CGI-Scripts not working after server changes [Archive]

BrianCurtis

30-Oct-2003, 10:28 AM

Hi All,

My new server providers are now Iomart and have just been migrating servers (apparently! weren't told until there was a problem!) and now, my stores don't work!

I get this message from within Actinic:

Actinic Ecommerce received a server error from the web server. The CGI scripts are not executing properly on the server. Run Web | Configure Web Site Details... to review your web site configuration.

I can't log in or purchase. Could the CGI permissions need re-setting, I can't find anywhere what the permissions should be it's been so long since I set them up!

Thanks people.

Brian

BrianCurtis

30-Oct-2003, 10:31 AM

I also get these messages when the site is trying to access the http://www.slikmats.com/cgi-bin/ca000001.pl page:

A General Script Error Occurred

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Error: Error opening the word index "../acatalog/oldtext.fil". Permission denied. The web site is probably being updated. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists, contact us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press the Browser back button and try again or contact the site owner

This is the same on both of my stores.
Any help much appreciated.

Thank you.

Brian

James M

30-Oct-2003, 10:35 AM

Hi Brian

Could you check the permissions with Iomart?

The CGI-BIN needs to be read/execute (755)
And the acatalog directory needs to be read/write/execute (777)
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garyhay

30-Oct-2003, 11:04 AM

Brian

Just interested to know why you chose Iomart??

Gary

BrianCurtis

30-Oct-2003, 11:14 AM

Gary,

I am a little scared now actually :-( I just came off the phone from Iomart and they told me they have had other Actinic customers having 'issues', one of which 'Gave up!' so he told me!! I said, 'what on earth do you mean by that!?'

I did not choose Iomart - Nicnames were bought out by Iomart and therofore I had no choice. Although, if I have any more issues like this or I can't get this fixed, I will have to consider moving myself.

It's so annoying. Has anyone else had any problems with Iomart on here?

Brian

garyhay

30-Oct-2003, 02:08 PM

Brian

I just asked because I know Iomart quite well. They originaly sold off all thier hosting to scottish power who then sold it to BT.

They were offering "we can get you to the top" stuff a few months back which I thought was wierd because they have some really good top end business products.

They could be struggling.

Nadeem

30-Oct-2003, 02:31 PM

Hi there

Over in Actinic Support, we have had a number of calls concerning IOMART changeover.

Like yourself Brian, we can only advise to reset the permissions on your /acatalog/ folder and /cgi-bin/

Kind Regards

BrianCurtis

30-Oct-2003, 04:09 PM

Nadeem, that kind of worries me because reading between the lines, it sounds very similar to what the guy said except his words were. 'Actinic washed their hands of it and the user couldn't get it sorted!' Or words very similar to that effect. He more-or-less was saying that Iomart could not resolve the issue and neither could Actinic!!!

Arghhh! Please tell me this is not true! Surely out of all the people you spoke to then Nadeem and gave them the advice, did all of them given this said advice you quoted above resolve their problems?

Thanks

Brian

Nadeem

30-Oct-2003, 04:20 PM

Hi Brian

Take your error for example

A General Script Error Occurred

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Error: Error opening the word index "../acatalog/oldtext.fil". Permission denied. The web site is probably being updated. Please wait a few minutes and try again. If the problem persists, contact us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The error is very specific. A permission denied error message, This means that the perlscripts do not have permission to read, write or execute. Now to rid of this error message, i would suggest the following:

1. Connect to your website, via ftp. (Use Cuteftp or WS_FTP) and look for the files that end in .fil. Change the permission to 777. Therefore we are setting the files to read, write and execute.

The above will only work with UNIX server, and you need to have the CHMOD function enabled. If the webhosting company is using a windows server, then you cannot change the permission. Only they can.

You will need to ask them to change all permissions within your /acatalog/ folder to read, write and execute.

If you ring the webhosting company, please provide them with the following link:
http://www.actinic.co.uk/hosting/

We have set up a hosting site, that tells hosting company on how to set up actinic successfully. If they can follow this, then you will not have any problem.

