Configuring an OVHcloud Load Balancer service with redirects – Support Guides

Learn how to integrate your web services behind an OVHcloud Load Balancer using HTTP redirections.

The OVHcloud Load Balancer acts by default as a proxy. It can also be configured to redirect your customers to a third-party website. This functionality is essential for scenarios such as domain name migration or enforcing the HTTPS version of a website. This is known as HTTP redirection.

Requirements

An OVHcloud Load Balancer service in your OVHcloud account
Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel or OVHcloud API

Instructions

Overview

An HTTP redirection is presented as follows:

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://www.example.org/
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 174

Custom redirections should have the following form: <scheme>://<net_loc>/<path>;<params>?<query>#<fragment>. You can only specify one redirection per front-end.

Custom redirections can be specified via the OVHcloud Control Panel and API, both on new and existing front-ends.

Adding a custom redirect

Creating a new frontend

You can define custom redirections from the OVHcloud Control Panel by going to the Bare Metal Cloud section, and then Load Balancer.

You can follow these instructions to create a new front-end, but take note of the following during the creation:

Select HTTP or HTTPS protocol.
Configure the information as requested. However, please note that there is no need to set a Default server cluster, as it will not be used.
In the advanced settings, enter the HTTP redirection.

Once the front-end has been configured, click Add and apply the changes to your Load Balancer configuration.

In the OVHcloud API, redirections are specified in the redirectLocation character chain.

POST /ipLoadbalancing/{serviceName}/http/frontend

Parameter	Meaning
`serviceName`	Your Load Balancer service ID
`port`	Front-end listening ports
`zone`	Front-end deployment zones
`redirectLocation`	HTTP redirection URL

Apply your changes to your Load Balancer configuration.

Updating an existing frontend

You can define custom redirections from the OVHcloud Control Panel by going to the Bare Metal Cloud section, and then Load Balancer.

In the Front-ends tab of the OVHcloud Control Panel, select the front-end you would like to edit. To do this, click the more options ... button, then select Edit in the menu that appears. Please ensure that the front-end you have chosen uses either HTTP or HTTPS protocol.

Complete the configuration if necessary. However, there is no need to specify a Default server cluster, as it will not be used.

In the advanced settings, enter the HTTP redirection.

Once the front-end has been configured, click Modify and apply the changes to your Load Balancer configuration.

In the OVHcloud API, redirections are specified in the redirectLocation character chain.

PUT /ipLoadbalancing/{serviceName}/http/frontend/{frontendId}

Parameter	Meaning
`serviceName`	Your Load Balancer service ID
`frontendId`	ID of the front-end to be updated
`redirectLocation`	HTTP redirection URL

Apply your changes to your Load Balancer configuration.

Applying the changes

There are two ways of applying your configuration via the OVHcloud Control Panel:

via the Status panel of the OVHcloud Control Panel, by clicking on your Load Balancer’s more options ... button, then selecting Apply configuration.
via the reminder box in the OVHcloud Control Panel, notifying you that the configuration has not been applied, by clicking Apply configuration.