Question regarding install

[dfontana]

Hello all,

I have an odd question. When I installed Zen-cart 1.5.4 the page that checks that all the settings are ok I received a warning regarding the logs file that it was unwritable. I tried to change the permissions to 777 but received an error message stating access was denied for changing the permission. I spoke to my host provider and the representative I spoke to stated that folder is protected and cannot be changed.

So being I could not place the .htaccess in logs with the one from the installation files, does not pose a problem?

[bislewl]

what happens when you change it to 755?

[lhungil]

... I spoke to my host provider and the representative I spoke to stated that folder is protected and cannot be changed. ...

Did this folder already exist before you uploaded the Zen Cart installation?

[dfontana]

what happens when you change it to 755?

I get an access denied error regardless of what permission I try to set.

[dfontana]

Did this folder already exist before you uploaded the Zen Cart installation?

Yes the logs folder did exist, current permissions are set to 755, service provider does not all change to that and Zen-Cart report folder was not writable

[RixStix]

Are you talking about the logs folder in the cpanel root which contains server log files or the logs folder within the public_html folder which contains the zencart log files?

Maybe you are talking to the host about the public_ html root logs folder and they might be thinking the cpanel logs folder?

It is easy (at least for me) to sometimes look at the wrong folder with the same name.

[dfontana]

Are you talking about the logs folder in the cpanel root which contains server log files or the logs folder within the public_html folder which contains the zencart log files?

Maybe you are talking to the host about the public_ html root logs folder and they might be thinking the cpanel logs folder?

It is easy (at least for me) to sometimes look at the wrong folder with the same name.

I'm talking the logs folder in the root of my zen-cart installation. My provider actually hides PUBLIC_HTML from directory listing so root starts at that level.

[lhungil]

Typical Hosting Provider Setup (with cPanel):

root -+ (FTP root / private)
      |
      +- logs (often used by providers for Apache, FTP, etc logs)
      |
      +- public_html (WEB root / public; Zen Cart installed here)
      |      |
      |      +- logs (default location used by Zen Cart for logs)

OR

root -+ (FTP root / private)
      |
      +- logs (often used by providers for Apache, FTP, etc logs)
      |
      +- public_html (WEB root / public)
      |      |
      |      +- store (Zen Cart installed here)
      |      |      |
      |      |      +- logs (default location used by Zen Cart for logs)

The "logs" folder in the FTP root is often configured to not allow USERS to write, modify, or delete. This is where the hosting provider usually stores SERVER logs related to your domains.

The "logs" folder in the WEB root is not usually present on most cPanel based hosting providers. This folder is created when you upload Zen Cart. Zen Cart should be installed in the WEB root (or a subfolder under the WEB root).

The "logs" folder used by Zen Cart should physically exist and be writable during installation (in order to log any errors encountered). The Zen Cart "logs" folder location can be changed after installation to a different location if desired.


Some "lazy" hosting providers may provide something like the following:

root -+ (FTP & WEB root / public)
      |
      +- logs (used by provider for Apache, FTP, etc logs)

I say "lazy" because there is no COMPELLING reason in this day and age to not provide a private area outside the WEB root. If your host is doing the above, you may want to look for a new hosting provider.

If you cannot change providers, you will need to create a new folder to hold the Zen Cart debug logs (such as renaming the Zen Cart logs folder to "zc-logs"). You can then adjust the location to match after installation of Zen Cart (edit both configure.php files). To start out, you may choose to simply install Zen Cart in a folder (instead of the WEB root) and move it to the WEB root at a later date (after changing the Zen Cart log folder) to capture any error logs during installation. Otherwise you can install (with no error logging) and change the folder after installation.

[dfontana]

Typical Hosting Provider Setup (with cPanel):

root -+ (FTP root / private)
      |
      +- logs (often used by providers for Apache, FTP, etc logs)
      |
      +- public_html (WEB root / public; Zen Cart installed here)
      |      |
      |      +- logs (default location used by Zen Cart for logs)

OR

root -+ (FTP root / private)
      |
      +- logs (often used by providers for Apache, FTP, etc logs)
      |
      +- public_html (WEB root / public)
      |      |
      |      +- store (Zen Cart installed here)
      |      |      |
      |      |      +- logs (default location used by Zen Cart for logs)

The "logs" folder in the FTP root is often configured to not allow USERS to write, modify, or delete. This is where the hosting provider usually stores SERVER logs related to your domains.

The "logs" folder in the WEB root is not usually present on most cPanel based hosting providers. This folder is created when you upload Zen Cart. Zen Cart should be installed in the WEB root (or a subfolder under the WEB root).

The "logs" folder used by Zen Cart should physically exist and be writable during installation (in order to log any errors encountered). The Zen Cart "logs" folder location can be changed after installation to a different location if desired.


Some "lazy" hosting providers may provide something like the following:

root -+ (FTP & WEB root / public)
      |
      +- logs (used by provider for Apache, FTP, etc logs)

I say "lazy" because there is no COMPELLING reason in this day and age to not provide a private area outside the WEB root. If your host is doing the above, you may want to look for a new hosting provider.

If you cannot change providers, you will need to create a new folder to hold the Zen Cart debug logs (such as renaming the Zen Cart logs folder to "zc-logs"). You can then adjust the location to match after installation of Zen Cart (edit both configure.php files). To start out, you may choose to simply install Zen Cart in a folder (instead of the WEB root) and move it to the WEB root at a later date (after changing the Zen Cart log folder) to capture any error logs during installation. Otherwise you can install (with no error logging) and change the folder after installation.

If appears the host chose the latter from what I can see, as I already have Zen-Car installed, may try and move the Zen-Cart log to another folder and change the config files.

Thanks for the info, but out of curiosity, if I leave the log folder where it is with current permission does that pose a problem? I will try and move the folder later.

[lhungil]

... Thanks for the info, but out of curiosity, if I leave the log folder where it is with current permission does that pose a problem? ...

Yes, because if Zen Cart cannot write to the folder it cannot create debug / error logs. So if something does break (or an error occurs), you will not get any logs. The log files are vital to help narrow down causes if something does go awry (hopefully it never does).

I recommend my clients check for the presence of debug logs a semi-regular basis (or I check these if the client has a maintenance contract). Why? Because many customers may never report an issue if it occurs; Instead they just go shop somewhere else. The presence of a log is not guaranteed for all errors, but if one is present something usually needs to be fixed / updated. So this helps identify potential issues w/o waiting for a customer to report an issue.

So yeah, I would change the Zen Cart log folder as soon as possible to another location (for example "zc-logs"). Just create the folder, set the appropriate permissions, and add the files from the Zen Cart distribution's "logs" folder. Then configure Zen Cart to use the new location by altering "DIR_FS_LOGS" in the configure.php files (both - should be full path w/o tailing slash).