How to bypass the WebAccess index "Go" page with Apache2

  • 3387524
  • 12-Mar-2007
  • 26-Apr-2012

Environment

Novell GroupWise 6.5 WebAccess
Novell GroupWise 7 WebAccess
Novell NetWare 6.5

Situation

How to bypass the index page to redirect to /servlet/webacc or /gw/webacc with Apache2
How to redirect the GroupWise WebAccess "Go" page to skip to the login page
How to configure Apache2 web server to go directly to the GroupWise WebAccess login page

Resolution

After installing GroupWise WebAccess 6.5 to NW 6.5, you may want to redirect the default URL to /servlet/webacc so that end users can bypass the"GO" button page with out having to type in /servlet/webacc.
 
Modify httpd.conf with a rewrite command in order to redirect queries for the index page to hostname/server/webacc
 
This is another option that can be used to redirect all traffic to GroupWise WebAccess.
 
1. Create a new file named index.html and copy the following into it:
 
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; URL=https://<Host Name>/servlet/webacc" />
 
For GroupWise 7 you will need to change the above /servlet/webacc to /gw/webacc instead.
 
2. This can be configure with "URL=http" or "URL=https".
3. Rename the index file in the document root directory and then place the new file in that directory.
4. The web server does not have to be restarted for this change to take effect.
 
Another method is to do the following:
 
1. Bring down Apache2 (ap2webdn)
2a. Add the following line to the bottom of the httpd.conf file for GroupWise 6.5:
 
redirect permanent /index.html http://<DNS or IP of server>/servlet/webacc
 
2b. Add the following line to the bottom of the httpd.conf file for GroupWise 7:
 
 
3. If you have just upgraded to GroupWise 7 and would like the web server to redirect requests for the old /servlet/webacc URL to be automatically redirected to /gw/webacc add the following after the above line:
 
redirect permanent /servlet/webacc http://<DNS or IP of server>/gw/webacc
 
4. restart Apache2 (ap2webup)
 
Make sure that you use a DNS address if you have users that will need to access WebAccess both internally and externally. You can use https instead of http if you would like to force all requests to a secure connection.

Additional Information

Formerly known as TID# 10096362