One common issue I’ve seen with doing HTTPS is the short name for a server. Unless you get the correct certificate, if a user goes to the short name a server (https://server1 in stead of https://server1.contoso.com), the certificate will come as invalid. There’s a quick fix for this using IIS URL Rewrite. URL Rewrite can also be used to direct users to the HTTPS site, instead of using HTTP.
First you need to install URL Rewrite. For new versions of IIS (Server 2012 R2 and higher), that means using the Web Platfrom Installer. Just search for URL Rewrite.
Once the plugin is installed, add a new rule, and select blank rule. Give your rule a name, and expand the Match URL box. In “Match URL”, supply “^(.)$” as the pattern.
Now, we need to create a new condition. Expand the Condition box and click add. Change the “Condition input” to {HTTP_HOST} and “Check if input string” to “Does Not Match the Pattern”. Then, fill in the pattern box per the screenshot.
I have a 2-part domain name. If you have more than two parts, it would follow the same pattern. For example, nyc.contoso.com becomes “^.*\.nyc\.contoso\.com$”.
Finally, we need to tell IIS what to do. Expand the Action section, and fill it in like this:
That’s it, you’re all set. Apply the rule and test it out.
If you’d rather do this by modifying the web.config file, here’s the XML:
<rewrite>
<rules>
<rule name=”Redirect Shortname to FQDN” stopProcessing=”true”>
<match url=”^(.*)$” />
<conditions>
<add input=”{HTTP_HOST}” pattern=”^.*\.contoso\.com$” negate=”true” />
</conditions>
<action type=”Redirect” url=”https://{HTTP_HOST}.contoso.com/{R:1}” />
</rule>
</rules>
</rewrite>
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