How to redirect a old URL using web.config (IIS)

Question

I'm still very new to using URL rewrites and redirects and I'm having some problems on something I thought was quite simple...

I've just rebuilt a website and want to redirect the old URLs to the new ones.

For example:

http://www.mydomain.com/about.asp?lang=1<br>

Should now be:

http://www.mydomain.com/content.asp?id=100230&title=about&langid=1

Unfortunately, everything I've tried is giving me errors or simply does nothing.

Here is one rule I tried:

<rule name="redirectoldabout" enabled="true" stopProcessing="true">
    <match url="( .*)" negate="true" />
    <conditions>
    <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^mydomain\.com/about\.asp\?lang=1$" />
    </conditions>
    <action type="Redirect" url="http://www.mydomain.com/content.asp?id=100230&title=about&langid=1" redirectType="Permanent" />
</rule>

but I get an error back:

HTTP Error 500.19 - Internal Server Error The requested page cannot be accessed because the related configuration data for the page is invalid.

Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

Forget the 301 in your web.config for now.

Enter this in your global.asax file near the bottom:

    Sub Application_BeginRequest(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
    If (HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString().ToLower().Contains(
"http://www.mydomain.com/about.asp?lang=1")) Then

        HttpContext.Current.Response.Status =
            "301 Moved Permanently"
        HttpContext.Current.Response.AddHeader("Location",
            Request.Url.ToString().ToLower().Replace(
                "http://www.mydomain.com/about.asp?lang=1",
                "http://www.mydomain.com/content.asp?id=100230&title=about&
                 langid=1"))

    End If
        End Sub

Save and upload. This will take care of the issue.

If you're more comfortable editing your web.config, see this link on SE for more information.