UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.threads Version 7/8 Support A few Q's

First off hello name is Rob, Webmaster for DieselRam.com. Recently upgraded from the stone age from 3.0 to 7.0 . My q's are this . Does the control panel have a REINDEX for the forums?

Some members experiance a 404 FORBIDEN TO POST in some of the topics.

And since the change I have lost crucial links to older threads when I was using 3.0

Any help is appreciated If one so chooses to call me send me a PM.

Wow, 3.0....that's back from like '99 or 2000

No reindex in the control panel as it's something that is no longer needed.

404 sounds like it can't find the page, possibly a link to an old script. Can you get them to post the full url that they are being sent to when they get that error.

As for the missing links. Are those links that were made within posts or from somewhere else?

As far as the 404 it is not an old script as it is in the new forum . Such as a new topic was created the another member will try and reply and it gives them a 404 Forbiden.

The missing links,some threads older than DEC 22 we are not able to find. It as if none of the internal links are working.

Oh and 98 was when the site was created. So yes older than dirt.

Here are some examples.


new url prefix
http://www.dieselram.com/forum/ubbthreads.php

new search results url
http://www.dieselram.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=192221&page=1#Post192221

******************
old link url
http://dieselram.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=005371

was from here: http://www.dieselram.com/forum/ubbthread...=true#Post43419

*********************************************

test url did not return expected result. tried changing number, no dice.
http://www.dieselram.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=005371

In the importer zip file there are a couple redirect scripts. If you take a look at those and edit them, following the comments, then you can place them in your old install. For example the ubb/ultimatebb.php link. There is a redirect script called ultimatebb.php that you'll need to upload and that will redirect people to the proper post.

Ok good . What about the 404 message?

I'm not sure on the 404 yet. I have registered however on the site so if there is a specific one that's causing the problem then let me know and I'll see what I can find.

Noramally in the 12 valve Drivetrain section . It only happens to certain people but not all.

I just recieved a PM as one person can not due to 404 in the 3rd Gen NON drivtrain.

Hi Rick

vonTrapp here

0) The new UBB kicks arse as far as the interface goes! We sure did go from a Model T to a new Cummins Turbo Diesel!

1) The 404 errors are a little confusing. What we are getting is a 404 not found and a "permission denied" error. There appears to be no pattern as to WHY this is happening. For example, I was (and still am) unable to modify my signature. This is doubly ironic since I have admin access on the site

The following error is returned:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/ubbthreads.php on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.dieselram.com Port 80

Other users are also getting the same error message, but this time it seems they are having trouble posting to certain forums.

2) Possibly related, and just FYI. Right after the upgrade, we had 6 new user groups created that I had never seen before. These are titled "OLD_FORUM_30", 35,45,11,12,48. I was about to delete them, but thought I'd mention them first. They appear to be garbage, although the moderators always seem to have appeared in the group.

3) You'll have to walk me through the zip file. Talk to me like I'm a kindergarten student! I know just enough about this forum to be dangerous The redirect script really needs to be run.

4) Also, seeing as the URL prefix is different, would results from www search engines be all messed up too?

Thanks

VT

I think the quickest way to get to the bottom of the permission denied 404 errors is if you can open a trouble ticket with ftp information as well as admin access to the site (preferably yours since you are getting the error when trying to update your signature). With that I should be able to do a bit of debugging to see exactly what's going on.

As for the zip file. Basically, the importer zip for classic had 2 files, ultimatebb.php and ultimatebb.cgi. If you open those up they are pretty heavily commented on what you need to change. THe ultimatebb.php script will go into the original ubb directory, and the ultimatebb.cgi script will go into your cgi directory that held the original classic scripts.

Once those are in place the search engines should redirect from the old links to the new ones as well.

Rick I can do this for you now ,add you as a Admin guy.

The big thing will be trying to duplicate the permission denied error. I've been fiddling around a bit to see if I can duplicate it but no such luck, everything seems to be working fine. So, will probably need the login info for someone who is having the problem.

Rick

Rob and I just ran a little experiment. It seems the 404 errors are related to the IP address of the user. We switched user names and logged in...he had no problem updating my signature (he's in the US, I'm in Calgary). The first time that is...

On the second attempt, it started returning the Permission Denied report. Third attempt it worked. :pWe're messing with it as I type this.

Rick...ummm, what is an installer zip? I did not do the site upgrade. Looking on the current server, I don't see any zip files (sorry, I told you I was a noob!)

It's actually the importer zip file. In the members area here there is a zip file called classic_import.zip. This has the redirect files that I was talking about.

Hmm, that's is extremely odd about how it works for him and not for you. Do you have access to the webserver error logs? Curious if maybe there might be more information in there.

On another note. If you want to bump me to admin on your forums, display name of RickBaker, then I'll peek around at the various settings to make sure everything looks good.

