301 redirect from HTTP to HTTPS - are there any issues

[shags38]

v1.5.1 - I have searched FAQ's and Forum posts and not found anything specific so hence this post.

I want to have my sites as HTTPS

In admin/configuration files I have both http and https urls, all www. versions - in Google WMT I have the preferred version set to www.

I have done a bit of reading online and most of the articles suggest that there are always issues with a redirect and in particular internal links pointing correctly so it raises doubts, probably unnecessarily.

With the Zen Cart platform I figure there should not be any problems in simply doing a domain 301 redirect via cPanel to HTTPS however I just wanted to get opinions please. Also in redirecting to HTTPS does this have any affect on existing inbound links directed to HTTP address? (I would imagine not, but)

cheers, Mike

[Website Rob]

See if this helps. Place the following at the very top of public_html/.htaccess file - create one if you don't already have one.

#############################
##  General Settings

Options  +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch -FollowSymlinks -Indexes

RewriteEngine ON

# Define the default Character Set for Browsers
AddDefaultCharset utf-8

# if an https URL is not used then redirect to use https
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.example.com/$1 [R,L]

# regardless of whether an https URL is used,
# if a URL is used that not include www then redirect to an https URL that does use www
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://www.example.com/$1 [R,L]

Note that "example.com" should be changed to your Domain name. Also note, there is some confusion right now about this but for the moment,
do NOT change this line to false in your config files:
define('ENABLE_SSL', 'true');

[shags38]

Thanks for the quick response Rob - you Canuks are really on the ball :) - so pardon my impertinence but doesn't a cPanel redirect at the host do the same as this .htaccess rule or is there a difference?

Are you aware of any issues with redirecting to HTTPS, anything I should be aware of / look out for?

cheers, Mike

[Website Rob]

Alter your .htaccess file through cPanel or manually, makes no difference as long as the directives are correct.

[shags38]

Alter your .htaccess file through cPanel or manually, makes no difference as long as the directives are correct.

Thanks Rob