Observed Signal · Apr 14, 2026 · Technical Troubleshooting · Source: DEV Community · Impact: 1/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Fix ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS for WordPress behind AWS ALB
This technical troubleshooting guide documents a production fix for ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS when migrating WordPress from an Nginx SSL-terminating setup to one using an AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) for SSL. Two root causes are explained and resolved: (1) ALB health checks failed with 301 because WordPress redirected health paths — solved by adding 301 to ALB success codes or pointing health checks to a 200 endpoint; (2) a redirect loop caused by Nginx redirecting HTTP to HTTPS while ALB performed SSL termination — solved by removing Nginx HTTPS redirects, listening only on port 80, setting fastcgi_param HTTPS on, and adding a wp-config.php snippet that sets $_SERVER['HTTPS']='on' when X-Forwarded-Proto is 'https'. Tested on Ubuntu 22.04, Nginx 1.24, WordPress 6.x.
Operational how-to for web/infrastructure teams; useful for publishers or sites migrating SSL termination to ALB but not industry-shifting.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Migrating SSL termination from Nginx to AWS Application Load Balancer (ALB) can cause ERR_TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS.
- ALB health checks returned HTTP 301 when WordPress redirected the health path; recommended fix is to include 301 in ALB success codes or use a path that returns 200.
- Remove Nginx-level 'return 301 https://...' redirects and configure Nginx to listen on port 80; add fastcgi_param HTTPS on so PHP/WordPress recognizes secure requests.
- Add a wp-config.php snippet to set $_SERVER['HTTPS'] = 'on' when the ALB-sent X-Forwarded-Proto header equals 'https' to prevent WordPress-side redirects.
- Guide tested on Ubuntu 22.04, Nginx 1.24, WordPress 6.x.
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