Activating the Apache module breaks my site – need advice on how to configure

Hi.

I have up to know been using the Redirection WordPress module, and I have had no issue with that. Since the number of redirects has increasing over the years, I want to use start using the Apache module to get better performance.

When I configure the Apache module, by inputting the location to my sites .htaccess file – my site breaks.

The content of my .htaccess file before I configure Redirection Apache module is shown bellow;

### BEGIN .htaccess
 # Protect the htaccess file
 <Files .htaccess>
 	Order Allow,Deny
 	Deny from all
 </Files>

 # Protect wpconfig.php
 <Files wp-config.php>
 	Order Allow,Deny
 	Deny from all
 </Files>

 # Disable directory browsing
# Options All -Indexes

 # BEGIN COMPRESSION AND CACHING
 <IfModule mod_deflate.c>
 	# Enable compression
 	AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/css text/javascript application/x-javascript text/html text/plain text/xml image/x-icon application/javascript
 	<IfModule mod_setenvif.c>
 		BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
 		BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
 		BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
 		BrowserMatch \bMSI[E] !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
 	</IfModule>
 	<IfModule mod_headers.c>
 		# Make sure proxies deliver correct content
 		Header append Vary User-Agent env=!dont-vary
 		# Ensure proxies deliver compressed content correctly
 		Header append Vary Accept-Encoding
 	</IfModule>
 </IfModule>
 <IfModule mod_headers.c>
 	# No ETags, No Pragma
 	Header unset Pragma
 	Header unset ETag
 	# Default cache time to 1 year (31536000 sec)
 	Header set Cache-Control "max-age=31536000, public, must-revalidate"
 </IfModule>

 # No ETags
 FileETag none

 # CACHE SETTINGS (mod_expires)
 <IfModule mod_expires.c>
 	# Turn on Expires
 	ExpiresActive On
 	# set default to "access plus 1 year"
 	ExpiresDefault A31536000
 	# html - "modification plus 1 hour"
 	ExpiresByType text/html M3600
 	# css and JavaScript - "modification plus 6 weeks"
 	ExpiresByType text/css M3628800
 	ExpiresByType text/javascript M3628800
 	ExpiresByType application/x-javascript M3628800
 </IfModule>
 # No cache for php-files
 <FilesMatch "\.(php)$">
 	<IfModule mod_expires.c>
 		ExpiresActive Off
 	</IfModule>
 	<IfModule mod_headers.c>
 		Header set Cache-Control "private, no-cache, no-store, proxy-revalidate, no-transform"
 	</IfModule>
 </FilesMatch>
 # END CACHING

 # W3 Total Cache are here (automatically included by the plugin):

 # WordPress Default Rules are here (at the end of the file):
# BEGIN W3TC Page Cache core
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=POST
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} =""
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} \/$
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_COOKIE} !(comment_author|wp-postpass|w3tc_logged_out|wordpress_logged_in|wptouch_switch_toggle) [NC]
    RewriteCond "%{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index.html" -f
    RewriteRule .* "/wp-content/cache/page_enhanced/%{HTTP_HOST}/%{REQUEST_URI}/_index.html" [L]
</IfModule>
# END W3TC Page Cache core
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.stillingen\.com
RewriteRule (.*) https://www.stillingen.com/$1 [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress
 ### END .htaccess

When configuring Redirection Apache module, this code is added;

# Created by Redirection Module: Apache4
# Sun, 06 Oct 2013 10:29:45 +0000
# Redirection 2.3.4 - https://urbangiraffe.com/plugins/redirection/

<Files .htaccess,.svn>
order allow,deny
deny from all
</Files>
Options +FollowSymlinks

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
</IfModule>

# End of Redirection

It is Options +FollowSymlinks that breaks my site, and Redirection write this to my .htaccess file every time i configure something in Redirection.

I have also tried starting of with a black .htaccess, with also results in the site being broken.

Any advice is highly appreciated.

https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/redirection/