That error indicates that there is a problem connecting to the database server with the information in the configuration; open your /includes/config.inc.php file and ensure the correct database information is supplied.
You might also load the System Requirements Test to ensure that your server is compatable with UBB.threads after the configuration change.
I don't know if the things listed in the "Possible Problems" section are issues.
It does look like this is:
You have indicated that you would like to test your UBB.threads configuration, but the file could not be found in the path: forum/includes/config.inc.php
I checked that directory. It does have that file. Compared file size to the one I backed up this morning prior to the php upgrade. It was the same. I uploaded it again in case it somehow got corrupt, but same error message.
DB information hasn't changed. Would the upgrade for PHP or EasyApache4 cause any changes to those settings?
You have the file in your forums/includes/ folder, it is looking for your forum config under forums/includes/forum/includes/config.inc.php
Move the file to your web root, so it is accessible as http://www.byzcath.org/ubbt_test.php and set $config["path"] inside the file to read "forums" (by default it reads "forum"); it should now process through your UBB.threads configuration.
Yes, some of the possible problems are worrisome... They equate to: mysql_connect - doesn't matter, your system has mysqli_connect installed since it is PHP7, so it'll use that instead. file_get_contents - Needs to have allow_url_fopen enabled so that your forum can communicate with www.stopforumspam.com for spam prevention. max_input_vars - Needs to be raised to 3000, by default it is 1000, which means you can send config updates fore up to ~30 forums, any more than that and you could end up with your configuration file wiped (which could be the problem here if your config file is empty and you've submitted items from the control panel after the config change). memory_limit - Your PHP Memory Limit is extremely low, todays standards generally see this value at 128MB for PHP7+.
Why? Its my script on my site, I know what it's supposed to look like...
At UBBDev we have $conf["parse"] set to not parse the config file (a value of 0), whereas the changes I recommended will allow us to see if your config file was wiped (as no connection information would result in the credentials being wrong as they do not exist). Though you could also check its filesize or content manually.
I've requested the webhost to implement items 2, 3 and 4 from your list above. They've already done #3 & #4. Thanks.
Also, I viewed config.inc.php on the server in the /forums/includes directory. It does include the DB login information. Filesize is 6498. It all looks normal.
But the test script showed under "UBB.threads Configuration": Could not connect to the MySQL Database: The server requested authentication method unknown to the client
Since the config.inc.php file is unchanged from yesterday and looks normal, I'm guessing there is some setting has disabled the normal authentication method? But the Joomla site is accessing its DB ok.
I'm really not sure, I've never heard of that error before; but it looks to be a server configuration issue. Upon Googling the error, I see a lot of references to pre-MySQL 4.1 style passwords (versus the hashing introduced in MySQL 4.1), but we're talking about a change from like 2003 (that looks like the release year of MySQL 4.1); so, unless you've been with your host for like ever (not sure why any current host would still be pushing pre-MySQL 4.1 passwords) I'm at a loss.
You could try changing this line in /libs/mysqli.inc.php
Code
$showerror = 0;
With
Code
$showerror = 1;
And UBB.threads should print the entirety of the error message, but I think that'll probably still be the one that the test script is displaying.
Could I convince you to mail me a copy of your config.inc.php file to james@virtualnightclub.net, I'd like to see if your configuration has any port definitions or if its configured to use persistent connections or something that may be off in the file.
Basically, when MySQL 4.1 was introduced it changed how passwords were stored by storing them with longer hashes (all passwords are encoded in a hash, the old hashes were 16 bytes; they were updated for security). Some hosts basically "put off" updating old passwords and added new users with new style passwords (which can be done in the server config with "old_passwords=1")
From what I've read it looks like the error can be fixed by the root user setting a new style password on the account, something like:
Code
ALTER USER 'username'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH mysql_native_password BY 'password';
I'm not sure why it would have worked in PHP5 and doesn't in PHP7, but it seems like an easy enough thing to have checked (worse case it looks like the password will be updated with current style password hashing).
I just got your configuration and ran it through the built in PHP Syntax Checker and it looks good (no errors), and I see persistent connections are disabled, so it isn't an issue with that.
Code
[james@server tester]# php -l config.inc.php
No syntax errors detected in config.inc.php
[quote][/quote]I think that you could do it through phpmyadmin as the root user, as it should tell you what password storage options are available; but I think it'd have to be done by a privilaged user account that has acced over other accounts (I'm not sure what options would be available to a local user).
A neat trick, select 4.1 and use the same password that you have been using, and you shouldn't have to update your scripts.
