Help reinstalling store

[Vger]

Using PS Pad --> Search --> Search/Replace In Files --> Text to Find = <? and tick the box which says "Whole words only", and then seach inside the folder containing the local copy of your template files.

This will show only the short tags used and not all opening php tags.

Vger

[Boatersplanet]

Are both the main store and the /test store operating on the same server?
Same server php version etc??
Are they using the same template?
And so on

1. I have the existing store with a cluttered directory (add-ons) etc. The public facing site functions fine but I can no longer access the admin. It pulls up with a blank page and generates no error in zencarts cache or server side. I then decided to do a clean install using the existing database and migrating the existing template. As a result i created the following to test/build out until it functions correctly, and then i would replace the old install in the home directory with the working one.

I have an installation in /demo which is a fresh install but using the same database so I can continue to process orders.

I have a clean installation in /test with a replicated database.

All three installations are on the same server with the same php version etc. The reason why I was concerned is because i tried to install an add-on module to create customers/orders to process phone orders for my business partner. When
i encountered the error i restored a backup of the entire home directory from the previous day and i still had the same error. My hosting company suggested that perhaps the configuration.php may have been broken etc. And that i may want to just do a clean installation. In a last attempt i restored a full backup that i originally migrated over to the hosting company with. In theory it should function after that because it worked fine when i migrated over. Alas, no luck... so that is how i got to the point where i am at now. I am concerned that perhaps there may be something in the configuration of the vps that does not provide a suitable environment for zencart (i.e php conflict or some weird htaccess). I am going to try to edit the short tags as suggested but beyond that im lost. I am concerned that there is somethin right in front of me in the vps configuration that isnt correct and my hosting company just doesn't know to change it.

[kobra]

Thank you for the clarification

That is a precarious situation...

Any particular reason you moved to a VPS where you have taken on the additional responsibility of being the server admin?

[Boatersplanet]

Thank you for the clarification

That is a precarious situation...

Any particular reason you moved to a VPS where you have taken on the additional responsibility of being the server admin?

I had existing concerns with the configuration. I was suspended twice from my first hosting provider for using too many resources but they wouldnt tell me what specifically was the issue. MySQL was just sucking up resources (1500 queries/second) with spiders. Insane.. I know... but i have about 80,000 products. I paid developers to look at the database and they could find nothing in the database with the exception of counters_history table which reached 1.4M entries= ~60MB. I then got suspended by the new hosting company and they suggested that we move to a 256MB VPS (burstable to 1GB) and at $40/month I'm not complaining..

[Vger]

I see two main reasons for using VPS (though there are many other, lesser, reasons):

1. The site owner wants a guaranteed share of resources and/or immunity from the actions of another site owner on a shared server which may bring the whole server down.

2. The site itself has outgrown shared hosting because of the demands on resources it makes. This would appear to be your situation. 1500 SQL queries per second is incredible, and definitely shows something wrong with the scripting or settings of your website. Even with 80k products and an active site it shouldn't generate that number of SQL queries (per minute maybe, but not per second). We have a few customers with 120k+ product websites and they don't place a strain on our shared servers - which again points to a problem with the scripting or settings used on your site.

And having said that, given the demands of your site, having a VPS with just 256 Mbs of RAM is a bad joke. 256 Mbs is the bottom rung of the VPS ladder and I would only recommend that for a not-too-active site which fell under the reasons I gave in Para 1.

Okay, I'll shut up about VPS now. Your problem is that your site works up until you try to use a particular template - at which point it stops working. You've said that the same site with the Classic Green template works okay.

I've spent a lot of time chasing down problems like this and point again to the frequent use of PHP Short Tags by developers of templates. I'm as sure as I can be that this is where you'll find the problem.

You can test this out by adding this to a root level .htaccess file:

php_flag short_open_tag on

or

php_value short_open_tag on

Depending on the configuration of the server this will either work and allow the use of short tags, or else it will cause a "500 - Internal Server" error.

Vger

[Boatersplanet]

I see two main reasons for using VPS (though there are many other, lesser, reasons):

1. The site owner wants a guaranteed share of resources and/or immunity from the actions of another site owner on a shared server which may bring the whole server down.

2. The site itself has outgrown shared hosting because of the demands on resources it makes. This would appear to be your situation. 1500 SQL queries per second is incredible, and definitely shows something wrong with the scripting or settings of your website. Even with 80k products and an active site it shouldn't generate that number of SQL queries (per minute maybe, but not per second). We have a few customers with 120k+ product websites and they don't place a strain on our shared servers - which again points to a problem with the scripting or settings used on your site.

And having said that, given the demands of your site, having a VPS with just 256 Mbs of RAM is a bad joke. 256 Mbs is the bottom rung of the VPS ladder and I would only recommend that for a not-too-active site which fell under the reasons I gave in Para 1.

Okay, I'll shut up about VPS now. Your problem is that your site works up until you try to use a particular template - at which point it stops working. You've said that the same site with the Classic Green template works okay.

I've spent a lot of time chasing down problems like this and point again to the frequent use of PHP Short Tags by developers of templates. I'm as sure as I can be that this is where you'll find the problem.

You can test this out by adding this to a root level .htaccess file:

php_flag short_open_tag on

or

php_value short_open_tag on

Depending on the configuration of the server this will either work and allow the use of short tags, or else it will cause a "500 - Internal Server" error.

Vger

Vger,

I spent some time combing through a local copy of the template directory. I only found 3 instances of a short php tag.... and it was on some gv_coupon page... I edited the .htaccess file as mentioned also, and got a 500 error. Still at a loss over this one... Kobra was kind enough to offer to look over a cpanel backup so I'll wait to hear back on that too.

[kobra]

The site itself has outgrown shared hosting because of the demands on resources it makes. This would appear to be your situation. 1500 SQL queries per second is incredible

Where have you been??

We have single products with attributes that generate 5k-6k querries and process these in under 1sec

[Vger]

Where have you been??

Commissioning and providing day-to-day handling of some of the biggest and fastest servers in existence today.

We have single products with attributes that generate 5k-6k querries and process these in under 1sec

To generate that number of queries for a single product then you must have an incredibly complicated and deep Products Attributes set-up.

Vger

[schoolboy]

Commissioning and providing day-to-day handling of some of the biggest and fastest servers in existence today.

I'll vouch for that! Our hosting on your new pegasus server makes lightning look positively sluggish!

I cannot believe the positive difference that server is having on our clients' websites...