SitemapXML v.2

[mc12345678]

I've just set ALL the Permissions for the .xml files and .htaccess file that came with this plugin to 777, and they are being fetched now.
Is setting them all to 777 open to getting my site hacked or injected with any code etc..?
Do I leave them to 777 always?!

Every system is different. But, all files and folders on your server have one thing in common... they are all on your server for you to review, compare and make changes... so do you have all of your files and folders everywhere set to 777? Do you understand what those three numbers together mean? I'm not trying to play stump the chumpr or something... Some may say sure leave it that way if it works, others would say if you don't need to modify the files then should make them read, execute or the like only... as to whether they are writeable or not, well, sometimes security comes at a cost. Prevent changes until ready to make changes at which point make them writeable again...

Understand, on the server I use, last time I made a file 777, then I think I had to get the host to alter the permissions for me to regain access to the file. The host expects a max of 644 for files and 755 for folders... but that's one of the hosts with which I've worked. Another may require 777 for folders. I know that now or at least at one point the Zen Cart install instructions advocated 777 for folders while the development team probably will whack me across the head for saying this, but I haven't taken a hard look at those instructions for a while now... install, lock down specific folders and files, upgrade database and necessary files, move on. A lot of hard work has gone into those instructions.

[rlexyd]

Every system is different. But, all files and folders on your server have one thing in common... they are all on your server for you to review, compare and make changes... so do you have all of your files and folders everywhere set to 777? Do you understand what those three numbers together mean? I'm not trying to play stump the chumpr or something... Some may say sure leave it that way if it works, others would say if you don't need to modify the files then should make them read, execute or the like only... as to whether they are writeable or not, well, sometimes security comes at a cost. Prevent changes until ready to make changes at which point make them writeable again...

Understand, on the server I use, last time I made a file 777, then I think I had to get the host to alter the permissions for me to regain access to the file. The host expects a max of 644 for files and 755 for folders... but that's one of the hosts with which I've worked. Another may require 777 for folders. I know that now or at least at one point the Zen Cart install instructions advocated 777 for folders while the development team probably will whack me across the head for saying this, but I haven't taken a hard look at those instructions for a while now... install, lock down specific folders and files, upgrade database and necessary files, move on. A lot of hard work has gone into those instructions.

Thank you as always mc.
Your reply went straight over my head though :)
But I assume since you did Not specifically warn me to change the 777 permissions back, I will just leave them that way for now.
(if Google can't fetch these files at 644 permissions, than I have no choice.)

Might even look at using (https://www.xml-sitemaps.com) as it seemed to generate way more links and it's only one sitemap file. Not sure why this map generates several different sitemap files (might be a good thing but not sure), plus it keeps creating the manufacturessitemap even though the manufacturer box is unticked.)

[mc12345678]

Thank you as always mc.
Your reply went straight over my head though :)
But I assume since you did Not specifically warn me to change the 777 permissions back, I will just leave them that way for now.
(if Google can't fetch these files at 644 permissions, than I have no choice.)

Might even look at using (https://www.xml-sitemaps.com) as it seemed to generate way more links and it's only one sitemap file. Not sure why this map generates several different sitemap files (might be a good thing but not sure), plus it keeps creating the manufacturessitemap even though the manufacturer box is unticked.)

1) didn't say no don't do because I don't know your system. Not the first choice I would make. So for "ease". What are the folder permissions on the following folders: includes, images, zc_plugins, public?

2) as for "number" of links, that is not necessarily the right thing. What product is missing from the sitemap xml files that are in your store?

3) could have one file per product if so wanted, number of files doesn't mean anything. There is a set of "rules" to be followed to get from the root to the final location. Sitemap XML follows those. That the other file is created, if theres nothing in it, then shouldn't be a problem, though I'm sure it could be modified to eliminate generation of that (each?) file and associated data within the files.

After identifying the permissions of those folders, then can discuss further if an alternate setting should be set and/or attempted.

[rlexyd]

Thanks mc,

1) Permissions are: (Host is Hostgator)
includes: 755
images: 755
zc_plugins: 755
public_html: 750

2) There was a few categories not included in sitemap generation, had to manually add them to file (Cat where main and have products in them)

3) I get you. Just a query, why must the main page url in sitemap have the /index.php?main_page=index part? Is this what I will show on google? I would rather just the domain, can I alter that part by removing the above bit from the domain url in sitemapmainpage.xml?

[mc12345678]

Thanks mc,

1) Permissions are: (Host is Hostgator)
includes: 755
images: 755
zc_plugins: 755
public_html: 750

2) There was a few categories not included in sitemap generation, had to manually add them to file (Cat where main and have products in them)

3) I get you. Just a query, why must the main page url in sitemap have the /index.php?main_page=index part? Is this what I will show on google? I would rather just the domain, can I alter that part by removing the above bit from the domain url in sitemapmainpage.xml?

