How to configure a redirect from the domain name/IP address to the server hostname on port 8443 in Plesk for Linux?

Question

How to set up the following redirects in Plesk:

https://example.com:8443 => https://hostname.com:8443
https://203.0.113.2:8443 => https://hostname.com:8443

where:

• "example.com" is any domain hosted on the Plesk server and resolved to it.

• "hostname.com" is Plesk server hostname.

• "203.0.113.2" is Plesk IP address.

Answer

• To configure the redirect from the server IP address to the server hostname:

  https://203.0.113.2:8443 => https://hostname.com:8443

  Perform the following steps

  1. Connect to the server via SSH.

  2. Create the /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/z-plesk.inc file:

     # touch /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/z-plesk.inc

  3. Open the /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/z-plesk.inc file via any text editor and add the following lines to it:

     if ($host ~ '203.0.113.2'){
     rewrite ^/(.*)$ https://hostname.com:8443/$1 permanent;
     }

     Note: Replace 203.0.113.2 with the correct Plesk server's IP address, and hostname.com with the real Plesk server's hostname

  4. Restart sw-cp-server and sw-engine services to apply changes:

     # service sw-cp-server restart && service sw-engine restart

     Note: Even after the redirect is set up and Plesk is secured by an SSL certificate, an attempt to access the https://203.0.113.2:8443 in a browser will end up with the error regarding the untrusted certificate. It happens because the redirect is performed after the certificate check.

• To configure the redirect from a domain name to the server hostname:

  https://example.com:8443 => https://hostname.com:8443

  Perform the following steps

  Note: If the domain(s) have HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) enabled, disable it before applying the steps below.

  1. Connect to the server via SSH.

  2. Create the /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/z-plesk.inc file:

     # touch /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/z-plesk.inc

  3. Open the /etc/sw-cp-server/conf.d/z-plesk.inc file via any text editor and add the following lines to it:

     if ($host ~ 'example.com'){
     rewrite ^/(.*)$ https://hostname.com:8443/$1 permanent;
     }

     Note: Replace example.com with the correct website that resolves to Plesk server's IP address, and hostname.com with the real Plesk server's hostname

     For redirect from all hosted domains names to https://hostname.com:8443, add the following directives:

     if ($host !~ 'hostname.com|127.0.0.1'){
     rewrite ^/(.*)$ https://hostname.com:8443/$1 permanent;
     }

  4. Restart sw-cp-server and sw-engine services to apply changes:

     # service sw-cp-server restart && service sw-engine restart

     Note: Even after the redirect is set up and the website is secured with an SSL certificate, in an attempt to access the https://example.com:8443 in a browser will end up with the error regarding the untrusted certificate. It happens because the redirect is performed after the certificate check.