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eComEvo
Asked: 2012-08-11 11:42:04 +0800 CST

Need help using mod_rewrite for split testing on 2 designs in different dirs

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In order to test if a new design is going to be useful, we're doing A/B testing on it. However, the design integrates a large number of files so we don't want to have to keep moving them around.

Is it possible to use mod_rewrite to mask the fact that we've moved both into their own subdirs?

In other words, someone visits http://www.ourdomain.com/ and they see the design located in "public_html/old/" or "public_html/new/" depending on which we have set to show in .htaccess. However, they never know the designs are in subdirs.

apache-2.2

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Ok! After you've moved both into their subdirs, you can do something like this:

    <VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName example.com
    # .. any other needed config, logging, etc

    # Yes, you'll leave this at the parent directory..
    DocumentRoot /var/www/public_html
    <Directory /var/www/public_html>
        Order Allow,Deny
        Allow from all

        RewriteEngine On
        # Let's prevent any rewrite of anything starting with new or old,
        # to head off potential internal redirect loops from pass-thrus..
        RewriteRule ^(new|old) - [L]

        # Here's where we'll handle the logic.
        # This will vary the page based on IP address.
        # If the user is in the 10.0.0.0/8 address range...
        RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^10\..*$
        # ...then we'll give them the new page.
        RewriteRule ^(.*)$ new/$1 [L]
        # Otherwise, we'll give them the old page.
        RewriteRule ^(.*)$ old/$1 [L]
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

    You can trigger off of anything that mod_rewrite can see. For cookies, swap this in for the part under Here's where we'll handle the logic. above:

    RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} newsite=true
# Client sent a cookie with "newsite=true"
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ new/$1 [L]
# No matching cookie, give them the old site
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ old/$1 [L]

    Or GET request query parameters:

    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} newsite=1
# Client sent /path/to/page?newsite=1 - give them the new one
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ new/$1 [L]
# Fall back to the old one
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ old/$1 [L]

    Or for both..

    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} newsite=1 [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} newsite=true
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ new/$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ old/$1 [L]

    Randomized..

    # We'll use a cookie to mark a client with the backend they've been stuck to, 
# so they they don't get fed /index.html from /old then /images/something.jpg
# from /new. Handle that first..
RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} sitevers=(old|new)
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ %1/$1 [L]

# They didn't have a cookie, let's give them a random backend.
# Define our mapping file, we'll set this up in a minute..
RewriteMap siteversions rnd:/var/www/map.txt
# Since we need to use the random response twice (for the directory and the
# cookie), let's evaluate the map once and store the return:
RewriteCond ${siteversions:dirs} ^(.*)$
# ..then, use what we just stored to both select the directory to use to
# respond to this request, as well as to set a cookie for subsequent requests.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ %1/$1 [L,CO=sitevers:%1:.example.com:0]

    And set up the /var/www/map.txt file with these contents:

    dirs new|old

    Random is a lot more complicated, and I might have missed something.. let me know if it breaks.

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