My server (RedHat) crashed today requiring a new master drive be initialized and a full operating system reloaded on it. My old master is attached as a slave.

What is the best way to recover the ubbthreads 7 system from the old master? I do have an sql backup that is a few days old. A full sql dump is on my local PC. The ubbthreads control panel dump is on a second drive that was on my server and will be mounted as a third drive once it comes up. I'd rather recover it from the old master if possible to be up to date.

If this is more than a medium difficulty task, is there someone I can contract to do that for me?

It isn't very difficult. You could just move the files over and just run the upgrade script pointing to the existing database... or you could do a full install and import your DB backup in after the process completes. Either way is fairly easy to do (especially following Gizmo's post on installing/upgrading 7.5.6p2). The instructions in the member's area will explain what files need what permissions and Gizmo's post talks about how to import your database easily enough. I figured it out using those and I am about as dumb as anyone can be figuring out SQL and linux, and I had no issues doing it myself.




Dunny

When this happened on my server a while back I copied the data from the old /var/lib/mysql to the new /var/lib/mysql and then checked that the databases weren't corrupt; in my case, they where fine, and completely up to date. Then I just moved over my flat files for the site.

Thanks for the suggestion. I just got my server back online. As soon as I get some other things reloaded I'll give it a try.

I found the old ubbthreads on the old /var/lib/mysql drive and copied them all to the same location on the operational drive.

Is there another step I have to do to make them visible to SQL? When I use phpMyAdmin to look at my databases, the ubbthreads database does not show up.

Do I have to stop and restart sql?

Thanks.

You'll need to ensure the chmods (folder 700, 660 for files) and owners are correct (mysql:mysql) and you'll need to make sure that you restart mysql (and run a repair on the tables). Note that I hope you understand what you're doing going this route, you can cause quite the mess...

Thanks. Yes, I follow your instructions. I had looked at the old folders and files and changed the permissions/groups/owners on the new copy of the folders and files to match the old ones.

It will be a while before get to a point where I can start/stop mysql. Once I do and once I copy the flat files and repair the tables, I'll give it a try. If it doesn't work, I will reinstall ubbthreads and rebuild my databases from a backup that is just a couple of days old.

Thanks again.

I restarted mysql successfully and before I ran a repair I ran theubbthreads.php and got:



Does that error mean anything to you?

So I decided that I should run a mysql repair like you suggested. I started with just one table to try my syntax in mysql. I did

repair ubbt_ADDRESS_BOOK.frm; in mysql and got a table does not exist statement. I guess I'm not sure of the syntax of the repair statement. How do you tell mysql what database the table is in?

As a side note, after I restarted mysql, the ubbthreads does appear in the phpMyAdmin database list. I can open tables and browse them with no errors. What's the best way to run a repair?

I appreciate your suggestions.

I wouldn't run any mysql steps through the UBB; I'd instead do it through PHPMyAdmin or the MySQL command line.

As for your error, it tells you what the problem is:


It's unable to read the smarty files that SHOULD be in the libs/smarty folder.

I am doing the SQL repair commands through the mysql console command interface and phpMyAdmin.

I got rid of the prior errors. The owner and group needed to be changed. I did that on all the files and directories. Now I get

If it helps, I discovered that they restored a slightly higher version of Plesk on the server. This version renamed the admin userid for mysql. When I login to mysql I have to use a different userid than I used to use. Is that id stored somplace in the ubbthreads files that I need to change?

I want to repair the tables. But still get the errors listed in my prior posting. Can I find the sql error that is referred to in the error message stored someplace?

Thanks.

libs/mysql.inc.php on line 283 find



change to



This will show you the error when you go to the page, but be sure to change it back to 0 so the whole world don't see the errors

if you have CP access you can change the name of the user and password from there and your board should be able to see your DB with the correct credentials (db,Paths,urls). If not then you can change in manually in the config script in the folder directly.

The ubbthreads control panel won't work. Which folder and file do I need to manually change? Thanks.

One sec and I will go into mine and make sure I am right....

The config file is located in the includes/ folder; it's named config.inc.php.

just looked it up..Gizmo got it before I did... but it is the in the first 5 lines of the config.inc.php

Thank you both. I'll give it a try in the morning.

