Ubuntu/Nginx - redirect external url to local folder

Question

I have some files getting data from another domain not on my server. For instance pulling a pdf document from www.example.com/mypdf.pdf I have no control over this function, but instead of getting the pdf file from example.com, I want it to get the document from mydomain.com/mypdf.pdf instead.

Answer 1

You may use Module ngx_http_rewrite_module and especially the return directive.

Here’s a very simple example that redirects clients to a new domain name:

server {
    listen 80;
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name www.old-name.com;
    return 301 $scheme://www.new-name.com$request_uri;
}

The listen directives mean the server{} block applies to both HTTP and HTTPS.

The server_name directive matches request URLs that have domain name www.old‑name.com.

The return directive tells NGINX to stop processing the request and immediately send code 301 (Moved Permanently) and the specified rewritten URL to the client.

The new URL uses two NGINX variables to capture from the original request URL:

• $scheme is the protocol (http or https)
• $request_uri is the full URI including arguments.

For more information see Creating NGINX Rewrite Rules.

Answer 2

What you are describing is basically a link.

You can create a link in your websites HTML which points to an external resource:

<a href="https://www.example.com/mypdf.pdf">link text</a>