TRUSTAbyss.com - Hacks, Mods, and Scripts for Abyss Web Server

¤ Virtual Hosting (Alert Older Clients)

Virtual Hosting (Alert Older Clients)...

	Did you know that some older browsers might not be able to reach your website? HTTP/0.9 and some HTTP/1.0 browsers fail to send an important header to the server. The "HTTP_HOST" header, tells the server which Virtual Host to point to. Ouch! This is a serious issue that people need to know about. After reading this, visitors will know if the "Virtual Host" couldn't be reached. Read this guide and you will be done in just a few minutes. Return to the Hacks page

Let's get to the Hacking...

How does the "Virtual Hosting (Alert Older Clients)" work?

Ok, if a browser fails to send the "HTTP_HOST" header, the server will send them to the "Default Host", which takes them to a page that explains that their browser failed to send the "HTTP_HOST" header. In this page, it explains to the visitor that they must upgrade their browser in order to access the requested website. I use this method and you should too.

Configuring "Abyss Web Server" for "Virtual Hosting (Alert Older Clients)"

First, create a folder in your "Abyss Web Server" program folder called "vhosts_error", now open your Abyss Web Server console and click "Add" under the Hosts table. We need to create a new replacement for the "Default Host on Port #", but with the same settings. Fill out the form and click OK to create the new "Virtual Host." Your settings should look a little like this.

Click Configure on the "Default Host on Port #." Go to "Logging", and change the Log File path to log/vhosts_error.log. Click OK. Go to "General", change the Documents Path to vhosts_error/ Click OK and restart Abyss Web Server

Ok, now that we have our "Default Host on Port #" setup as our target for browsers that fail to send the "HTTP_HOST" header, we can finally configure it. Download vhost_old_clients.zip, and extract the contents to your "vhosts_error" folder. Open your console, and click "Configure" for the "Default Host on Port #." Go to "Custom Error Pages" and copy this setting:

Default Custom Error Page: /index.html

Click OK and restart Abyss Web Server. Now you can Start the new "Default Host" you created earlier. You can add more "Host Names" if you need to, click Configure on the new "Default Host" you created earlier, and go to "General -> Host Names." From here, you can add more.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this wonderful tutorial. C ya!

Note: You can change the HTML code inside the "index.html" page if you want. I just provided that so you don't have to. Sorry for the long text in this tutorial, I tried to make it as short as possible.

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