How to Set Up a Website Redirect in ISPConfig

This guide shows you how to set up a website redirect in the ISPConfig control panel, so that visitors who open one address are sent on to another website, to a folder within your own site, or to your preferred www or non-www address. It is written for Noiz clients managing their own hosting account through ISPConfig. A redirect is sometimes called web forwarding, URL forwarding or domain forwarding; in ISPConfig it is configured on the Redirect tab of a website. This article also explains the difference between permanent (301) and temporary (302) redirects, which matters for search engine rankings.

Last reviewed: 27 July 2026, against ISPConfig 3.3.1p1. This article follows the official ISPConfig manual procedure for redirecting a website, cross-checked against the current interface. ISPConfig evolves between releases, so if a screen differs from this guide, check the official documentation links below.

Official Documentation Reference

• ISPConfig Documentation overview: the index of all official ISPConfig documentation, including the full manual that describes the Redirect tab.
• The basics of setting up your first site (ISPConfig 3 Documentation): the official walkthrough of the Sites module where the website form and its tabs live.
• Subdomains (ISPConfig 3 Documentation): the official notes on subdomains, which can also be redirected using the same fields described here.
• Apache mod_rewrite flags reference: the upstream documentation for the R and L flags that ISPConfig's redirect types are built on.

Prerequisites

• You can log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
• An existing website in ISPConfig to attach the redirect to. If you have not created one yet, follow How to Create a Website in ISPConfig first.
• The DNS records of the domain you are redirecting must point at your Noiz hosting server. The redirect is performed by the web server, so the visitor's browser has to reach your server before it can be sent anywhere else.
• The full target address you want visitors to end up at, for example https://www.anotherdomain.com/.

How ISPConfig Redirects Work

Behind the scenes, ISPConfig turns the settings on the Redirect tab into web server rewrite rules, so you get a proper server-side redirect without editing any configuration files. The tab covers three separate jobs, and you can use each one on its own:

• URL and directory redirects: the Redirect Type and Redirect Path fields send the whole website to another address, or serve it from a subfolder of its own web space.
• SEO redirects: the SEO Redirect drop-down permanently redirects between the www and non-www versions of your domain so search engines only ever see one address.
• HTTPS enforcement: the Rewrite HTTP to HTTPS checkbox sends every plain http:// request to the secure https:// version of your site.

Permanent (301) or temporary (302)?

Every visible redirect carries an HTTP status code, and the two that matter are:

• 301 (permanent): tells browsers and search engines the move is final. Search engines transfer the old address's rankings to the new one and update their index, which makes 301 the right choice when a site has moved for good. Browsers cache 301 redirects aggressively, so once one has been seen it keeps working even if you later change the setting.
• 302 (temporary): tells browsers and search engines the move is short-term. Search engines keep the original address in their index, so use 302 for maintenance pages, short campaigns or anything you plan to undo.

The rule of thumb for search engine optimisation: if the old address should disappear from search results in favour of the new one, use a 301. If you are experimenting or the redirect is temporary, use a 302, and switch to a 301 once you are sure. In ISPConfig's Redirect Type list, options labelled Temporary redirect issue a 302 and the option labelled Permanent redirect issues a 301.

Open the Redirect Tab

1. Log in to the ISPConfig control panel.
2. Click the Sites module in the top navigation.
3. In the left menu, under Websites, click Website, then click the domain name of the site you want to redirect.
4. Click the Redirect tab at the top of the website form.

The drop-downs only list the options that apply to the web server behind your site, so you may see fewer entries than a screenshot from another server shows. The Redirect Type labels used below are the Apache ones; on a server running nginx the list shows nginx flags such as last, break, redirect and permanent instead. An advanced proxy entry may also appear in the Redirect Type list; the manual documents it as an nginx-only option that displays content from another location without changing the address in the browser, so leave it alone unless Noiz support asks you to use it.

Redirect Your Website to Another Website

Use this when the whole site should send visitors to a different address, for example after a rebrand from yourolddomain.com to yournewdomain.com.

Choose the Redirect Type

1. Open the Redirect Type drop-down.
2. For a permanent move, select R=301,L (Permanent redirect + last rule). This is the SEO-friendly 301 redirect described above.
3. For a temporary move, select R,L (Temporary redirect + last rule) instead, which issues a 302.

The official manual recommends the combined R,L style flags for any redirect to a URL. Avoid R (Temporary redirect) on its own: the manual explains that without the accompanying L flag, R passes the rewritten address on to the next rule in the set, which often results in "Invalid URI in request" warnings.

Enter the Redirect Path

1. In the Redirect Path field, enter the full target URL, including the scheme and a trailing slash, for example https://www.yournewdomain.com/. You can also target a specific folder on the destination site, for example https://www.yournewdomain.com/shop/. The manual is explicit that the URL should end in a trailing slash, and the slash does real work: with it, the rest of the requested address is carried across, so a visitor asking for /about.html lands on /about.html at the new domain. Leave the slash off and every request lands on the bare target address instead.
2. Click Save.

