirect from newdomain.com to maindomain.com/en. Everything that follows on newdomain.com (the request_uri) will be inserted after maindomain.com/en. 

So: newdomain.com/help/contact will be redirected to maindomain.com/en/help/contact.