Redirects

Because the VIP Platform uses NGINX (not Apache), there are no .htaccess files. Redirects for URLs must be handled by alternative methods. The most suitable solution(s) for a site’s redirects should be chosen based on the amount and types of redirects needed.

• The Safe Redirect Manager plugin is a useful option for a small number of redirects (fewer than 250), and for redirects that will change frequently. Safe Redirect Manager also allows the use of wildcard or regex in redirects.
• To create a large number of redirects (greater than 300) for old, or “legacy”, URLs that now return a 404 HTTP response status code, use the WPCOM Legacy Redirector plugin.
• Some redirects can be written directly into a site’s theme code.
• Redirects cannot be configured for any URLs that include /wp-content/uploads/*. All files at that path are served by the VIP File System, and the File System resides upstream from application code. A reverse proxy is a possible solution for making a static asset available at a specific URL.
• Redirects and custom rewrite rules cannot be configured for any assets with file extensions .css, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .swf, .ico, regardless of the file’s URL. A reverse proxy is a possible solution for making static assets with these file extensions available at a specific URL.
• To use more than one domain per site, set up vip-config.php to handle redirecting secondary domains to the desired primary domain for a site. This is particularly useful for mapping domains on a multisite, where redirects between non-www domains and www variants do not occur automatically. 

Redirects with a 302 HTTP status are cached by VIP’s page cache for 1 minute, and redirects with a 301 HTTP status are cached for 30 minutes.