cleanup subdomain redirection after ssl change

[Luna Red]

Hi,

I'm building a site with multiple subdomains and after changing the model have issues with the redirect.

We have hosting using cpanel on godaddy.

The first installs were made by creating seperate wordpresses, subdomains and ssl certificates for each subdomain.

Now we're switching to wordpress multisite with a wildcard ssl. The wildcard ssl is just one level, it doesn't cover www.subdomain.domain

It's been a struggle to get several parts straight:
- get multisite working with subdomains
- force redirection of domain and all subdomains to https:// without using www. to prevent security alerts because of "missing" certificate

(I take it as a given that some clients will type "www.subdomain..." manually and I want to prevent the security alert for them.)

I've managed to get this working for new subdomains with these steps:
- force redirect to https without www in .httacces
- create alias for new subdomain in cpanel
- create new site in multisite
these way the only way I get a security alert before redirecting to https is if somebody types "https://www.subdomain..." and that doesn't seem very likely to me, so I don't care that much.)

The problem is with the older installs I want to switch to the new model. There are two types:
1. pages that have a own wordpress install, subdomain and ssl certificate and I'll have to move to the multisite.
2. pages that were created in multisite, but trying to figure out the process I created subdomains and ssl certificates for them.

At the moment I'm having a problem with the second group. Everything works fine, but I still get the "missing" certificate security alert for www.subdomain. As it works for new subdomains I figure it's some point of the old install I'll have to clean, but I don't know where.

And this brings me to the first group, where I'll have to clean up even more when I switch them to multisite.

So, where do subdomain installations leave traces I have to clean to make the new subdomain installation on the same subdomain work?

Thanks a lot

 

[cPanelLauren]

I'm trying to understand what you mean by leave traces. When you remove the subdomain it should be removed completely from the system and I wouldn't think it would affect the certificate missing, unless you're experiencing caching. After removing these and re-adding them are you clearing your browser's cache?

 

[Luna Red]

Thank you very much for your answer.

Sorry if I express myself badly, I'm neither native in English nor used to explain myself in technical language.

I'm referring to some piece of data or code left somewhere on the server when I uninstalled the subdomain and ssl.

As far as I have been able to trace the differences:
- aliases create cname dns redirtects on one hand, and channels the rest through the htaccess file of the main domain. Searching for name of my second testsite on the server I haven't found any documents or folders with it's name.
- when I created subdomains I had to create the dns by hand, but it created automatically data on the server. As far as I've been able to identify: folders in public_html, htaccess file. When I execute a search with the name of my first testsite on the server there pops up a series of documents and folders (like half of it with ssl in name) I have deleted everything that popped up in this search.
It made me a little nervous, but as the new install has created no files on the ftp server I figured that it was all part of the old install. And for that it is a testsite. There have been no differences in performance after erasing those files and folders. So it seems to be stuff that wasn't deleted when I switched from subdomain + own ssl to alias + wildcard ssl. (this one never had a wordpress install).
The thing is: no difference in performance implies that the redirect issue hasn't been solved. So there still has to be some kind of data, code or something on the ftp server that prevents the old testsite from working like the new testsite.

I don't care much for the test subdomain, but there are other domains I would like to switch and I can't do it without solving this issue.

Does this clarify your doubts?

 

[Luna Red]

Hi,

I would really appreciate some help...

 

[cPanelLauren]

@Luna Red

I apologize for the delay in response to you. I have read this through a few times looking for a way to assist you but I believe this would need to be done by your provider as you don't have access to where the certificates are stored for the webserver. Have you reached out to them in regard to this?