SSL install on dedicated fasthosts centos server = blank screen for http???

Hi all

First post on here so thanks in advance

I recently purchased a fasthosts (i know they are hated on here but it was the cheepest and they already had all my domains) dedicated server installed with centos 5

Manged to port accross my site and mysql db without to many problems and it all works ok

Ive installed a thwarte ssl test cert and when i go to https://www.mydomain.co.uk/ it presents the cert and loads the holding page fine

However when i try and access the site unsecured at http//www.mydomain.co.uk i get a white blank screen

When i turn off ssl the non secure site works fine again

Any sugestions?

Cheers

Gareth

I recently purchased a fasthosts (i know they are hated on here but it was the cheepest and they already had all my domains) dedicated server installed with centos 5
Cheapest also means that you are responsible for managing the web server.

You have not stated what type of SSL support you have enabled?
Apache SSL
Open SSL
Apache Mod SSL

You can check what is active via a terminal session and entering

/usr/sbin/httpd -l

You can also check your httpd.conf file and check that the following line is present and not commented.

LoadModule ssl_module modules/libmodssl.so

You might have a CP that minimizes what you must manually configure.

With knowing what you have/do not have...you might be able to Google for assistance and/or seek support at places like apache.org, openssl.org, modssl.org, etc.

kobra:

Cheapest also means that you are responsible for managing the web server.

You have not stated what type of SSL support you have enabled?
Apache SSL
Open SSL
Apache Mod SSL

You can check what is active via a terminal session and entering

/usr/sbin/httpd -l

> You can also check your httpd.conf file and check that the following line is present and not commented.
> ```
LoadModule ssl_module modules/libmodssl.so

You might have a CP that minimizes what you must manually configure.

With knowing what you have/do not have...you might be able to Google for assistance and/or seek support at places like apache.org, openssl.org, modssl.org, etc.

Yeah im figuring that out but it will have to do for now. Also my solid windows background is proving somewhat uselss with linux. Well i couldnt avoid it for ever, got to learn sometime i guess :dontgetit

Cheers for getting back to me so quickly here is what i get from /usr/sbin/httpd -l

Compiled in modules:
  core.c
  prefork.c
  http_core.c
  mod_so.c

Also fasthosts dedicated servers run Matrix config system, looks like a watered down version of cpanel. Its throught this i installed the ssl and can switch it off an on

looking in my httpd.conf using nano at this location /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

LoadModule include_module modules/mod_include.so
LoadModule log_config_module modules/mod_log_config.so
LoadModule logio_module modules/mod_logio.so
LoadModule env_module modules/mod_env.so
LoadModule ext_filter_module modules/mod_ext_filter.so
LoadModule mime_magic_module modules/mod_mime_magic.so
LoadModule expires_module modules/mod_expires.so
LoadModule deflate_module modules/mod_deflate.so
LoadModule headers_module modules/mod_headers.so
LoadModule usertrack_module modules/mod_usertrack.so
LoadModule setenvif_module modules/mod_setenvif.so
LoadModule mime_module modules/mod_mime.so
LoadModule dav_module modules/mod_dav.so
LoadModule status_module modules/mod_status.so
LoadModule autoindex_module modules/mod_autoindex.so
LoadModule info_module modules/mod_info.so
LoadModule dav_fs_module modules/mod_dav_fs.so
LoadModule vhost_alias_module modules/mod_vhost_alias.so
LoadModule negotiation_module modules/mod_negotiation.so
LoadModule dir_module modules/mod_dir.so
LoadModule actions_module modules/mod_actions.so
LoadModule speling_module modules/mod_speling.so
LoadModule userdir_module modules/mod_userdir.so
LoadModule alias_module modules/mod_alias.so
LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so
LoadModule proxy_balancer_module modules/mod_proxy_balancer.so
LoadModule proxy_ftp_module modules/mod_proxy_ftp.so
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so
LoadModule proxy_connect_module modules/mod_proxy_connect.so
LoadModule cache_module modules/mod_cache.so
LoadModule suexec_module modules/mod_suexec.so
LoadModule disk_cache_module modules/mod_disk_cache.so
LoadModule file_cache_module modules/mod_file_cache.so
LoadModule mem_cache_module modules/mod_mem_cache.so
LoadModule cgi_module modules/mod_cgi.so
LoadModule version_module modules/mod_version.so

I cant see any reference to that module

Thanks

Gareth

cheap hosting = expensive downtime

This forum is riddled with posts from people who have chosen "cheap" (unreliable) hosting, who have then had to spend scores of hours struggling through systems they barely understand, in order to try to resolve the problems.

