How can I make sharepoint use a small URL (e.g. http://internal.com instead of http://internal.com/sites/osfc/Pages/Default.aspx)

Question

I'm new to sharepoint 2007, currently the home page is htp://internal.com/sites/osfc/Pages/Default.aspx but I would like to use htp://internal.com or have htp://internal.com redirect to the long URL.

How can I do this?

I thought of using a 301 redirect but the permissions on the site in IIS don't allow users to view files placed in the root and I don't want to mess with the permissions. Currently if I visit http://internal.com I see a sharepouint Access Denied page (htp://internal.com/_layouts/AccessDenied.aspx?Source=%2f).

Note: I've used htp:// above as serverfault doesn't allow more than 1 https:// link.

Many thanks Steven

Answer 1

It's been a while since I've worked with it but if you add an Alternate Access Mapping for the shortened URL through CA then in DNS send the connections to that server, it should give you the desired effect.

Answer 2

Can you not change the home directory of the Default IIS Site to redirect to /sites/osfc/Pages/Default.aspx ?

If you want http:// to redirect to an https:// you could always change the 403;4 custom error (SSL Required) to redirect to the full URL.

Answer 3

There are a number of ways to approach this, but perhaps the easiest way is to create a simple site collection at the root and put a content editor web part in it with the following javascript in it.

location.replace('htp://internal.com/_layouts/AccessDenied.aspx?Source=%2f');

If you are interested in shortening other SharePoint URLs then have a look at the URL Shortener for SharePoint.

Note that I worked on this product so the usual disclaimers apply.

Answer 4

Use DNS and IIS. I created a few sites in my IIS that do a javascript redirect once they are hit to navigate to the long URL. There is probably an easier way to do this, but this is pretty simple.

http://osfc.internal.com --> http://internal.com/sites/osfc/Pages/Default.aspx

Answer 5

I would try rewriting the URL on the fly using the URL Rewrite Module for IIS.

Answer 6

you could just create a site collection under http://internal.com

Open the Central Administration (There is a link in the Start Menu of the Web Frontend)

Then go to Application Management.

There is an entry called Create site collection.

The rest should be self-explaining.

you must be a administrator in this web application though

IMHO redirection with IIS is a bad idea.

If someday a person creates a second site collection on the root path it will not be accessible!