Question about "Force server URL settings"

[hww]

Hi,

I have a few questions about board and server settings in the ACP.

The help blurb for Force server URL settings says:
"If set to yes the server settings defined here will be used in favour of the automatically determined values."

I was wondering how the values are 'automatically determined'? And in what circumstances would a Board Administrator want to override the automatically determined values?

Also, what does the "Domain name" setting actually do? I tried changing the setting back and forth between www.mydomain.com and mydomain.com, and it seemed to make no difference to the operation of my board.

Harry

[JimA]

When you check that option, you don't need to fill in the server settings anymore. They'll be detected by phpBB automaticly.

[stevemaury]

Well, unless you do not force the settings you could put "prawn on the barbie" in the domain setting and it would not matter.

Do you really want a prolonged explanation about how the software goes about determining the settings? I don't think so.

That setting is there in case the software incorrectly detects the settings, which could be the case in some server setups.

[momentum]

Harry,

Your domain should really be set to .mydomain.com (note the leading dot) which will cover http://www.mydomain.com as well as without the www prefix.

It's my underatanding that the Force server URL settings switch will force the board to find the settings from the server, as opposed to those entered by you in the ACP. This can be handy when moving a board from one domain to another, or even when the same domain is accessed from two or more different URLs.

Craig.

[hww]

Well, unless you force the settings you could put "prawn on the barbie" in the domain setting and it would not matter.

Do you really want a prolonged explanation about how the software goes about determining the settings? I don't think so.

Well, I wouldn't mind a quick one actually (or, even better, a link to a page where I could read about it myself)

The reason I ask is that I'm installing a new board on a server with all sorts of interlocking Addon Domains, Subdomains, mod_rewritten URLs to prevent Addon Domains being viewed as Subdomains of the Primary Domain, etc., and I'd like to know where phpBB will be pulling the info from.

On the other hand, it might be safer just to force the settings...

[hww]

Your domain should really be set to .mydomain.com (note the leading dot) which will cover http://www.mydomain.com as well as without the www prefix.

That leading dot is for the cookie setting, isn't it? (I think -- I got caught out by it once before ).

It's my underatanding that the Force server URL settings switch will force the board to find the settings from the server, as opposed to those entered by you in the ACP. This can be handy when moving a board from one domain to another, or even when the same domain is accessed from two or more different URLs.

Thanks, Craig. I'd be interested in learning how phpBB gets the settings from Apache (and from where), if anyone is able to point me in the right direction.

(Thanks also to Jim for his reply.)

[Paul]

Your domain should really be set to .mydomain.com (note the leading dot) which will cover http://www.mydomain.com as well as without the www prefix.

That leading dot is for the cookie setting, isn't it? (I think -- I got caught out by it once before ).

Yes, the leading dot is for the cookie setting only.
In normal cases you only should set the force url settings to enabled in case you have any problems with redirection. In all other cases you should have it set to disabled.

[Mick]

Well, I wouldn't mind a quick one actually (or, even better, a link to a page where I could read about it myself)

You could have a read of this: http://www.phpbb.com/support/documentat ... ral_server

[nasadows]

I dont know guys, I just know a fact that I can switch to new host/domain without having to reconfigure either Cookie or Domain Settings, and it still works somehow (with the old settings on the new domain)
Anywhere I put the board it automatically recognises the domain and updates all the internal links

So basically with this you can have 1 same forum in multiple domains at the same time (never test though)

kind of a convenience