Checkout Timeout - Host Configuration Issue?

[fozzyo]

I have a site that has just migrated away from GoDaddy to a VPS / cPanel configuration. There is a problem with the checkout session timeout issue, I'm trying to isolate to what / where is causing it and any guidance would be appreciated. I've had a search through most of the similar threads here but can't isolate the problem at the moment.

A quick summary of the settings:
ZC v1.5.5a
PHP 5.6
Session Directory - writable path
Cookie Domain True
Force Cookie Use False
Check SSL Session ID False
Check User Agent False
Check IP Address False
Prevent Spider Sessions True
Recreate Session True
IP to Host Conversion Status true
Use root path for cookie path False
Add period prefix to cookie domain True

Switching the site to the classic responsive template has the same problem, I'm waiting for Paypal account details to setup a 2nd payment provider for testing (primary provider is SecureTrading).

The timeout is being called from the following file on checkout success: modules/pages/checkout_success/header_php.php - line 16 no customer id

If there are suggestions on where to look for this that would be very much appreciated! I suspect there is something in the hosting configuration, another site uses same VPS and cPanel and doesn't have a problem. Are there any recommended tests to look at for such an issue?

Thanks
mat

[DrByte]

Did you try installing and testing Zen Cart out-of-the-box before moving the "live" site over? Just curious whether the problem pre-existed, without all the settings/etc that are in the database you moved over.

Also curious whether it's related to the payment module. Does the module take customers off-site to collect payment?

Does the timeout occur with the Check/Money-Order payment? How about with "free" purchases?

[Website Rob]

Change to:

Force Cookie Use True

[fozzyo]

Thanks for the replies, time out does not occur with the Cash On Delivery payment module.

I did try setting the Force Cookie to True but that didn't seem to affect it - however I need to do some more testing on that today to confirm what that does. I need to do the change, try in a few browsers ensure session / cookies fully cleared. My brain doesn't operate on full capacity at 12:30am.

I'm currently replicating the site to a test folder so I can do some more work on it, and also try it on a clean version of ZC. I am also waiting for a Paypal account from the site owner to test with a different payment method. Once the test site is ready I'll do more testing around the Force Cookie setting.

One of the issues that I have had is orders are duplicated - so the order is created within ZC, but it creates it twice. Last night I added some logging to follow the checkout process and see where the timeout is triggered. A customer has done an order this morning but the log is showing this:

14-08-17 06:30:39 modules/checkout_process.php - Line 18 Begin
14-08-17 06:30:40 modules/pages/checkout_process/header_php.php - Line 33 Redirect to Checkout Success
14-08-17 06:30:41 modules/pages/checkout_success/header_php.php - Line 16 no customer id
14-08-17 06:30:42 modules/pages/checkout_success/header_php.php - Line 16 no customer id

Payment redirects to checkout_process and this successfully processes and then that redirects to checkout_success - but for some reason this is called twice. The order is generated, but I assume the customer see's the Timeout message. Sometimes the order is duplicated too.

Thanks
Mat

[fozzyo]

Progress made ... last night I couldn't login to the Payment gateway provider, but now that I have looked at that the callback URL was for the domain name and didn't include the www subdomain.

I've added this in and now seems to be working (on my initial test). I'm going to monitor now and will come back with a confirmation in a few days, or additional information if the problems persist.

For anyone who looks at this in future check the following:
1) Does the checkout process work for Cash On Demand / Check Money Order modules
2) Does the problem persist if you switch to the default template removing any over-ride code you may have?
3) Check SSL ... turn off all SSL for the catalog site and run a test, and turn on SSL and run test
4) Check the payment provider callback URL matches the HTTP_SERVER domain name of the site specified in configure.php file (my case callback was for domain.co.uk not www.domain.co.uk)
5) Check callback uses SSL if ENABLE_SSL is true, they should match ideally I guess

Thanks
Mat

[DrByte]

Change to:

Force Cookie Use True

I did try setting the Force Cookie to True but that didn't seem to affect it

NOTE: Setting Force Cookie Use to true is actually likely to *break* things for payment modules that redirect offsite.
Nothing wrong with trying it, but if you're going to change the setting, be sure to test several complete payment transactions from multiple browsers and multiple devices, including in "Private Browsing" mode, to be sure you've not broken anything.

Changing that setting doesn't "magically fix everything". It's only one factor, and may not actually be helpful. Test, test, test thoroughly when making any settings changes.