[SATLUG] When rewrite doesn't

[Mike]

I am very new to mod_rewrite and I can't get anything to work.  I am using a
fresh install of Apache 2.0.59.  I stuck the following two lines at the
bottom of httpd.conf:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^old\.html$ new.html

I have two files in my document root, old.html and new.html.  However, when
I view old.html, I see the contents of old.html rather than new.html.  There
is no rewrite being performed at all.  If I remove old.html and try to
access it, I get the standard Apache 404 message saying that old.html isn't
available.  Again, the rewrite rule isn't being picked up.

The mod_rewrite.so is in the modules directory and being loaded via
LoadModule.  Apache doesn't complain about the syntax of httpd.conf so it
must know that RewriteEngine and RewriteRule are valid.  Nevertheless, I
can't get even this most basic of rules to work.  I'm sure it must be
something simple, but I can't find it and the hoards of documentation out
there are no help.  All of it just says "Add RewriteEngine and RewriteRule
and it just magically works."

TIA,
Mike