How to install mod_rewrite on CentOS

mod_rewrite is an Apache module used to manipulate URL's and is compiled into the base Apache HTTP Server in CentOS.

How to configure the Apache mod_rewrite module

1. Open the Apache configuration file located at /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf


2. Change AllowOverride None to AllowOverride All  One inside <Directory /> and another one inside <Directory "/var/www/html"> and then it worked. Hope it helps somebody! P.S. I didn't use Virtual Hosts

Permanently redirect users to access the site WITH or WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix

1. Create/Open a .htaccess file in the document root folder and add the following text replacing variables with appropriate values where necessary
   # mod_rewrite
   <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
   # Enable mod_rewrite engine
   RewriteEngine on
   
   # WITH 'www.'
   RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^$uri\.$tld$ [NC]
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.$domain$1 [L,R=301]
   
   # WITOUT 'www.'
   RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.$uri\.$tld$ [NC]
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://$domain/$1 [L,R=301]
   </IfModule>
   Note: Choose either WITH or WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix.  Do not include both or you will end up in a redirection loop.
   Note: If there is already an <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>directive, only copy the desired #RewriteCond and#RewriteRule lines and add them to the directive.
   Note: Replace http:// with https:// if used for a Virtual Hosts using the https protocol.
   Note: This text can also be added to the VirtualHost directive in the apache configuration file, but you can't typically move these changes to a live server, so the .htaccess file is the prefered method.


2. Restart the Apache daemon
   service httpd restart