I want to thank everyone above for their help. My system is up and running again with no apparent loss of data. I have one small problem that I'll list below. Before that I want to post what I did in case anyone in the future reads this topic for a similar problem. I've seen too many topics where someone posts a problem, gets some suggestions, then never comes back to say if it worked or not. In this case it did.

I did have to manually change the database password in the config.inc.php as recommended above. Once that was done, my system came up. I did get some permission errors. I missed a couple of them when I initially checked and changed them. Once I corrected the permissions, I did a rebuild on all the datases using the contrpl panel functions. They complete with no errors. I probably didn't need to do that, but I knew if I had any problems that was the first thing that would be recommended.

The only outstanding problem is that the New Post and New Topic islands are not updating. I have them as a portal entry and as an external web page. Neither are updating. They stop at that last post prior to my crash. I'm sure something has to be reset or updated somplace but I couldn't find anything in the docs or on the forum (unless I overlooked it). Any suggestions on how to reset those islands would be appreciated.

Glad to hear your back up. Have you tried clearing your cache?

I did not do that. At your suggestion I just did that. I'll give the system some time to catch up on new posts and topics and will recheck it and will report back.

Thank you.

If that don't work, ftp in to your /cache directory not cache_builders. You can copy the whole directory to your comp just in case if you want. Delete all the files inside the cache directory except for the index.html or index.htm. Than go and clear the cache again from the cp. that should force it to rebuild.

I discovered that I missed resetting the permissions on the files within the cache_builders/custom directory to 666. I don't konw if that solved the problem. At the same time I deleted the data in the /cache builders directory per gliderdad's suggestion above. Then I cleared the cache again from the cp. My extermal islands updated right away and continue to do so.

But the portal copies of the islands are not updating. The other odd thing is that in the external portal, the times displayed are the server time. I have my preferences set for the -1 offset. All the times on the actual forum postings display correctly with the offset. I suppost that the external island has to post the server time because it doesn't know who is requesting it or if they even have a registration on the board. But the portal copy of the new post and new topic islands is not updating. I have the cache time set at 5 minutes and have waited much longer (about 30 minutes).

actually go in and delete everything (but the index file) from the cache/ directory; one of the files isn't being able to be written to, hence the stale data; then go and clear your cache and it should rebuild from scratch.

I did that previously based on gliderdad's suggestion above. After I did that the external islands started working ok but not the portal ones. But I will try it again either later tonight or tomorrow and report back. Thanks.

I doubt it'd fix it, but you could also try making sure that the sessions/ and templates/compile/ directories are clear too; you'll need to clear cache after purging from folders manually (and the session bit will log you out)

I deleted the files (except the index.html file) in the above directories and also in the cache directory and ran a clear cache from the cp. There was no effect on the portal islands. Also, I was not logged out of the message board when I deleted the sessions files.

Any other thoughts?

Did you clear the cache again after you did that?

Also make sure of the permissions on those folders as well.

Dunny

Here is what I just did to make sure I didn't skip any steps.

Confirmed permissions as follows

• session directory: 777
  
• templates/compile directory: 777
  
• templates: 777
  
• cache directory: 777
• cache_builders directory: 777
• cache_builders/custom directory: 777
• cache_builders/custom directory: 777
• cache_builder/custom files: 666

Deleted all files except any index.html files found from:

• sessions directory
  
• templates/compile directory
• templates directory

Then I used the cp to do a clear cache. The portal islands did not refresh.

When looking at the templates directory, I noticed a default subdirectory with a permission of 755 and files with permissions of 644. I did not do anything with that subdirectory or the files in that subdirectory.

Any other thoughts? Thanks.

All files and directories inside ubb need to be 777 for directories and 666 for files, this includes sub directories. With most ftp programs you can right click the folder click properties and set all directories to be changed recursively than do the same for pages.

I'll SSH into the directories and check/change them and try again and report back. Thanks.

If I do a recursive change to 777 within the ubbthreads directory won't that also change the permissions on all the files in the subdirectories to 777 also?

I changed all directories to 777 and files to 666 within the ubbthreads directory. When I went to the CP to clear cache, I can't get into the cp. I just get a blank page: http://www.dennyp.com/ubbthreads/admin/login.php.

Figured the cp problem. The templates/admin directory got changed to 666 when doing one of the recursive 666 chmods. I changed it back to 777 and I got into the cp. I did a clear cache and the portal islands did not update.

