Redirect Incorrect HTTPS URL requests – Dealing With Wildcard Certificates

I have a 4th-level wildcard SSL certificate to secure one of my web sites. This wildcard certificate does not cover my 3rd-level domain, so I have to use a 4-level domain URL to properly use the certificate. When I need SSL, my proper URL is https://www.mydom.myedu.edu. When I don’t need SSL, I use the URL http://mydom.myedu.edu. A problem can arise when people forget the "www" as the 4th-level when using "https" at the same time – the user’s browser will display a warning that the certificate is not valid (i.e., https://mydom.myedu.edu). The code below for the global.asax file will redirect the browser to the correct SSL URL if the incorrect SSL URL is used when the user first makes an attempt to view the requested web page. Just change the "wrongStartSSLurl" and "goodStartSSLurl" variables for your environment.

As the code below may be mangled, here’s a text file of the code.

–Begin Global.asax file

   1:  <script language="VB" runat="server">

   2:      Sub Session_OnStart()

   3:          'This code is for correcting an issue with wildcard SSL certs

   4:          'when the base domain is not covered by the cert.

   5:          Dim wrongStartSSLurl As String = "https://mydom"

   6:          Dim goodStartSSLurl As String = "https://www.mydom"

   7:          Dim requestedURL As String =HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString()

   8:          Dim startOfRequestedURL As String = Left(requestedURL, Len(wrongStartSSLurl))

   9:          If startOfRequestedURL = wrongStartSSLurl Then

  10:              Dim properSSLurl As String = Replace(requestedURL, wrongStartSSLurl, goodStartSSLurl)

  11:              HttpContext.Current.Response.Redirect(properSSLurl)

  12:          End If

  13:      End Sub

  14:  </script>

—End Global.asax file