Hostwinds Tutorials

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Latest Tutorials Tagged with Htaccess


Included in our VPSes (managed and unmanaged) is the Hostwinds Cloud Agent, a suite of tools that interface the OS inside the VPS to the API for Cloud Control. The Cloud Agent is responsible for setting the IP address, root/Administrator password, hostname, and SSH keys...

There are two main types of redirects, temporary and permanent. We will focus on another type of redirect called URL Masking in this guide and review how to accomplish URL Masking by Editing a .htaccess file. Let's get started. What is URL Masking? URL masking would be when...

Having your website loading fast is a passion for most Hostwinds clients, and we know how important this is. This guide is to help with reviewing your website and its load speed so that optimization can be seen and tested by you or your website developer. We will also...

Please note that editing .htaccess files is very unforgiving. Even the slightest mistake can cause your site to display content incorrectly or not at all. When editing your .htaccess file, always make a backup copy so you can get back to a working configuration if something...

The .htaccess file is a configuration file specifically used by Apache-based web servers to help manage certain functionality associated with files/folders directly tied to your website. Short for Hypertext Access, when a .htaccess file is present in a directory, Apache will...

There are two types of redirects, a permanent and temporary redirect. We will be taking a look at temporary redirects. If you'd like to learn how to utilize a permanent redirect, please consult our guide, which covers this in detail: Set a permanent (301) redirect using...

In the never-ending race to have a relevant easy to navigate site with quality content that helps drive traffic, you may find yourself needing to redesign your site or rebuild it from the ground up using a different domain name. Or perhaps you're simply wishing to expand or...

Using an SSL to encrypt the connection to your site not only makes visitors feel more at ease but should also give you some peace of mind knowing that this encryption is in place. But how do you ensure that a visitor will always use the SSL connection for your site? The...

A subdomain is defined as a domain that is a part of an extension of the main domain. Subdomains can be anything from the commonly used www to something particular such as docs.google.com. Generally, you'd define where a subdomain points or uses as its webroot by setting its...

In some instances, you may find that you need to secure content on your website and require authentication to access this protected content. This can be achieved by using the awesome flexibility of a little bit of code in your .htaccess file. In this article, we will cover...

Generally, most modern-day browsers will attempt to play/stream media files, such as videos, when this type of content is accessed. In some instances, this may be exactly the type of behavior that you'd expect and want. However, this may not always be the case. If you'd like...

RegEx, short for regular expression, is typically defined as a specific string of text used to describe a search pattern. Essentially regular expressions can be thought of as really powerful wildcards. Whether you know it or not, regular expressions or RegExes are used...

Since you're reading this article, you may need to create or edit a .htaccess file. However, you may also be wondering what a .htaccess file is. A .htaccess file is a configuration file specifically to be used in tandem with the Apache webserver. It can allow you to...

Setting up password authentication for a website can be crucial in sharing content with authorized users. This is discussed (using a few nifty .htaccess rules) in Password protect files or directories with .htaccess . However, you may wonder how these credentials are...

By default, most servers that host websites are configured to use a file called index (.html/.htm/.php/etc.) as the default index page for a website. However, by using some .htaccess code, you can change this so that you can name your default index page to whatever you want....

In some instances, you may notice a surprising spike in traffic but no actual increase to files being requested or overall content being served. This may be an indication that someone is siphoning some of your content, such as images, and attempting to pass it off as their...