I have a few questions:

1. Using cPanel, is there a practical limit on the number of files/URLs that can be redirected?
2. If I want to hide affiliate links from my users, or just use a shortened URL, are there restrictions on specific characters in the URLs?
3. And finally, if I do not want to use cPanel redirects or a URL shortening service, i.e., tinyURL.com, what is the best way to redirect shortened URLs?

Any advice would be appreciated greatly.

Don

Mitch,
Thanks for getting back to me.  I have a few links on my site (with very long URLs) to Amazon.com.  I get a commission if I refer buyers to them. I would like to use short URLs on my pages and redirect them to Amazon.com.  I'm sure that this is done all the time and it has nothing to do with Lunarpages Affiliate Program.

I would like to redirect other links to Yahoo Maps.  There was one redirect that I could not get to work using cPanel, but when I used a free URL shortening service the redirection worked.  That's one reason why I am asking if there are any characters in the URL that cannot be used. 

Re cPanel's limitations on redirection, there has to be some limit on the number of redirects that can be on the list.  I currently have 30 URLs that are redirected, and I haven't noticed any problem. At some point, I may want to have 200 URLs on the list.

I'm sorry if I am making this sound more complicated than it is.

Don

Mitch,
I will be the only user of URL redirection on or through my site.  Quite frankly, I am reluctant to link to any URL shortening service since I have no idea where their links are heading.  I also do not know how reliable these free services might be and how long they expect to stay in business.  Last but not least, I do not want to run afoul of the Lunarpages ToS or Google's Webmaster Guidelines (linking to "bad neighborhoods").

If you hear of any limitations with cPanel's redirection, please let me know.

Don