Redirect Your Website to a Directory Within the Site

Use this when your site's real content lives in a subfolder of its web space, a common situation when a content management system is installed in its own directory, and you want visitors to yourdomain.com to see that content.

1. Open the Redirect Type drop-down and select L (Last redirect rule). The manual recommends the plain L flag for directory redirects: the content is served from the subfolder while the address in the visitor's browser stays unchanged.
2. In the Redirect Path field, enter the folder path relative to the website's document root. The path must begin and end with a slash, for example /shop/ or /subdirectory/anothersubdirectory/.
3. Click Save.

If you would rather have the browser's address bar visibly change to show the subfolder, select R=301,L (Permanent redirect + last rule) or R,L (Temporary redirect + last rule) instead of L.

Set Up an SEO Redirect Between www and non-www

Search engines treat yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com as two different addresses. If both serve the same pages, your site competes with itself, a problem known as duplicate content. The SEO Redirect drop-down fixes this with a permanent redirect to whichever form you prefer; either choice is fine, the important thing is to pick one and stay with it.

1. Open the SEO Redirect drop-down and choose one of the following:
   • No redirect: no SEO redirect is applied.
   • domain.tld => www.domain.tld: sends yourdomain.com to www.yourdomain.com.
   • www.domain.tld => domain.tld: sends www.yourdomain.com to yourdomain.com.
   • *.domain.tld => domain.tld: sends every subdomain, including www, to yourdomain.com.
   • *.domain.tld => www.domain.tld: sends every subdomain, and the bare domain itself, to www.yourdomain.com.
   • * => domain.tld: sends everything that is not yourdomain.com, including subdomains and alias domains, to yourdomain.com.
   • * => www.domain.tld: sends everything that is not www.yourdomain.com, including the bare domain, subdomains and alias domains, to www.yourdomain.com.
2. Click Save.

For a typical website, domain.tld => www.domain.tld or www.domain.tld => domain.tld is all you need. Whichever form you redirect to must actually exist and resolve: if you redirect to the www address, the website's Auto-Subdomain setting on the Domain tab should be www. and a DNS record for www.yourdomain.com must point at the server. SEO redirects work independently of the Redirect Type and Redirect Path fields, so you can use one without the other.

Force HTTPS with Rewrite HTTP to HTTPS

If your website has an SSL certificate, every visitor should use the secure address. This also avoids duplicate content between the http:// and https:// versions of your pages.

1. On the Redirect tab, tick the Rewrite HTTP to HTTPS checkbox.
2. Click Save.

The checkbox only appears when SSL is enabled on the website's Domain tab. If you do not see it, enable SSL and Let's Encrypt SSL there first, save, then return to the Redirect tab.

Save and Test the Redirect

1. After clicking Save, watch for the small red change indicator near the top of the panel. ISPConfig is writing the new web server configuration in the background; this normally takes under a minute.
2. Open a private or incognito browser window and visit the old address, for example http://yourdomain.com. You should land on the target address you configured.
3. Test the variations that matter to you: with and without www, and with http:// as well as https://.

Always test in a private window. Browsers cache permanent redirects, so a normal window may show you an old redirect long after you have changed the settings. To remove a redirect later, set Redirect Type to No redirect, clear the Redirect Path field and click Save. Do not confuse No redirect with the separate No flag entry in the same list: No flag still applies the redirect, it simply applies it with no rewrite flags at all.

Troubleshooting

• Saving fails with "Invalid redirect path": the Redirect Path format is wrong, and ISPConfig names the two shapes it accepts in the message itself. Use either a full URL, such as https://www.yournewdomain.com/, or a directory path that begins and ends with a slash, such as /shop/. A directory path missing its leading or trailing slash is the usual cause.
• The redirect does not happen: wait for the red change indicator to clear, then retest in a private browser window. If it still does not work, confirm the domain's DNS records point at your Noiz hosting server, because a redirect can only fire once the browser reaches the server.
• The old redirect keeps happening after I changed it: your browser cached the previous permanent redirect. Test in a private window or a different browser; other visitors' caches will expire on their own.
• The browser reports too many redirects: the target is redirecting back to the source, creating a loop. This often happens when the target site, or software such as a content management system with its own site URL setting, redirects to the address you are redirecting away from. Set Redirect Type to No redirect to break the loop, then re-check where the target address really leads.
• The Rewrite HTTP to HTTPS checkbox is missing: SSL is not enabled for the website. Tick SSL and Let's Encrypt SSL on the Domain tab, save, and the checkbox will appear on the Redirect tab.
• The SEO redirect to www gives an error: the www address does not resolve. Set Auto-Subdomain to www. on the Domain tab and make sure a DNS record for www.yourdomain.com points at the server.

If you get stuck at any point, open a support ticket with the Noiz support team and include the domain being redirected, the exact values in the Redirect Type and Redirect Path fields, the target address you expect visitors to reach, and what happens instead when you test in a private browser window.