Plusnet Web Space - .htaccess options

A client has a domain and web-space with Plusnet and I was trying to set-up a few .htaccess rules. None of which worked.

First I want to enable GZIP...I'm coming to the conclusion that GZIP is not available out-with the CCGI web-space. If this is so, is there a really good reason for that? To clarify, we're not talking masses of data, but one would think GZIP enabled as standard was the way to go. Had a sneaky suspicion that it doesn't hurt SEO either.

The other .htaccess rules are simple 301 redirects and rewrites for doing the following:

domain.co.uk becomes http://www.domain.co.uk
www.domain.co.uk - http://www.domain.co.uk
http://www.domain.co.uk/index or index.html becomes http://www.domain.co.uk
A second 'contact' page changes from /contact.html to /contact

It's really that simple, but I've tried a few different methods and none of the above have worked...have seen 500 errors and at one point when typing www.domain.co.uk I got a massive URL which was the real path via the server (should I have seen this?).

It may be that my re-write skills are out of practice, or given that all the options don't work, that Plusnet have some weird mod-rewrite block going on.

What's the deal?

Edit: Oh and the following doesn't work either:

Options - Indexes
Options All - Indexes

Had to use:

IndexIgnore *


Edit again: And the keep-alive in HTTP headers isn't setup.

Edited by camieabz (Sat 23-Mar-13 00:14:38)

Hi camieabz,

Had a quick look on my ccgi server, and although zlib support is enabled, the output compression is disabled.

You can enable output compression on a site-by-site basis usually by putting the following command in the .htaccess file for the site:

php_flag zlib.output_compression on

NOTE: the zlib.output_compression_level is currently set to -1, which means it will be using the default compression level of 6 (from 0 to 9) - this is supposed to be the best compression without overloading a server, but if you have performance issues you may want to lower to something else like 4.

regarding the other questions, not sure why it didn't work for you, it's actually been a while since I actively used a .htaccess file on my ccgi site (it mostly just has some test web pages these days)

Cheers for the response mate, but to clarify...we're talking a non-CCGI site, so I need a PN rep to tell me about the config. I don't have the server access details to hand; just the FTP to htdocs details.

As a non customer you can't create an account on the Plusnet forums so I suggest posting in the usergroup forums where the experts there should pick it up http://usergroup.plus.net/forum/

In reply to a post by Oldjim:

As a non customer you can't create an account on the Plusnet forums so I suggest posting in the usergroup forums where the experts there should pick it up http://usergroup.plus.net/forum/

Er, if camieabz ISP is still PN doesn't that make him a customer?

How would I know that - as the question isn't about his account

Your right Oldjim,sorry, I misread the post ..... looks like it's time for me to visit Specsavers.

In reply to a post by Oldjim:

How would I know that - as the question isn't about his account

If his client has a domain and web-space with Plusnet, doesn't that make him a customer?

Still no response from a rep then?

You probably won't get a useful one which is why I suggested the user forums either the UserGroup or, if you can use the login of the account the main forums

I can use my own login, as I am a PN customer too. I just noticed other posts getting answered, and hoped...aw well.

Hi camieabz,

It's not really my area of expertise, about the only thing I can offer is a guide to .htaccess files on our usergroup site: http://usertools.plus.net/tutorials/?id=5

Apologies if you've seen that already.

Regarding gzip, I believe the standard hosting platform is stripped as bare as it could be for security reasons which is why a lot of the services aren't available there.

If that doesn't help give me a shout and I'll see if there's anyone who knows more.

run SHOUT.exe

No command 'shout' found, did you mean:
Command 'scout' from package 'openafs-client' (universe)
Command 'spout' from package 'spout' (universe)
shout: command not found

I jest of course I'll see what I can do and post back shortly.

In reply to a post by orbrey:

No command 'shout' found, did you mean:
Command 'scout' from package 'openafs-client' (universe)
Command 'spout' from package 'spout' (universe)
shout: command not found

run MAC.exe

run MAC.exe

Doesn't that only work if you run the GET command first?

Right... gzip and keep-alive aren't enabled I'm afraid. As for 301 redirects, they should just be standard? i.e.

redirect 301 local/file/path.html http://domain.co.uk/redirected/page.html

Is that not the case here?