https:// Secure site. How to use?

[ggayland]

HI:
Been working on web pages for years, but never used a secure site. (https://) I need to have a few files there. I guess I have to upload them, but don't know the host address.
http://www.junior-philatelists.com

Thanks for any help.
Gayland

[IanS]

The information you need is all inside OPS. Log onto ops and search around a little and the FTP server will be shown. It will be something like FTPxx.powweb.com where xx is a number.

This may also help. (http://kb.powweb.com/questions/11/How-do-I-add-SSL-to-my-account%3F)

[ggayland]

IanS:

Thanks, I don't know how I missed it.
Gayland

[mingmong]

As I understand it SSL does nothing more than encrypt transmissions back and forth between the server and the browser calling for and reacting to the server's pages. For that reason, until we can purchase our own private domain's SSL, is there any protection against one developer's web pages being visible to other developers on an assigned server? The link provided two posts ago appears to say that for now the SSL domains are shared. Or am I misunderstanding that?

mm

[IanS]

The domains aren't shared, the Certificate is a common one and shared so you need to use the powweb.com domain.

[kinslayer]

I want to thank everybody ahead of time since I am new to this, and will no doubt makes some mistakes along the way.

As I stated, this is all new to me, am I'm stumbing through it the best that I can. But I have run into a problem that has me buffaloed!

What is the difference between https and http. and can I switch my site between them?

[stevel]

https and http are two different ways of accessing your site content. http is what you would normally use, https encrypts communication between the user's browser and the site server - use this when personal information is being requested or displayed to prevent interception on the network.

Don't use https for everything as it is slower. If you are coding your own site, switch to using https when asking for passwords, credit card info and the like. Store the authentication in a session and then switch back to http, unless you are going to be displaying sensitive information.

[kinslayer]

Unfortunately I don't know how to do that. Evident my site was uploaded as https. How can I change that?

[stevel]

There's no such thing as "uploaded as https". https is a way of accessing a page, not a property of a file on the server. You can drink soda by pouring it into a glass or by chugging from the bottle - the soda is the same.

What is your site URL and what problem are you trying to solve?

[kinslayer]

www.faireleather.com
But it loads on a secure server https.
If I did that it was unintentional. How do I go about getting back to http?? I can't find anyway to edit that in powweb, but I've heard that it can be done. My http button doesn't allow editing there. I'm confused obviously! Tanks for the help. Mike

[stevel]

You have added code, either in a .htaccess or in script code itself, that does this redirection to https. This is not a PowWeb setting - you did this to yourself somehow. I don't know what you mean by "http button".

Do you have a file called .htaccess in the htdocs folder? If so, post its contents here. That will be a start.

[kinslayer]

This is the ht.access file.



##
# @version $Id: htaccess.txt 2368 2006-02-14 17:40:02Z stingrey $
# @package Joomla
# @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
# @license http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU/GPL
# Joomla! is Free Software
##


################################################## ###
# READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE
#
# The line just below this section: 'Options FollowSymLinks' may cause problems
# with some server configurations. It is required for use of mod_rewrite, but may already
# be set by your server administrator in a way that dissallows changing it in
# your .htaccess file. If using it causes your server to error out, comment it out (add # to
# beginning of line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef url's. If they work,
# it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need it set here.
#
# Only use one of the two SEF sections that follow. Lines that can be uncommented
# (and thus used) have only one #. Lines with two #'s should not be uncommented
# In the section that you don't use, all lines should start with #
#
# For Standard SEF, use the standard SEF section. You can comment out
# all of the RewriteCond lines and reduce your server's load if you
# don't have directories in your root named 'component' or 'content'
#
# If you are using a 3rd Party SEF or the Core SEF solution
# uncomment all of the lines in the '3rd Party or Core SEF' section
#
################################################## ###

##### SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH COMPONENT URL's that don't work #####
# SPECIAL NOTE FOR SMF USERS WHEN SMF IS INTEGRATED AND BRIDGED
# OR ANY SITUATION WHERE A COMPONENT's URL's AREN't WORKING
#
# In both the 'Standard SEF', and '3rd Party or Core SEF' sections the line:
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional - see notes##
# May need to be uncommented. If you are running your Joomla/Mambo from
# a subdirectory the name of the subdirectory will need to be inserted into this
# line. For example, if your Joomla/Mambo is in a subdirectory called '/test/',
# change this:
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional - see notes##
# to this:
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/test/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional - see notes##
#
################################################## ###


## Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above.
Options FollowSymLinks

#
# mod_rewrite in use

RewriteEngine On


# Uncomment following line if your webserver's URL
# is not directly related to physical file paths.
# Update Your Joomla/MamboDirectory (just / for root)

# RewriteBase /


########## Begin Standard SEF Section
## ALL (RewriteCond) lines in this section are only required if you actually
## have directories named 'content' or 'component' on your server
## If you do not have directories with these names, comment them out.
#
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional - see notes##
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.htm|\.php|\.html|/[^.]*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(content/|component/) index.php
#
########## End Standard SEF Section


########## Begin 3rd Party or Core SEF Section
#
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional - see notes##
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.htm|\.php|\.html|/[^.]*)$ [NC]
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
#RewriteRule (.*) index.php
#
########## End 3rd Party or Core SEF Section

[stevel]

Ok, that's not it. It must be in the script itself. You're running Joomla? I suggest you ask for help in the Portals section of the forum.

