I'm new here on the forum. I have a problem that prompted me to sign up.
I have several domains on OVH. On two of them I've set up permanent redirects. One works flawlessly, the other I just can't get to work. I've deleted and recreated the redirect entries many times and I'm at a loss.
Maybe a few screenshots will help provide some context.
Here is the domain where the redirect doesn't work.
And here the working redirect. There are a few more entries here, but I honestly don't know why. Other than setting up the redirect in the usual way, I didn't do anything else.
The most likely cause is that the redirect to an external URL with HTTPS is failing. There's an important detail with OVH redirects: those created from the client area don't work properly with HTTPS (i.e., with https:// in the destination URL).
If after making the change and waiting a few minutes (DNS changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate) the redirect still doesn't work, the most reliable alternative is to configure the redirect using a .htaccess file.
Ceci va fonctionner parce que c'est http :
http://markus-power.com
http://www.markus-power.com
http://sacrificeinfire.com
http://www.sacrificeinfire.com
Ceci ne va pas fonctionner:
https://markus-power.com
https://www.markus-power.com
https://sacrificeinfire.com
https://www.sacrificeinfire.com
La cible de la redirection peut très bien contenir https, ce n'est pas un facteur bloquant comme indiqué ci-dessus.
The step you took, removing the “https”, was correct, but it isn’t enough because the browser is still trying to access sacrificeinfire.com over a secure connection, and it can’t find a valid SSL certificate for that domain, so the browser blocks the connection before the redirect can be executed.
The only way for this redirect to work properly is to create a redirect rule via a .htaccess file on your web hosting.
How to do it?
Go to the root folder of your site.
See if a file named .htaccess already exists.
If it doesn’t exist: Create a text file on your computer, name it .htaccess, and open it with a simple text editor.
If it does exist: Download it to your computer to edit it and then upload it again.
Inside the .htaccess file, paste the following code:
Ah, a good point – could that be the problem, that I don’t have a hosting package for sacrificeinfire.com?
For markus-power.com I have a hosting package, which I recently cancelled because I don’t want to host a WordPress site on OVH, but only redirect it to another website with different hosting; however, the OVH hosting package is still valid for about another year.
Do I actually need such a hosting package to use the redirect function – even though I’m not really hosting anything on OVH?
I have a feeling that when the site wasn’t working, your browser cached that “website not accessible” response. Then, when you clicked the forum link, the browser requested the page again, and seeing that it now works, saved it as the new correct version. But when you type the URL manually, your browser was ‘lazy’ and used the old broken copy it had stored in the cache, without bothering to request the new version from the server.
Try doing this in the tab where you see the error:
Press the Ctrl + Shift + R keys (or Cmd + Shift + R on a Mac) to perform a forced reload.
If that doesn’t work, try using incognito browsing mode, which doesn’t use the stored cache.
With this, your browser should request the page again from the server and show you the correct version, just like it does when you click the link.
It's because the link tried to open your site in https mode, and that's going to happen more and more often now that the whole world uses https (except OVH with its redirection machine)
The behavior you describe is exactly the symptom of your domain having an active SSL certificate, but the automatic redirection from HTTP to HTTPS is not configured. The issue is that, even when you type sacrificeinfire.com, the browser tries to force HTTPS and, lacking the redirect, it fails.
You need a rule in the .htaccess file to redirect all traffic that comes in via HTTP to HTTPS. This file is a standard tool on OVHcloud hosting that allows configuring web server rules.
The rule I suggest is the following:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{ENV:HTTPS} !on
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
After applying this, clear the site cache and open an incognito window in your browser to verify that everything works correctly.
fails over HTTPS for the simple and good reason that the server 213.186.33.5 (redirection server operated by OVH) does not accept incoming HTTPS connections. (it doesn’t “listen” to that protocol)
In 2026 it would be time for OVH to do something, because what was nicely invented in 2001 is no longer usable in 2026.
The solution for you @MPWR33 is indeed to acquire hosting, starting with the free start100m that gives you 100 MB of web space and a mailbox. 100 MB is more than enough to place an .htaccess file as recommended by Sergio.
With your start100m you can request an SSL certificate and you will have fully functional HTTPS redirects.
Well, look, I had no idea that redirect.ovh.net was an old server. You learn something new every day, haha, and of course I’m noting this down for future occasions. Thanks a lot for the clarification, it’s really helpful to have someone who knows these details. Cheers @fritz2cat
