Verify HTTPS Redirect

Learning Focus

By the end of this lesson you will know how to verify that HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects are working correctly.

Testing the Redirect

# Test from the command line
curl -sI http://example.com | head -5

# Expected output:
# HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
# Location: https://example.com/

What to Check

Test	Expected Result	Meaning
curl -sI http://example.com	301 redirect to HTTPS	✅ Working
curl -sI https://example.com	200 OK	✅ HTTPS working
Above returns 200 on HTTP	No redirect active	❌ Enable "Always Use HTTPS"

Where Redirects Can Be Configured

1. Cloudflare → "Always Use HTTPS" (easiest)
2. OpenLiteSpeed → Listener redirect rules
3. .htaccess → RewriteRule (per-site)

info

If "Always Use HTTPS" is enabled in Cloudflare, you do not need server-side redirect rules. They are redundant.

Key Takeaways

• Verify with curl -sI http://example.com that a 301 redirect is returned.
• Cloudflare's "Always Use HTTPS" is the simplest redirect method.
• Do not configure redundant redirects in both Cloudflare and the server.

What's Next

• Return to the Cloudflare SSL Full (Strict) Setup for the full checklist.