[kinslayer]

Ok, now I think I'm in trouble!! You mentioned Joombla. Well I didn't realize that I had downloaded it. (I told you that I was new at this), so I deleted the content. Now I no longer have an ht.access file in my htdocs. Now what do I do? To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how I got this far. Can I reinstall the file, or do I need to do something else??

[stevel]

The file is called .htaccess - it's just a file and you can recreate it or reinstall it, wherever it came from. If it's the text you posted above, do it this way:

Create a file called htaccess.txt with the contents you posted earlier. Upload it to your htdocs folder. Then, using an FTP client or PowWeb's site tools, rename the file to ".htaccess".

[kinslayer]

Well I recreated the file using the steps you outlines, but i still can't figure out how to change the site to a non secure one. (https vs. http) I looked in the Portals section, but I don't see anything that relates that helps me. I know that this must be a simple rewrite for those of you that know how, but this is close akin to my trying to decipher Aramaic!!!
I have no idea where to start.

[stevel]

That's not the way it works. Secure vs. non-secure is all in the way you open the page, it has nothing to do with the site itself. If you use an https URL, then the page is opened with security, if you use http, it is not.

[stevel]

I'm not sure why https://www.faireleather.com/ doesn't work, but that's not what you should use anyway. With a PowWeb-hosted site, you'll use https://faireleather.secure.powweb.com/

[kinslayer]

Ok, let me restate the problem, and perhaps ask the question a different way. Why can't I use http, instead of https on POWWEB?? There are several reasons that this can be a problem. For one, it is next to impossible to join a webring taking advantage of the additional net exposure while using https! The automated checker/robot/whatever, cannot see past a secure sight to ok content. For a guy like me, this is important. Web position has obviously changed dramatically over the years. Things like key words and meta tags don't mean jack to search engines anymore. You must be linked to and from as many sites as possible. Hence the desire to join webrings. Traffic increases simply because your name is exposed to the target audience because they search similar sites.
Am I way off base here?? I want to make sure I'm stating myself properly. I really need help, I'm not trying to jerk anybody's chain. Thanks for listening to my rants. Mike

[stevel]

Who says you can't use http? Of course you can.

[kinslayer]

Steve, I get more confused by the day. Your last post to me indicated that IF I used POWWEB, I would be using a secure server. What I'm asking is how do I change from https to http??

[stevel]

Sorry if I was unclear. My last post meant to say that IF you WANTED to use https to access a page, then the form of the URL you would use is http://fairleather.secure.powweb.com/ Otherwise you would use http://fairleather.com/ for your pages that did not require SSL security.

It's your choice. Most sites use SSL (https) only on pages where users enter personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers.

[JohnM720]

Steve was referring to keyplyr's post in that a secure site on powweb should be accessed as https://yourdomain.secure.powweb.com not https://yourdomain.com regardless I notice the same issuethat when I access http://www.faireleather.com i get redirected to the secure site. The keyword is redirected...You either have a script or an .htaccess file doing the redirect or I did notice that your domain is using private registration which I don't believe Powweb offers. That being said I would also check at the registrar level as you may be using some domain fowarding that is pointing to the secure url.

[kinslayer]

Ok, now the site won't load at all! Here's whay I did. Following the tip from the last post I went to where the domain is registered. (not powweb), and changed the direction to http://faireleather.com. also redirected the site here at powweb. Now I can't bring the site up. I'm really getting frustrated. Never mind trying to call for assistance. Tried that on 3 separate occasions and sat on IGNORE for over an hour each time. I am almost to the point of just cancelling this thing altogether. I really appreciate your efforts, and those of others on this. But guys you are trying to lead a blind man through a mine field. I have absolutely no clue where to step!!!

You can tell me look for this or that, but if I have no earthly idea What that is!!! Well, let me put it this way. I speak enough languages to get me beer and lodging just about anywhere I choose to travel. But I don't speak web site or computer. I'm frazzled!!

[stevel]

Huh? You're using URL redirection? Why?

The problem you have now is that the redirection yields "302https://faireleather.com" which is three ways wrong. First there's that 302 in the beginning, which is the HTTP status, but it's in the wrong place. Second, you can't redirect to an https URL without causing all sorts of headaches for your users. Third, that's the wrong form for a PowWeb-hosted https URL.

I suspect that all of your problems here are caused by misuse of redirection. You should not use ANY redirection to get to your site.

What you should do:

1. Set the nameserver list at the registrar for faireleather.com to be PowWeb's nameservers (ns2.powweb.com and ns3.powweb.com) PowWeb already knows this domain.
2. When your site wants to use a secure page, the link should start with https://faireleathercom.secure.powweb.com/

A piece of free advice - register fairleather.com now and redirect it to faireleather.com.

[kinslayer]

Where do I do this?? Or rather, how do I get to powweb's registrar?

[stevel]

You can register in Member Operations under Domains, but I would recommend using an independent registrar such as GoDaddy or Registerfly. Cheaper and more services. I don't know if PowWeb gives you URL redirect features.