I've tried again by clearing the non index files in /sessions /templates/compile and /cache directories then using the cp to perform a Clear Cache. The portal New Topic and New Posts islands are still not updating but the same islands work externally. I've checked the permissions again.

Any additional suggestions?

I just visited your site.
www.dennyp.com
New posts island show a post from 7 minutes ago.
New topics island is yesterday.
Could it be a browser cache?

Very strange. That is more up to date than what shows on my system. I am running IE9. I went into Internet Options and deleted the browsing history. That logged me off of my message board. I went to login again and the login took ok. But as soon as I clicked on any link on my forum main page I got a message saying I needed to login.

I then came back to this forum where I also was logged off. I logged back in and got the same results in that I would be returned to the main page and got a message saying I needed to login. I had to go over to a FireFox browser session to login to this board. I also could log into mine from FireFox but not from IE9. When I get to my board on FireFox, I still see the old island data.

When I get a chance I will reboot my PC (Win7) and try ID again.

Any idea why I can't stay logged in with IE?

Running ubbthreads 7.5.3

I was using firefox to view your site.
IE has been a bone of contention for ubb users for years.
From login issues to cache issues.
I do know Sirdude is trying his best on the next ubb release to correct as many issues with IE as he can.
In fact it is one of the top items on the list
He has identified some he thinks will be corrected in the next release. Meaning hopefully all of them.

FYI,
your version had one of the last attempts to fix the IE issues.
So hopefully SD will make some progress.

Rebooting my system has allowed me to get back into this board and into my board again via IE9.

But even if I now go into my board via FireFox I still get old island data. I even cleared my FireFox browser files.

Okay.
When i visit your site:
http://www.dennyp.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php
I see the New topics island on the left;
The current post is.
Outage Report
by DennyP
Yesterday at 02:20 PM

Below that is the.
New posts Island
The current post is:
Winter WWW Arival Times
by bigdog8088
Today at 03:47 PM

Yup, that sounds like correct information. That is what I see on the external islands.

Any thoughts on why I can't see it, even after a reboot?

Obviously it looks like ubbthreads is working ok in general. Just not working with my browsers - IE & FireFox.

Later when I get off work, I will create a new userid and try it.

I appreciate the feedback.

I see the same as Ruben and I am using Chrome. Try deleting your browser cache and cookies via your browser, not the remove cookies from the board.

Don't know did you attempt to expire the cookies via the ubb option also?
Mystuff>> Cookies.

Maybe with the issues you had that is needed.

Check back a few postings and see that I did try deleting the browser files via the browser options. Thanks.

Sometimes doing it via the board doesn't always work if there is a corrupted cookie and part of the cookie stays. So when people usually have display issues on my site that no one else sees I tell them delete via browser not board and that fixes it.

This held true with a fix Rick post adding the new variable to the cookie to help fix the IE issue. The older cookie stayed since it wasn't the same as new one and conflicted. People were unable to log out among other things.

I tried expiring the ubb cookies through the MyStuff page with no effect.

I did try the browser deletes, both IE & FireFox, with no change.

I just tried from another PC (same user) that hasn't logged into the message board in a while and I see the same older islands that I see on my original PC.

When I get a chance, I will create a brand new id and try it.

Since it appears to be working for others, it may not be a pervasive problem. But the others on the forum had never been to my board and they may see different results than people who had been on my board before.

I may put out a request to other regular users to see what they have displayed.

I tried logging in with a new user and I still see the old island data. So it looks like the problem is on my browser end - both FireFox and IE. Any thoughts as to what areas they have in common?

Well what you can try is manually deleting your cookies.
For firefox.
Goto:
Tools>Options.
Select the privacy tab
Select the remove indivual cookies link.
scroll to your site and delete all the cookies for your site.
Then login and see what you get.
For IE you will have a cookies folder but in windows it is hidden by default so you will need to change folder settings to view hidden files/folders to find them and delete them.

The only thing they might have in common is your internet security settings on your desktop is not allowing the cookies to update/add or delete.

I'm not sure what happened or changed but the islands starting working ok for my on both IE & FireFox today. I did NOT do any of the above steps. The only thing I did was a reboot of my computer. But I had done that earlier with no result.

In any case, I want to thank everyone for helping me. I appreciate it.