Useful Htaccess Tricks and Tips
Most people might not know the power of htaccess, here I want to discuss some important and useful tips & tricks about the htaccess. its helps to protect your web server against venomous attacks. It’s also many helps you to perform simple tasks efficiently such as web server optimization, redirection, Security, Secure directories by disabling execution of scripts, Block unwanted visitor based on referring domain, and many more.
What is .htaccess?
.htaccess could be a configuration file to be used on internet servers running the Apache internet Server. When a .htaccess file is placed in a very directory that is successively ‘loaded via the Apache internet Server’, then the .htaccess file is detected and dead by the Apache internet Server
Here some important Points:
1. Skip www
One of the SEO guidelines is, check that there’s only 1 computer address information to your website. Therefore, you’ll want this to direct all WWW traffic to non-WW, or the opposite means around.
RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.iamramraj.com [NC] RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://iamramraj.com/$1 [L,R=301]
2. Custom Error page
Creating a custom error page for each of the error codes.
ErrorDocument 401 /error/401.php ErrorDocument 403 /error/403.php ErrorDocument 404 /error/404.php ErrorDocument 500 /error/500.php
3. Cache files
File caching is another important approach in optimizing website loading time.
<FilesMatch ".(flv|gif|jpg|jpeg|png|ico|swf|js|css|pdf)$"> Header set Cache-Control "max-age=2592000" </FilesMatch>
4. Skip the download dialogue
Usually, after you attempt to transfer one thing from an internet server you get a call for participation asking whether or not you wish to avoid wasting the file or open it. To avoid that you just will use the below code on your .htaccess file.
AddType application/octet-stream .pdf AddType application/octet-stream .zip AddType application/octet-stream .mov
5. SEO Friendly 301 Permanent Redirects
Why it’s SEO friendly? today, some trendy search engine has the potential to observe 301 Permanent Redirects and update its existing record.
Redirect 301 http://www.iamramraj.com/home http://www.iamramraj.com/
6. Set Timezone
Sometimes, after you victimization date or mktime operate in PHP, it’ll show you a funny message concerning timezone. this is often one among the thanks to solving it. Set timezone for your server. a listing of supported timezone is often found here.
SetEnv TZ Australia/Melbourne
7. Compress files
Optimize your website loading time by compression files into smaller size.
# compress text, html, javascript, css, xml: AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xhtml+xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/rss+xml AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/javascript AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/x-javascript
8. Disable caching for sure file type
Well, within the alternative hand, you’ll disable caching for sure file kind.
# explicitly disable caching for scripts and other dynamic files <FilesMatch ".(pl|php|cgi|spl|scgi|fcgi)$"> Header unset Cache-Control </FilesMatch>
9. Secure directories by disabling execution of scripts
# secure directory by disabling script execution AddHandler cgi-script .php .pl .py .jsp .asp .htm .shtml .sh .cgi Options -ExecCGI
10. Blocking request supported User-Agent Header
This technique might save your information measure quota by interference bound bots or spiders from locomotion your web site.
# block visitors referred from indicated domains <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> SetEnvIfNoCase ^User-Agent$ .*(craftbot|download|extract|stripper|sucker|ninja|clshttp|webspider|leacher|collector|grabber|webpictures) HTTP_SAFE_BADBOT SetEnvIfNoCase ^User-Agent$ .*(libwww-perl|aesop_com_spiderman) HTTP_SAFE_BADBOT Deny from env=HTTP_SAFE_BADBOT </ifModule>
11. Block unwanted visitor based on referring domain
# block visitors referred from indicated domains <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine on RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} iamramraj.com [NC,OR] RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} iamramraj.com [NC,OR] RewriteRule .* - [F] </ifModule>
12. Change the default Index page
You can modify the default page index.html, index.php or index.htm to one thing else.
DirectoryIndex business.html
13. Disable directory browsing
Avoid the server from displaying directory index, or the opposite.
# disable directory browsing Options All -Indexes # enable directory browsing Options All +Indexes
14. Rename htaccess files
You can also rename your .htaccess file name to something else to prevent access.
AccessFileName htacc.ess
15. Block access to your .htaccess file
The following code can stop user to access your .htaccess file. Also, you’ll block multiple file kind further.
# secure htaccess file <Files .htaccess> order allow,deny deny from all </Files> # prevent viewing of a specific file <Files secretfile.jpg> order allow,deny deny from all </Files> # multiple file types <FilesMatch ".(htaccess|htpasswd|ini|phps|fla|psd|log|sh)$"> Order Allow,Deny Deny from all </FilesMatch>
16. Prevent hacks
If you would like to extend the safety level of your website, you’ll chuck these few lines of codes to stop some common hacking techniques by sleuthing malicious uniform resource locator patterns.
RewriteEngine On # proc/self/environ? no way! RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} proc/self/environ [OR] # Block out any script trying to set a mosConfig value through the URL RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} mosConfig_[a-zA-Z_]{1,21}(=|\%3D) [OR] # Block out any script trying to base64_encode crap to send via URL RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode.*(.*) [OR] # Block out any script that includes a <script> tag in URL RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C).*script.*(>|%3E) [NC,OR] # Block out any script trying to set a PHP GLOBALS variable via URL RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR] # Block out any script trying to modify a _REQUEST variable via URL RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|[|\%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) # Send all blocked request to homepage with 403 Forbidden error! RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php [F,L]
17. Hotlinking protection with .htaccess
Hate it once individuals stealing information measure from your website by victimization pictures that area unit hosted in your internet service? Use this, you’ll able to forestall it from happening.
RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$ RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www.)?iamramraj.com/.*$ [NC] RewriteRule .(gif|jpg|swf|flv|png)$ /feed/ [R=302,L]