IIS Redirecting non-WWW to WWW along with HTTP to HTTPS ISSUE

Question

I want to redirect non-WWW to WWW along with HTTP to HTTPS in IIS 8.5. if users type http://example.com , http://www.example.com , or https://example.com , they all redirect to https://www.example.com .

This is my web.config file

    <rewrite>
  <rules>
    <rule name="Force WWW and SSL" enabled="true" stopProcessing="true">
      <match url="(.*)" />
      <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny">
        <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^[^www]" />
        <add input="{HTTPS}" pattern="off" />
      </conditions>
      <action type="Redirect" url="https://www.example.com/{R:1}" appendQueryString="true" redirectType="Permanent" />
    </rule>
  </rules>
</rewrite

Please note that in IIS i have ONLY 1 binding which is example.com, The problem is : for all the urls it redirects to https://www.example.com BUT the start page of IIS appears not my Default.aspx, and When i type https://www.example.com/Default.aspx it gives 404 Error.

Answer 1

You will need to bind each hostname to a website. Any hostnames not specifically bound to a website (or the servers IP address) will be handled by the Default Website in IIS (binding * - meaning any hostname not bound to a running Website).

A nice easy setup is to create 2 Websites in IIS (lets call them Application and Rewrites ) - one to host your application, a second to handle rewriting other domains to your primary domain. Any domain you bind to the Rewrite Website will redirect its traffic to https://www.example.com .

Application Website

• Bind just your applications hostname www.example.com on port 443 (SSL only)
• Deploy your application to this webroot

Rewrite Website

• Create a new Website in IIS, and create a new folder for its webroot.
• Bind example.com on port 443 and port 80. Also bind www.example.com on port 80 only.

Create a web.config in the Rewrite Website webroot folder as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <rewrite>
      <rules>
        <rule name="Redirect any traffic to Primary hostname" enabled="true" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="(.*)" />
          <action type="Redirect" url="https://www.example.com/{R:1}" appendQueryString="true" redirectType="Permanent" />
        </rule>
      </rules>
    </rewrite>        
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Any traffic accessing http://example.com , https://example.com , or http://www.example.com will be redirected to https://www.example.com (including any path/query string)

NOTE: You could use the default website as the Rewrite website, or move the wildcard * binding from the default website to a new Rewrite website - to redirect any domain to your https://www.example.com - however this is bad practise / not advised.