Running PHP as CGI

[hduk]

Hey All,

Im running zen 1.3.8 in a linux environment on mysql5.

Im getting a strange issue with the website intermittently going to the standard "page cannot be displayed" message. I am struggling to pinpoint the root cause as to me it seems like a webserver error.

Occasionally i get the zen screen where it refers to there being a problem with the site which im guessing is a problem connecting to the database, ive not seen this since changing the mysql target to ip rather than hostname.

Can anyone shed any light on the "page cant be displayed" issue.

Could this be a result of running php in cgi mode or would i get a different symptom?

[kobra]

php or cgi - if your cart is setup correctly neither of these should be the issue -additionally you should not have to be using IP if the nameservers are correctly set.

[hduk]

other than using the ip instead of hostname everything else is default. any suggestions on troubleshooting.

[yellow1912]

Permission, permission. On my host running as CGI you need to set folder to 755 and files to 644. This requirement may be different from host to host, check with your host, see what they have to say.

[hduk]

would the symptom be present all the time if it was permissions? rather than intermittent?

[Merlinpa1969]

If its permissions then Yes it would be all the time,
but only for the pages that have bad permissions set,
for instance in the admin
if you have the configure.php set to 777 then then whole admin is trashed because every page uses the config page

however if you only had the permissions bad on say orders.php then ONLY the orders.php file would be trashed.....

so if its the same links that are trashed all the time then yes, if its truely intermontent then I would so no its not a permissions issue

[hduk]

the problem can occur on the same page i.e if i select a particular category and view the first page when i come back to that page or refresh it a few times it will time out. Makes me think its more of a keepalives issue rather than permissions but im not an expert by any means on linux based servers. I havent tampered with the install either its a pretty much standard install with the exception of adding a few modules.

It does present itself more frequently if im in the admin area, ive been populating the site using ep an near enough every time i input a file the page will time out, a few refreshes later it comes back and the products are added fine. I have logged a call with my hosting provider but they have checked my mysql server and webhost with no issues. I was hoping to make it all live by the end of the weekend.

[Website Rob]

If you change from using an IP to using your Domain name, you should find these problems will go away. If they don't then the problem is with your Hosting services.

[hduk]

I was using the domain name initially but when i started getting the timeouts suspected a DNS issue to changed to using the IP but this didn't resolve the issue.

The host im using does support oscommerce so im guessing there should be no issues with zen particularly as when you search for zen hosting they come up as a sponsored link.

Ill refer it back to them.

Cheers everyone for the advice, if anyone has any other suggestions let me know as im desparate to launch

[hduk]

Forgot to add to my last post that initially the templates werent displaying and someone suggested eliminating the htaccess files from the main and admin sites. This fixed the template issue however could this be causing the timeouts?