Kind Regards

BrianCurtis

31-Oct-2003, 09:45 AM

OK, so Iomart now say it's sorted. So I can download orders and i even logged into both my sites BUT, there is STILL an issue with the os000001.pl file and there now seems to be a stray > tag in my forms?

If you visit www.slikmats.com and log in as user: test pw: test and purchase anything, when you are presented with addresses the table data has gone a dark colour and there is a stray > tag there!? How on earth can THAT be? It also happens in Subartclub too??

But worse still, if you try and complete the purchase you get a 404 error on the os000001.pl file!

This is just not good enough. I have been running SubArtClub for over a year and never have I had my site messed with by outside sources!

Any advice PLEASE!!

Brian (desperate) Curtis

Nadeem

31-Oct-2003, 11:02 AM

Hi Brian

But worse still, if you try and complete the purchase you get a 404 error on the os000001.pl file!

For this error i would suggest in contacting your webhost company and advise them to check the perl resource. At present at least 16mb is needed for the os script to function correctly

If you visit www.slikmats.com and log in as user: test pw: test and purchase anything, when you are presented with addresses the table data has gone a dark colour and there is a stray > tag there!? How on earth can THAT be? It also happens in Subartclub too??

This is down to the version of perl on your server. To fix this, please edit your act_order01.html and add an extra % on the table width. Search for the following code only

<Actinic:VAR NAME=ADDRESS_TABLE VALUE="
%s
<TABLE WIDTH=98% BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=1 BGCOLOR=%s><TR><TD>
<TABLE WIDTH=100% BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=4 BGCOLOR=%s>
%s
</TABLE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
%s
"/>

and replace it like

<Actinic:VAR NAME=ADDRESS_TABLE VALUE="
%s
<TABLE WIDTH=98%% BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=1 BGCOLOR=%s><TR><TD>
<TABLE WIDTH=100%% BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=4 BGCOLOR=%s>
%s
</TABLE>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
%s
"/>

This should fix your problem.

Kind Regards

BrianCurtis

31-Oct-2003, 11:34 AM

Thanks Nadeem,

I mentioned the suggestion about the MB size and they asked me to refresh the site? Surely I wouldn't have to do that? Is there a way i can easily change the pl files without doing a full refresh, can I simply take all the .pl and .fil files and ftp them myself?

Thsi should at least put it back to where it was shouldn't it?

There is no way I can do a refresh with SubArtClub, there are so many hi-res images in there, I have broadband but it would still take an age!

Thanks

Brian

Nadeem

31-Oct-2003, 12:46 PM

Hi Brian

can I simply take all the .pl and .fil files and ftp them myself

Simply uploading new perlscripts will not fix your problem. You need actinic to regenerate the .cat and .fil files from the network settings.

There is no way I can do a refresh with SubArtClub,

My suggestion to this, is to ftp to your site, go to your /acatalog/ folder and delete all .cat and .fil files. Once you have done this on the website, then on your site1 folder (or what your site is called) do the same, delete the .cat and .fil files. Once that is done, simply update your site, actinic should see there are no .fil and .cat files, so it will regenerate these files from the software taking in network settings and other information and simply update your website.

However if you get any issues, with updating your site, then I am afraid you will have to do a complete refresh. We normally recommend refreshing your website, when you have moved server

Kind Regards

BrianCurtis

31-Oct-2003, 01:20 PM

Hi Nadeem,

i thought it would be quicker with my Slikmats site (quite small and no hi res uploads attached) to REFRESH.

Just tried and at the end I am getting:

A server error occurred while attempting to merge server files. 500 - Internal Server Error

Great! What now, and the email out of Actinic has stopped working?? If I do a network steup check I still get CGI warnings and this page:

------------

Server error!
The server encountered an internal error and was unable to complete your request.
Error message:
Premature end of script headers: cp000001.pl
If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster
Error 500
www.slikmats.com
Fri 31 Oct 2003 14:18:58 GMT
Apache/2.0.40 (Red Hat Linux)

------------------

Thanks

Brian :(

Nadeem

31-Oct-2003, 01:38 PM

Hi Brian

From your ongoing issues, this is really pointing to a server issue.

For example; Error 500 means Internal server error.

There is something in the configuration of that server, that is preventing actinic to function correctly.

