ExpressionEngine: mod_rewrite directory to subdomain, while removing /index.php/ - mod-rewrite

Question

In ExpressionEngine, what’s the best way to mod_rewrite a directory to a subdomain, while keeping index.php out of the picture?
For example:
http://www.domain.com/index.php/group/template -> group.domain.com/template
I’ve seen variations that take ANY group and rewrite them to subdomains, but I only need one.
I’ve been tasked with porting over a subsite from a different server (that was also running EE). Normally, I’d just redirect group.domain.com to domain.com/group (index.php removal was already working), but that’s been deemed an unacceptable solution. And of course, this is time-sensitive.
I’ve been diving into Google and the EE docs/wiki for going on twelve hours and I’m starting to go cross-eyed. Can anyone give me a hand?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Here's how I would craft your .htaccess file:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(group|group/.*)$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://group.domain.com/template/$1 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=POST
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php/$1 [L]
</IfModule>
This example uses the "File and Directory Check" Method of removing index.php from the URL and uses a RewriteCond Directive to instruct Apache to handle the requests for the "group" directory and all its sub-directories differently.
Any links to domain.com/group/template will be redirected to group.domain.com/template/.
If you care about letting crawlers know your content has moved and want to make the transition as seamless as possible, you can add a 301 Redirect to your RewriteRule:
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/(group|group/.*)$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://group.domain.com/template/$1 [R=301,L]
This will ensure that users and search engines are directed to the correct page.