Redirection on web server

[Diver300]

I'm running a web server set up by someone else.

There is a redirect on a directory.

/fred is redirected to /directory/fred

When I use ftp, /fred appears as a directory, but when I try to go into /fred, the directory path becomes /directory/fred

When using http, the contents of directory/fred can be seen at /directory/fred or at /fred

The hosting company has a browser based file management system, and in the root of that, /directory can be seen, but there is no /fred directory. Instead there is a file called

fred.

which is only 15 characters long (the length of "/directory/fred") but I can't copy or download that file using the browser based management system. It just brings up an error.

The host has a domain system that allows redirection, but "fred" isn't in one of those redirects.

I want to be able to maintain these redirects, and I want to know if anyone can tell me what I should do to modify the redirects.

[pcolbeck]

Is it a symbolic link at the OS level rather than something in the web server ?

If its running on *nix using Apache then Apache doesn't always follow symlinks hence you not being able to do /fred through the web based file management system. It depends on ownership of the directory and settings in Apache.

[Kim]

The hosting company has a browser based file management system, and in the root of that, /directory can be seen, but there is no /fred directory. Instead there is a file called

fred.

which is only 15 characters long (the length of "/directory/fred") but I can't copy or download that file using the browser based management system. It just brings up an error.

That sounds like a symbolic link to me - a function of the underlying filesystem, rather than anything domain or webserver related.

Symbolic link - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Diver300]

Thanks to both of you for that.

With some scary command line Linux commands under SSH, I have found that I can manipulate the symbolic links.

[MSeries]

Thanks to both of you for that.

With some scary command line Linux commands under SSH, I have found that I can manipulate the symbolic links.

It's not scary, it's just old school. 

[TimO]

Symlinks are very useful beasties, but it can get irritating when things like Apache and Samba may or may not follow them, depending on some setting that you (or someone else) set several years ago, and then totally forgot about.

[Dez]

Thanks to both of you for that.

With some scary command line Linux commands under SSH, I have found that I can manipulate the symbolic links.

It's not scary, it's just old school how it's done properly.

FTFY

Note that it's only Windows that doesn't do symlinks or hard links (which is what Time Machine (and yACF) backups are made of)