1) so, the sitemap folder(s), things don't work if the folders are set to 755?

2) these "categories" that didn't show, but have product, are the product linked from another category or is their master category this "missing" category?

3) I don't claim to be an SEO expert, I do know that the main page is reachable by that address and that basically it is by server setup that the main page is reached without using all of the index references. Usually the link(s) used represent the canonical link (basically the one link that really represents the product/page even if there are multiple addresses that could be entered to get there. In this situation I would either do more research outside of this thread/forum, go with making the change, and/or go with the "majority" which has been to accept the index.php?main_page=index. I suspect it is listed that way solely from the "consistent" nature of generating an address using the zen_href_link code without possibly evaluating for use of just the domain name with any applicable subfolder.

[rlexyd]

Just changed them ALL to 755, but for some reason 2 out of the 4 .xml say (couldn't fetch) - (mainpage and products)
https://i.imgur.com/y78fKX8.png
I think they were top categories with either single or double digit products in them.

[mc12345678]

Just changed them ALL to 755, but for some reason 2 out of the 4 .xml say (couldn't fetch) - (mainpage and products)
https://i.imgur.com/y78fKX8.png
I think they were top categories with either single or double digit products in them.

When you say "ALL" can you clarify? The discusion of what folders to change was about a specific set based off of existing values...

So I was able to get to the four sitemap files. Note I also forgot to mention one reason to split things up even if just a little is that it makes loading a specific aspect faster.

Now as far as categories that may have been missing, I don't have the code open about how they are "discovered", but there is either some characteristic about the category that is not right or there could even be an issue with it though I'm banking more on the first aspect.
Realize that one of the powers of this software is for it to get the sitemap regenerated on a periodic basis. I understand that one or more "regeneration" features could be disabled, but if the file is modified manually, then on the next regen, that change will be yet again needed...

Thinking more on the issue of sitemapmainpage... (haven't done any further homework), the only "issue" I see is that 1) sitemap.xml is intended to tell spiders the "most direct" way to get to the item referenced, that it is by that information for the site to be linked. The expectation though at that point is that the spider (perhaps a different than the first) is to go to that page using the info provided and validate that it is identified to be what was "selected" and whatever review. But... and even though I followed that link, the canonical info said that it is just the domain name and sub-folder... so in a way saying: hey spider here are two pages to get to the same info, basically leaving it to the spider to figure out what to provide.

Now, that said, I'll note that your site is accessible by either using or not using the www. prefix... general statements have been that should pick one and force the site to load to that even on first load (not just to become that way on first click...

[rlexyd]

Thank you mc,
Sorry, I meant all the .xml files associated with the sitemap plugin and the .htaccess in the sitemap folder.
The categories are new and I have set them up just like the other categories, nothing weird or different.
I've decided to remove the index part from the sitemapmainpage.xml file.
As for forcing my site to force load the www.prefix, I tried adding different codes I got online into my .htaccess but none of them worked?!
The .htaccess in my public_html already has the following in it:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/\.well-known/acme-challenge/[0-9a-zA-Z_-]+$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/\.well-known/cpanel-dcv/[0-9a-zA-Z_-]+$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/\.well-known/pki-validation/[A-F0-9]{32}\.txt(?:\ Comodo\ DCV)?$
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
RewriteEngine on


RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://.*amazonaws\.com [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_HOST} ^.*\.compute-1\.amazonaws\.com$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "AISearchBot" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "woriobot" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "heritrix" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "NetSeer" [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} "Nutch" [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [F] 
RewriteEngine on


# Use PHP5 Single php.ini as default
# Changed PHP handler from application/x-httpd-php5s to application/x-httpd-phpbetas on Thu Jan  7 15:29:29 MST 2016.
#AddHandler application/x-httpd-phpbetas .php


SetEnv TZ 'Australia/Sydney'


# php -- BEGIN cPanel-generated handler, do not edit
# Set the “ea-php74” package as the default “PHP” programming language.
<IfModule mime_module>
  AddHandler application/x-httpd-ea-php74 .php .php7 .phtml
</IfModule>
# php -- END cPanel-generated handler, do not edit

[rlexyd]

Just figured out how to force redirect my domain to always add www to the url via my cPanel when someone just types the domain.com.au.
The only thing I don't know what to do is force the http to redirect to https.
My site always loads https, but I tested it with just http and it did not redirect?!

[rlexyd]

Just figured it out, I think as I'm not getting any issues loading site: (I edited the .htaccess my cPanel created inside my Domain folder instead of the other one in public_html)

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^DOMAIN\.com\.au$
RewriteRule ^/?$ "https\:\/\/www\.DOMAIN\.com\.au\/" [R=301,L]


RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]