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.htaccessdnsforwardingmx-recorda-records

How to Forward Domain Name to Existing URL - .htaccess, DNS records, what else?

I am much more of a programmer than a server guru so any help is much appreciated!

Forwarding a domain name for SEO reasons ->
NewDomain.com hosted with 3rd party needs to point to currently hosted site CurrentDomain.com. I know I need to...

1) Adjust NewDomain.com DNS A records specifically

  • www.
  • @.
  • *.
  • ftp.
  • mail.

2) Adjust NewDomain.com DNS MX records

3) Add 301 Redirect to .htaccess file hosted at CurrentDomain.com so all requests for NewDomain will be forwarded to CurrentDomain.com.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} NewDomain.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://CurrentDomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

THE QUESTIONS:
What else needs to be done?
1) Is something missing?
2) Should additional DNS changes be made? If so, where?
3) Should MX record point to mail.CurrentDomain.com if I don't want mail to NewDomain?
4) Is there a better .htaccess file?

Solution

  • Your .htaccess is almost right, just minor corrections:

    Options +FollowSymlinks -MultiViews
RewriteEngine on

# for http
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?newdomain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} =80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://CurrentDomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

# for https
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?newdomain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} =443
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://CurrentDomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

    That way newdomain.com or www.newdomain.com will both be redirected with 301 to the browsers.

    [NC] flag is for ignore case matching of host