On my server I have the following options for changing user passwords in PHPMyAdmin (see attachment)
Last edited by Gizmo; 01/29/20197:15 PM. Reason: screenshot
Did you do the password change as the root user or the account owner? I'm not sure that the user account would have the privileges required to change their password type (for security).
The overall configuration looks fine; those are some mighty large allowed uploads, do you do a lot of photo or PDF uploads?
I spoke too soon. Still an issue. The forum appears to be up and running but no one can log in. Upon entering credentials it returns: "Sorry, you are not logged in or you don't have permission for that."
Password change was done via my login to the control panel at the webhost. I do not know if that is root user.
We allow pdfs, and have some large ones. Though I probably should scale that back and force people with large files to ask me.
Its a stretch, but since you don't have allow_url_fopen enabled on your server, so it cannot fetch information from the Stop Forum Spam database; but you have it enabled in your configuration, so its possible that it's causing problems.
We posted at the same time. Changed it from "1" to "0". No change. Same error message.
PS: I see a name on the "Who's Online Now" list. so I'm guessing those who are logged in stayed logged in and only those who were not logged in cannot now log in.
I'm trying to figure out why the server isn't passing a variable, if we can't get it figured out you may just have to roll back to PHP5.6 for the time being.
You don't happen to have a .htaccess file in one of these directories that has any sort of apache redirect or 301 redirect in place? /home/byzcatho/public_html /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/
Is there any entry in your web server logs which mention the forum folder?
Did your upgrade to UBB.threads v7.7.0 complete through all of the transition steps?
I searched.htaccess in /public_html for 'apache', 'redirect' and 301'. I only found: RewriteRule ^/?$ "http\:\/\/byzcath\.org\/" [R=301,L]
/public_html/forums does not have a file named .htmaccess
I looked in the /public_html/logs and found a error.php that was updated today (everything else was old). It was over 1 G and I cannot download it or open it. [Is it safe to delete it?]
When I did the upgrade to v7.7.0 there were no issues and it ran smoothly according to directions. However, it looked like I must have also uploaded the /includes directory but restored it from backup and all worked well.
Last edited by Jake; 01/29/201910:00 PM. Reason: Correction, not at 7.7.1.
If no /test it will not have "path_info" set (as the path would be blank, as per your link).
You didn't answer my question regarding .htaccess files in these folders: /home/byzcatho/public_html /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/
You mentioned installing 7.7.1, I am not seeing that you're running that release either in your forum footer or the test script; did you run the upgrade utility through the complete upgrade process?
I have the control panel open, but I accessed phpinfo.php from my ftp client (opened it and read it there). That was the file that "PATH_INFO" was not in.
I'm not sure what you mean with: http://www.byzcath.org/forums/admin/phpinfo.php/test I loaded the page and tried to log in and got the same error. Or did you mean the url? It is http://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=login&ocu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.byzcath.org%2Fforums%2Fadmin%2Fphpinfo.php%2Ftest
/public_html/forums does not have a file named .htaccess
I looked in the /public_html/logs and found a error.php that was updated today (everything else was old). It was over 1 G and I cannot download it or open it. [Is it safe to delete it?]
I also found /forums/error_log - The following were included numerous times much earlier today.The second entry was the last entry:
[25-Jan-2019 19:30:39 UTC] PHP Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening required 'includes/config.inc.php' (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/ubbthreads.php on line 43
[29-Jan-2019 19:46:28 UTC] PHP Warning: include(): Failed opening '/libs/ver.inc.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/opt/cpanel/ea-php71/root/usr/share/pear') in /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/libs/ubbthreads.inc.php on line 9
Sorry! I am 7.7.0. I'm not sure where I saw 7.1.1. Should I install it? Will that fix the issues?
Any further thoughts on this? I have not yet asked the web host to go back to PHP 5.6. Should I? I'd prefer to fix the issues and stay at 7.1.26. Is this something that can be resolved if I open a support ticket?
Jake, we are not actually employees of UBBCentral; the team (Isaac, the beta testers, and I) comprised of private developers and volunteers who provide coding services for UBB.threads on behalf of UBBSystems (the script vendor), and provide free user to user support on the forums in our spare time.
We are web developers, and not server technicians, but we've been attempting to work through your issues by comparing data from your PHPinfo and System Requirements Test output to working configurations and we're really not sure what could be the cause of the issues on the page. The login page being displayed is actually part of an error that is being triggered to obscure the page from users, it is being triggered by a server fault of some sort, but I'm not entirely sure of the cause.
