Sun Java System Web Server 6.1 SP11 Administrator's Guide

Configuring URL Forwarding

URL forwarding allows you to redirect document requests to another server. Forwarding URLs or redirection is a method for the server to tell a user that a URL has changed (for example, because you have moved files to another directory or server). You can also use redirection to seamlessly send a person who requests a document on one server to a document on another server.


You can use variables to map directories to new directories. For example, you can map /new to /$docroot/new. The mapping will go to the document root for the virtual server.

For more information about variables, see Using Variables.

Sometimes you may want to redirect requests for all the documents in one sub-directory to a specific URL. For example, if you had to remove a directory because it was causing too much traffic, or because the documents were no longer to be served for any reason, you could direct a request for any one the documents to a page explaining why the documents were no longer available. For example, a prefix on /info/movies could be redirected to http://www.sun.com/explain.html.

To configure URL forwarding, follow these steps

ProcedureTo configure URL forwarding


  2. Click URL Forwarding.

  3. Type the URL prefix you want to redirect, and whether you want to redirect it to another prefix or to a static URL.

  4. Click OK.

    For more information see the online help for the URL Forwarding page.