Wow I finally got back in.


My question to you is ,Was the 6.73 version ran first before the 7.0 version for our upgrade?

Rick found out what the phrase is that gives you this 404 or atleast one anyway.

Go into the website and find a thread and type in "cat is pregnant".

I believe so, I worked with Skip on the data that he transfered over and I believe he upgraded that portion prior to turning it over to me.

As for the 404. Ok, it definitely sounds like the mod_security issue. Although that is quite the odd phrase. How about just "pregnant", does that result in the same thing?

Ok, just tested it. It will actually error on "Cat is". "Cat" works fine, and "pregnant" works fine, but it doesn't like "Cat is". That's just crazy. I can't imagine the reason for having that phrase in mod_security

Silly isn't it. I have a ticket in with them so we shall see.

It's cat with a string, "cat" doesn't do anything, but "cat __" triggers... the linux cat command is used to view the contents of a file; i'm sure "tail __" will error as well.

bascially that rule is to thwart users exploiting insecure scripts to utilize system commands, they don't want them to cat /var/www/html/config.php (or something similar)...

As i said, it's a really anal module...

Yeah, "cat" anything will trigger it. Strange, they don't have a variety of other commands filtered that can do the exact same thing. more, less, head, print, etc. all work fine. Sounds like they were maybe just getting started setting it up, or something.

They have been around for a lttle while not sure how long. Hopefully they will get it corrected in the AM .

Dang... Giz beat me to it Guess that's what I get for doing real work

They're likely using the builtin subset and haven't started tweaking; the default set of filters has a load of examples, I believe cat is one of them.

as usual, i am, the man :nod: lol

Funny... even tho I can't type the word lynx_, I can type in cat is pregnant and even cat /var/www/ just fine...

That means that your host doesn't have those lines defined in their mod_security configuration ...

Really?

Do you know of a way I can check the settings via cPanel? I don't see such options. I guess I could ask them what "everyday words" I can't use! lol

Most things in the configs are strings, it's nto formed to check for everyday words, some words just fit in the filtered strings.

And there is no way to see the config, they'd have to sen dyou the config file; which, for security, they're doubtful to do.

You could go and download the module and tear it apart though

SSH lets me run CAT and TOP etc... My new account seems to run on a fairly good box with low usage at the moment.

.

That's SSH, we're talking about the apache Mod_Security module which doesn't allow some webpages to load (or forms to be submitted) if they contain some strings (such as CAT, TOP, SAR, etc)

Okay, but then curious how one would use a PUT statement to a page to run a CAT command?

I'm not a Webmaster and have not tried to hack a Linux box, so curious how that is an issue.

.

'eh you type: "cat wash" and it puts it on the page, anytime something is entered with the string it errors.

If you think to some phpbb issues in the past you can see why this is used, they allowed users to indicate commands which would relay the output to the browser, so you could index.php?style=cat%20/etc/shadowed and it'd display the contents of the file you're looking for... pretty dirty.

Doh! so simple I couldn't see the forest due to all the trees.

Thanks

lol np

Rehashing this 404 Forbidden garbage.

Must be computor illiterate but where do I install this?


.htaccess file under your forums folder (create .htaccess if there isn't
one),

SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off

Generally your .htaccess file would be in your web root (the bottom most directory which can be accessed from the web).

Files that start with a . are marked as "hidden" so you'll need to make sure that you have an FTP client that is capable of listing "hidden files".

Generally most hosts include a basic .htaccess file, if one is not presant, just save your input to a file (any name will do) and upload it to your webspace, and rename it to .htaccess.

The reason I say to rename the file on the server is because Windows does not like files that start with a .

Also, use of .htaccess files only work for Apache webservers.

Your host has to also enable .htaccess files for your site from my understanding of it (most seem to allow it).

Likely the permissions for .htaccess will be "basic", I'm not sure if you'd be able to disable these elements in this mode... But theres only one way to find out lol..

Well it's "Windows Explorer" that doesn't like to save the file.

You can use notepad as well or DOS to save it on Windows system. Just in the save as from NOTEPAD use quotes around it when you save it ".htaccess" and it will be saved correctly. Make sure you FTP it up in ASCII mode as well.

.

Weird. I never had that problem. Then again, I usually dump the file from the server, edit it, and re-upload it. Never had a problem w/ the filename.

thats what I do as well; windows explorer doesn't like to name things with just an extension, but as nt said, you can trick the "save as" box into doing it with using ""'s

I don't know about Notepad -- I only use EditPad, and that lets me create .htaccess files with no problem to my XP desktop.