We also tried various permutations with your config file on our servers while testing to attempt to recreate the error but could not. You should be able to disable the spider friendly URLs and see if it opens the community again (changing the "SEARCH_FRIENDLY_URLS" value in your config.inc.php file to a 0), though that would leave you with no spider friendly URLs on PHP7; or, if it was working properly in PHP5, you might have your server techs roll the system back until a cause to this issue can be pinpointed. We've tested this release extensively up to PHP7.3 and had not seen this issue ever pop up.
What appears to be happening is the system is not parsing URLs with basic separators (?&;=/ characters in URLs), and I have no idea what PHP settings or variables could affect that behavior.
It may be a long shot, but did your host restart your machine after building the PHP7 kernels and after updating EasyApache? If you're not on a dedicated machine, is it possible for your host to move you to another machine (that woudn't have 17 year old settings like the MySQL password issue)?
I appreciate you are all private developers and volunteers. I'm sorry for my lack of patience. When the issues are fixed I hope you'll allow me to provide you and whoever is helping you with some sort of tangible thank you for your work. You are more than worth it.
In config.inc.php I changed:
- From: 'SEARCH_FRIENDLY_URLS' => '1', [as it was successfully for years with PHP5] - To: 'SEARCH_FRIENDLY_URLS' => '0',
All appears to be working again. I was able to post, edit and edit community information.
1) The web host said they were going to do a restart when they upgraded to EasyApache4. I will ask if they actually did, and to restart now. Then I'll put the above setting back to "0" and see what happens and report back. After that I won't do anything until I hear back from you. [I'm guessing it is better to resolve everything before upgrading from 7.7.0 to 7.7.1.]
2) RE: 17 year old settings (like the MySQL password issue)? I don't know what to think about that. I never thought about it before. Every now and then I get a notification from the web host that they will be installing or upgrading something. I never considered that they might be leaving MySQL alone for 17 years. I do know that I have not purposely changed hosts for probably a decade, though several web hosts have been bought out and absorbed by other companies until the current one. I can ask if they can move me to another machine. I'll hold off on doing this until you tell me it is the next logical move. [Maybe you want to further investigate the issue? Or maybe it so rare it is just easier to request a move to another machine?]
--
Philipp:
Thanks for your information about Nginx proxy plugin (NginxCP) for cPanel. I'll hold off on doing anything about until Gizmo makes a recommendation.
I appreciate you are all private developers and volunteers. I'm sorry for my lack of patience. When the issues are fixed I hope you'll allow me to provide you and whoever is helping you with some sort of tangible thank you for your work. You are more than worth it.
- From: 'SEARCH_FRIENDLY_URLS' => '1', [as it was successfully for years with PHP5] - To: 'SEARCH_FRIENDLY_URLS' => '0',
All appears to be working again. I was able to post, edit and edit community information.
Great, at least now any turnover rate can be minimized since users can again access the site.
Originally Posted by Jake
1) The web host said they were going to do a restart when they upgraded to EasyApache4. I will ask if they actually did, and to restart now. Then I'll put the above setting back to "0" and see what happens and report back. After that I won't do anything until I hear back from you. [I'm guessing it is better to resolve everything before upgrading from 7.7.0 to 7.7.1.]
That's a fairly painless test; but yes, I'd recommend not preforming an upgrade through a server issue.
Originally Posted by Jake
2) RE: 17 year old settings (like the MySQL password issue)? I don't know what to think about that. I never thought about it before. Every now and then I get a notification from the web host that they will be installing or upgrading something. I never considered that they might be leaving MySQL alone for 17 years. I do know that I have not purposely changed hosts for probably a decade, though several web hosts have been bought out and absorbed by other companies until the current one. I can ask if they can move me to another machine. I'll hold off on doing this until you tell me it is the next logical move. [Maybe you want to further investigate the issue? Or maybe it so rare it is just easier to request a move to another machine?
Originally Posted by Jake
Philipp: Thanks for your information about Nginx proxy plugin (NginxCP) for cPanel. I'll hold off on doing anything about until Gizmo makes a recommendation.
Originally Posted by Philipp
Look like you are using an old Nginx proxy plugin (NginxCP) for cPanel? This may cause issues with your new EasyApache 4 setup.
Well, philipp's comment kind of goes along with what I was saying about ancient settings on the machine, if those little things were off, what large things have also been neglected?
I asked the web host (Total Server Solutions) if they did a restart. They didn't say, but told me that it is not necessary after EasyApache and PHP upgrades. So, no they did not. I will ask them to do one.
