Apache Redirect to Workspace

Frequently I am asked how to redirect users from the default Oracle HTTP Server (OHS) Home page to the workspace page. In the past I have used meta-refreshes and jsp. While both of these methods work there is a better way using the Oracle HTTP Server (Apache) httpd.conf file.

Situation:
Users are going to Oracle HTTP home page instead of workspace. You want them to see this:

instead of this:

First you will need to locate the httpd.conf file on the server running OHS. The path should be something like X:\Oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystemX\httpConfig\ohs\config\OHS\ohs_component\. Open up httpd.conf in your favorite text editor (Notepad++ is my mine) and scroll down to the bottom of the configuration file. You should see the following lines:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    include "conf/mod_wl_ohs.conf"
    Include "conf/epm_online_help.conf"
    Include "conf/epm_rewrite_rules.conf"
    Include "conf/epm.conf"
</VirtualHost>

After the Include "conf/epm.conf line but before </VirtualHost> add the following:
RewriteRule ^/$ /workspace/index.jsp [R]
This command will redirect all requests to the OHS welcome page to the workspace login page. The lines should now be something like this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    include "conf/mod_wl_ohs.conf"
    Include "conf/epm_online_help.conf"
    Include "conf/epm_rewrite_rules.conf"
    Include "conf/epm.conf"
    RewriteRule ^/$ /workspace/index.jsp [R]
</VirtualHost>

Now that your configuration changes are done the last step is to restart Oracle HTTP Server and test it out.