Amendment: I use EditPad 3.5.3 -- before it got all BLOATED. If you can find that (free) version, you will NEVER use Notepad again! (PM me with your email for a copy )

i'm too tired to pm you my email :nod:

I have it already. lol

well there you go lol

Well I have the bloated one, full pro version of EditPad Pro but I use UEStudio for most of my coding. http://www.ultraedit.com/

However I've started to install this on desktops so that when/if I need to do file editing I can easily run a cool editor Notepad++ http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/notepad-plus/npp.3.9.Installer.exe


.

I use ultraedit - great for searching for strings in code....

I've tried both notepad++ and ultraedit, too bulky lol... give me something that is low impact, tiny (size) and easy to use.

that is why we use you xxx

EDLIN for Windows, VI for Linux

You one of those guys that work hard to prove you can do it eh Gizmo. Your prerogative I suppose, but I'll take the fancier stuff myself, MUCH faster coding than built-in notepad type editors.

I use nano (a Pico clone) for linux; only because I don't like VI, joe, etc.

All I do is code in Notepad/Wordpad; never had an issue with "how fast" i can do things... The only downside is that I can't easily find what line i'm on lol...

I've tried a variety of various editors and I always end up going back to VI. I'd say 98% of everything in UBB.threads was done in VI.

Onlything I use VI for is visudo to edit my sudoers file hehe.

masochist

.

hahaha, Rick scared the windows enforcer, quick, hide the eggs!

LOL - I actually used to use EDLIN and VI but once you really start having to do a lot of coding and use a modern editor you can code a lot faster better code.

Knowing how to use the built-in tools though is good so that if you have to work on another system without modern tools you still know how to do it.

If I was paying you to code though and you were using just the built-in tools I'd think twice about paying you a decent wage if it were based on the hour.

.

Easy, install yum on the new *nix varient and then install nano ...

And I code quite fast using just notepad, it's all I ever use (other than nano/pico); it's not a matter of the tool or how many "cool newbie options" it has, it's a matter of how well you work with what you're used to ...

Okay boss. I suppose we can agree to disagree and let it be.

exactly...

IMO, a user is more abpt to work well and fast with the tools that they're accustomed to, if anything, introducing new tools will cause things to take longer as they have to get used to the new fangled tool/options.

The only thing in notepad/wordpad that can be updated that would be of any use to me would be if they where to add line numbering; everything else i can add myself (html code, php code, hex colors, etc)

pico for me

vi - is too complicated

Well they aren't too good at replacing strings in hundreds of files at the same time like advanced editors.

They also don't do column/block editing that I know of.

You guys can keep your editors and I'll keep mine

I use pico on the server - but Ultraedit on my laptop

Lol I can replace multiple strings wiht both notepad and wordpad ... No so much in nano/pico though...

I am not aware of anything for a linux server that acts in a simialr way to notepad - it is left to right scrolling that would be nice.

vi can do a find and replace, but I don't generally use that much, generally i use the locate and edit the line

There are always options

perl -pi -e "s/Find This String/Replace with this String/" *.ext

No doubt there are options for seasoned users but still not quite as easy as clicking a button to do it. You would also need a better regular expression or you would easily wipe out and ruin the other files.
You could also do for each and grep, etc.. just that each time you would spend a while with the syntax unless you did it often, in an advanced editor it takes that guess work out of it.

I'm not trying to persuade anyone to change what or how they do things - just being a post W... like Gizmo - hehe

.

Gizmo - I'll send you a copy of EditPad 3.5.3 to try out -- it has line numbering (well, it has "Go to line #)) and a few other nice touches that Notepad doesn't have (like no file size limit), but it's still ultra slim. There isn't even an install - you just run it. No color-coding, though - that's the only thing I miss about it compared to say, Dreamweaver's source view which I use sometimes also. Later versions of EditPad have it, but I've found them to be more bloated for an everyday .txt reader.

I had to start using Crimson Editor so I could find line numbers of code that I had to edit to fix stuff as a beta tester. It has a bunch of advanced stuff that some of you may be interested in. It's free and works well on Windows.

www.crimsoneditor.com

FYI - The built-in Windows Notepad can GOTO line numbers as well by menu or by CTRL-G it also has no file size limits since Windows 2000 and it can enter a current "TIME and DATE" with F5

Tons of great editors out there but unless someone is fed up with what they're using most won't give another editor a try as they don't feel the need (as evidenced by this thread).

I used to use Crimson a long time ago but recently switched to using Notepad++ for a freebie on other users machines if I want more than the built-in notepad.

.

Well whattaya know! Can you tell how long it's been since I've used it??

EditPad still does some cooler things, tho

hehe I'm sure it does. A programmer I know is actively trying to get me to switch to using his editor ASE - It's a great editor and does some cool stuff too but having used UltraEdit for so long now and being used to it and it's advanced features his version does not compete for me. He keeps improving it though but he gears it more towards Scripters and Programmers and I have other uses and needs for an editor besides just those tasks.

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'eh looks no differant than EditPlus and I have that registered