They also recommended not using NginxCP. I reminded them that I didn't install it, and that it came with the server plan.
I also asked about moving to a new server. They supported the idea, and said that the server I was using would have an end of life for the OS next year and I'd need to migrate anyway. They recommended working with their sales team to get a quote on a new cloud server.
At this point, I will leave the forum alone until I explore my options and (hopefully) migrate.
-
Webhosting Question: We are a small community. Our website probably gets about 2,000 hits/day. Our forum has 5,000 members but really only about 150 are active, each posting once or twice few times a month. We were with Express Web Systems (Tom Walsh) from about 2013 until they became part of Total Server Solutions. I currently pay $49.99/mo for a virtual private server. Maybe that made sense 10 years ago when our traffic was much higher. Since it looks like migration to a new server is in order, I want to seek expert knowledge on what is needed and what a reasonable cost is. I'm seeing unlimited accounts for under $5/mo (probably shared server?). AWS seems to offer hosting that is free (thought it is never free in the end and I have not yet read everything necessary).
Can anyone offer some advice? I requested a quote from TSS Sales and will share what it is. I'm going to spend the next few days trying to figure out what the best path forward for the web host is.
If a kernel update was required while adding PHP7 support it would require a restart, other than a kernel update then it wouldn't really affect anything.
I have a list of several Recommended Hosts that I've worked with; you'd probably be able to get by using a Pro Hosting plan; think of it like shared hosting with additional resources and no webhost maintenance like a VPS would require. Both StableHost (my VPS provider) and BlueHost (Isaac's Pro Hosting provider) have these plans, regularly about $30/mo.
I though you'd be interested in this. My current host, with whom I pay $50/month, recommends a new plan at $162/month:
Cloud Hosting - TSS Cloud - Atlanta » vCores: 4 x Unit » Memory GB: 4 x GB » Disk Space GB: 80 x GB » IP Addresses: 2 IP Addresses » Swap Disk Size: 0 x GB » Operating System: CentOS 7.2 x64 » Port Speed: 1000 x Mbps » CPU Priority: 100 x Unit » Primary Data Store: SolidFire-DS-Zone » Swap Data Store: SolidFire-DS-Zone » Network Group: ATL-PUB-Zone Software Licenses - cPanel Cloud/VPS License Server Management - Basic Server Management **Optional but HIGHLY recommended** Backup Solutions - R1Soft (CDP) License Backup Solutions - R1Soft CDP Backup Space » Disk Space: 160 x 1 GB Total $161.95 USD/month with a 12-month contract.
Lol, so they want you to pay more; a pro host is all you should need if that's your only site, and its signifigantly less than this server they're trying to upsell lol.
Finally moved to a new server. They gave me a much better rate so I stayed with them (at least for now). I let it run for a day before changing anything.
In config.inc.php I set 'SEARCH_FRIENDLY_URLS' => '1' (I was advised to set it to "0" to allow logins to work). Setting back to "1" allowed people to login, logout, and post.
So far, so good.
I tried registering a new user through the regular process a user would use. After entering the CAPTCHA Verification and clicking "Create Account" I was greeted with:
Fatal error: Uncaught ArgumentCountError: Too few arguments to function mailer::add_content(), 1 passed in /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/scripts/adduser.inc.php on line 757 and at least 2 expected in /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/libs/mailer.inc.php:139 Stack trace: #0 /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/scripts/adduser.inc.php(757): mailer->add_content('REG_CONTENT3') #1 /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/ubbthreads.php(279): page_adduser_run() #2 {main} thrown in /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/libs/mailer.inc.php on line 139
When I login as myself, the user was created and is showing in the "Registration Queue".
I was still at 7.7.0. I upgraded to 7.7.1. The upgrade process was successful and without incident.
I attempted to register as a new user and see a similar error message. It also shows to an admin when approving a new registration. [The registration is successful even though the new registrant sees the error.]
Fatal error: Uncaught ArgumentCountError: Too few arguments to function mailer::add_content(), 1 passed in /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/scripts/adduser.inc.php on line 762 and at least 2 expected in /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/libs/mailer.inc.php:139 Stack trace: #0 /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/scripts/adduser.inc.php(762): mailer->add_content('REG_CONTENT5') #1 /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/ubbthreads.php(279): page_adduser_run() #2 {main} thrown in /home/byzcatho/public_html/forums/libs/mailer.inc.php on line 139
When I did the upload, everything uploaded successfully and without errors. All have today's date.
