Dnn.platform: Sitemap.aspx should use the 'industry standard' sitemap.xml

[trouble2]

## Description of problem
The default format for the sitemaps I believe is sitemap.xml and not .aspx
Even though it works under the aspx extension I think:

• it 'exposes' the technology used by the cms, so might even be considered a security issue
• the format of the document is xml, so the extension should be the same
• it is the 'industry' standard, so why should DNN behave differently....

Description of solution

Create a handler for this.
I think Sacha Trauwaen has a good solutions in his OpenUrlRewiter I'm sure he's willing to cooperate:
https://github.com/sachatrauwaen/OpenUrlRewriter/tree/master/Services/Sitemap
https://github.com/sachatrauwaen/OpenUrlRewriter/

Affected version

• [x] 9.3.2
• [x] 9.3.1
• [x] 9.2.2
• [x] 9.2.1
• [x] 9.2
• [x] 9.1.1

[sleupold]

this might be a performance issue, as .xml files are not necessarily processed by .Net

[mitchelsellers]

Please note, for any security concerns, they should NOT be addressed in the public GitHub repository for privacy concerns.

However, regarding this issue, yes the usage of SiteMap.aspx does disclose a bit about the technology stack, there are hundreds of other things that we cannot control that also expose the technology stack. (Client Resource Management, Injected URL's, ViewState, etc.)

Changing to a handler that responds to sitemap.xml is a large breaking change, and introduces a performance hit and environment requirement for URL handling that we most likely do not want to undertake.

According to SEO Moz, one of the best sources for information on SEO issues, indicate that it is a standard practice to use a dynamically generated sitemap, and that it is totally acceptable to be a non XML extension.

The DNN Platform properly sets the response type and content and has a suggested hint in the robots.txt file to properly identify the URL.

I do not suggest we change at this time due to the impact to the performance, existing installations, and the fact that we do meet accepted standards.

[thienvc]

You can fix custom sitemap.xml by IIS UrlRewrite, add to web.config:

<rule name="SiteMap" enabled="true" patternSyntax="Wildcard" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="*sitemap.xml" />
          <action type="Rewrite" url="{R:1}sitemap.aspx" appendQueryString="true" />
        </rule>

[mikesmeltzer]

@thienvc There isn't currently a dependency on the IIS UrlRewrite Module in DNN Platform. Introducing this would create a new dependency which I don't feel would be a good thing (I widely use that module btw, it's great!). That being said, for those who want to modify the URL in custom solutions, this sounds like a good approach.

@trouble2, given @mitchelsellers info regarding the current implementation meeting accepted standards and moving away from it would cause large breaking changes, can this item be closed?

[valadas]

I am closing this issue in the spirit of cleaning the backlog as per the previous comments