Hosting Operations
Check HTTP to HTTPS Redirect
You need to confirm that plain HTTP redirects to HTTPS.
Command
curl -I http://example.comWhat changed
Nothing changes. The command requests headers from HTTP.
Danger
safe
When to use it
Use this after SSL setup, DNS changes, or Nginx redirect edits.
When not to use it
Do not follow redirects if you only need the first response; keep `-I` simple.
Undo or recovery
No state is changed.
Expected output
A 301 or 308 redirect with a HTTPS Location header.
demo script
Disposable terminal steps
curl -I http://example.comcurl -I https://example.comgrep -R "server_name" /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
simulated output
What it looks like
::fixture-ready::
$ curl -I http://example.com
HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Location: https://example.com/
::exit-code::0
$ curl -I https://example.com
HTTP/2 200
server: fake-nginx
x-content-type-options: nosniff
::exit-code::0
$ grep -R "server_name" /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/example.com: server_name example.com www.example.com;
::exit-code::0
YouTube Short
Check the HTTP redirect.
A valid cert is not the whole setup. Check the plain HTTP path too.
LinkedIn hook
HTTPS worked. The plain HTTP redirect still mattered.
Question: Do you test HTTP redirects after setting up SSL?
experiments
A/B tests to run
Metric: search_click_rate
A: Check HTTP to HTTPS redirect.
B: HTTPS worked. HTTP still mattered.