Put a value to your time... let's say $25 / hour... Even if you spend just 5 hours a month struggling through perpetual hosting problems, that adds up to an annual $1,500 ... :shocking:

(Then add in lost opportunity costs - ie: sales that did not happen 'cause your site was faulty. It starts to run into thousands...)

e-commerce is a serious business needing serious approaches on every front.

Ditch fast-asleep hosts while you're still ahead...

lol $25/hour = wouldnt get out of bed for :laugh:

I have over 30 domains with fasthosts on various packages never had a single thing bad to say about them. Ive been with them for over 3 years.

When ever ive had to call there call centres (which are all uk/english speaking) ive always had my issues dealt with promptly and effectively.

Yeah it was annoying having to get a dedicated server due to the shared ssl issue but was thinking of getting a dedicated server anyway. Also once i cancel all the shared hosting packages and move them onto my dedicated sever it isnt going to work out that much more expensive.

Also i was lead to believe that zen cart is better suited to linux hence the choice. However if i decided i can remotely rebuild the server with a different version of linux or w2k3 svr i can!

And if for some reason i have an experience with fasthost like some many other people seem to have had.... Ill just move to another host its no big deal.

Fasthosts support used to be dreadful, but I have to admit that things have improved since they were bought out by the same company that owns 1and1.

Their cheap mini-servers are supposed to be managed, so get their support to investigate and tell you what the problem is.

Vger

Cheers Vger, called them they wanted to put an engineer on it at £60/hour however he pointed me at a manual to read before getting someone on it.

After a long read of a manual it cant be done (in a simple clean way) hence why ive been given 2 ips from the start.

Need to stick secure.mydomain.co.uk on the other ip and move all the payment stuff into there.

Do i need a copy of the entire site in there or can i just move selected bits?

Cheers

Gareth

I'd recommend you stick a copy of the whole site on there.

This has always been the problem with Fasthosts SSL system, in that they use the old-fashioned 'secure' and 'insecure' two-folder system.

All they have to do is to Sym Link the secure folder to the insecure folder and it would work just fine.

Vger

Even on a dedicated server??? Thats a bit of a pain!

Well im uploading the full site as we speak/type

Also ive got a test thwate cert which is erroring out with "this certificate cannot be verified up to a trusted certificate authority" im guessing thats because its a test or is there an underling problem there?

Also i take it the 2 config php files are the same for both sites with the http pointing to the www. site and the https pointing to the secure. site?

Cheers

Gareth

It's not the server which is the problem, it's the way it's set up - but what can you expect for £49 a month?

You can try asking them to symlink the secure folder to the insecure folder - which would solve the problem if they agree to do it for you.

Regarding the certificate the server must also have a trusted root certificate installed. The one you get from Thawte is added to that and may also include an Intermediary Certificate.

Vger

I had similar problems when using fasthosts on a linux dedicated server. When you use the control panel to configure SSL then what it does is modify the /etc/httpd/conf/vhosts.conf file so that both port 80 and 443 are using SSL (port 80 is the default for http and port 443 is the default for SSL). What I did is separated it back out again so that port 443 uses SSL and port 80 does not. This works but it still means that you can still use unsecured http to access the domain as well as secured. So to stop this I added the below line to the virtual host definition in the vhosts file for port 80.

Redirect permanent / https://www.yourdomain.com/
This means that any http requests are redirected to the equivalent https request e.g. http://www.yourdomain.com/mainpage.php will be redirected to https://www.yourdomain.com/mainpage.php. There are so many things you can do in the apache config where even individual files or directories could be selected for unsecured or secured access.

I was also given the option of £60 per half hour engineer time! Ridiculous.

irvo1968:

I added the below line to the virtual host definition in the vhosts file for port 80.
If setup correctly - ZenCart will switch to https when necessary.
Running a shop fully under https is not desired as it only slows things down