Looking at this logically, your site was working on another server, since the server has been changed, you are now experiencing problems.

One suggestion i could provide is to register for a 30 day hosting trial on the following url: http://trials.actinic.com

Please note that our trial server does not support digital download, however this will show you that Actinic is functioning correctly. Thus the issue is down to your server

Like i have written before, we do provide information for hosting companies on setting up Actinic stores.
Again here is the link: http://www.actinic.co.uk/hosting/

Kind Regards

BrianCurtis

31-Oct-2003, 04:10 PM

Ive just been told by an Iomart rep that the sl000000pm file is corrupt and that's why it's not working?

I have lost patience but worse, I am losing sales.

Brian

rmladden

31-Oct-2003, 04:42 PM

It's possible to get a 500 error if the Perl script is garbage.

pinbrook

31-Oct-2003, 05:49 PM

I think you have to bite the bullet and do a refresh, it may take time but it won't loose you any more sales

BrianCurtis

31-Oct-2003, 06:18 PM

Hi Jo,

I DID do a refresh, I decided it was the only way to be sure, infact I just tried it again. But it is during the final stage of the refresh, merging incremental updates on server, when I get the error message:

A server error occurred while attempting to merge server files. 500 - Internal Server Error

Imagine getting that after waiting hours for a digital download site (subartclub.com) to upload to bang your head against the screen at the end of it!!

How can it possibly be anything to do with what I'm doing!! it's so annoying and worse of all, it's still not fixed, it must be so easy to put right? Jeez!

Brian

rmladden

31-Oct-2003, 06:27 PM

I would try deleting all the cgi files using CuteFTP. Then have Actinic generate all the scripts on your computer (advanced->generate scripts) and upload the scripts using CuteFTP.

Then I would find a new ISP.

pinbrook

31-Oct-2003, 07:08 PM

Hi Brian

Sorry I saw in the thread where you said you were reluctant to do a refresh, and didn't see where you had done one....

Do you want a bit of server space to try an upload to an independant server.....I can send you an import file and you can do an upload to our Raq4.....no strings attached.

BrianCurtis

01-Nov-2003, 05:04 PM

That would be very cool Jo, Thanks mate :)

Brian

BrianCurtis

02-Nov-2003, 12:58 PM

Thanks to Jo :) tested the site elsewhere and of course, it workes fine. The question is, what do I do now? How can it be permissions on the CGI-BIN? I thought they were set OK?

I would be prepared to pass on the FTP details if someone to check out the permissions for me, just to make double sure.

Thanks

Brian

garyhay

02-Nov-2003, 01:06 PM

Brian e-mail them direct and I will have a look

BrianCurtis

04-Nov-2003, 08:44 AM

I'd just like to thank Jo, Gary and now Ben from Actinic in helping me try to get to the bottom of this issue.

I still have had NO contact from Iomart, it's impossible to get to someone on the phone and the site's are STILL not working.

Ben informed me that they actually flag the Pearl with a bit of code '-W' which doesn't really mean much me to me except that it probably explains why it 'seemed' to be working until you log in!

I am totally disgusted with this complete lack of support and the only thing they seem to have done consistently is skrew-up my sites. I am now looking for a more reliable host for my 10 domains and if I get any further with this, I'll report back.

I have told them though that I still want to see the sites up and running EXACTLY how they were before they migrated the servers and then I'm going.

Brian

BrianCurtis

04-Nov-2003, 03:51 PM

At last, it seems to have been resolved but not without a very heated conversation!

It seems that on Iomart's servers there is a security setting on the FTP to not allow ASCII files to be uploaded so they default to Binary.

Sounds like it took a week to find the most obvious reason! Let's hope it all runs OK from here on in.

Thanks for your help everyone.

Brian

Infolink

04-Nov-2003, 05:05 PM

The 500 error could be due to an htaccess file gone bad - Cobalt servers have a way of doing that if certain things are not ajusted correctly in the httpd.conf file for apache.

I'm surprised that you are still holding out with them, personally if they are such a bunch that they cant sort out something as simple as this then dump them!
It's only a permissions problem from the messages posted - this is pretty basic stuff.

Give me a call if you want to move over to us on a trial / emergency basis.

Phil