Redirects and alias domains

The Redirects & aliases page handles everything about where visitors end up. You can send an old page address to a new one, send a whole website to another address, show the same site on extra domains, and look at your site on a preview address before your domain points to FiniteHost.

Because FiniteHost does not read .htaccess files, this page is where redirects live.

Before you start#

• Add the website in the panel.
• Open the page: in the panel menu, under Websites, choose Redirects & aliases. If you have several websites, pick the one to change with the picker at the top right.

Changes on this page are live in about a minute.

Redirect one page#

Use this when a page has moved, for example after you rebuild your site.

1. Find Page redirects.
2. Enter From. Type the old path, starting with /, for example /old-page. You cannot redirect the home page / here; to send the whole site elsewhere, see the next section.
3. Enter To. Type a path on the same site, such as /new-page, or a full address, such as https://www.example.com/page.
4. Choose the type. Pick 301 permanent when the page has moved for good; search engines then move their listing to the new address. Pick 302 temporary when the move is only for a while, for example during a sale.
5. Save the redirect.

Each website can have up to 30 page redirects.

Redirect the whole website#

Use this when the site has moved to a new address, or while you send visitors somewhere else for a while.

1. Find Redirect the whole website.
2. Enter the address to send every visitor to, for example https://www.acme.com.
3. Choose 301 permanent or 302 temporary.
4. Tick Keep the page path if visitors should land on the same page at the new address. For example, /contact then goes to https://www.acme.com/contact instead of the home page.
5. Save.

While this is on, your site's own files are not shown to anyone. To undo it, press Stop redirecting.

Alias domains#

An alias domain (also called a parked domain) shows the same website under another domain. For example, acme.co.in can show exactly the same site as acme.in.

1. Find Alias domains and add the extra domain, for example acme.co.in.
2. Add two DNS records for it at your domain registrar: an A record for acme.co.in and an A record for www.acme.co.in, both pointing to the server IP address shown on the page.
3. Wait for HTTPS. A few minutes after the DNS records point here, HTTPS covers the alias too.

Each website can have up to 5 alias domains.

Preview address#

Every website gets a preview address in the form http://<site id>.finitehost.site. You find it in your site's row on the Websites page. Use it to check your site before your domain points to FiniteHost, for example while you move from another host.

Troubleshooting#

• The redirect does not work yet: changes take about a minute. Then reload with Ctrl+F5, because browsers remember 301 redirects.
• "/" is not accepted as From: page redirects are for single pages. Use Redirect the whole website instead.
• An alias shows a certificate warning: the DNS records for the alias, or for its www, do not point to the server IP yet. See Check your DNS.
• My site shows nothing but the redirect: Redirect the whole website is on. Press Stop redirecting.

What's next#

• Connect your domain
• Move your website to FiniteHost
• Site statistics and logs