Hello,

I have a client that has been down since last Thursday. Client is https://www.beadsdirectusa.com. Prior to then, he was successfully able to process credit cards through the firstdata module. Then on Thursday, clients got a blank screen when they should have seen their order confirmation. The happens whether in production or test mode.

I have looked through the forums, apparently there can be some issues with the product descriptions have invalid characters as well as issues with port 1129 not being open. I successfully tested an order on client's test site on my server (in testing mode), so this is not a firstdata issue, nor does it appear to be an issue with invalid characters. Client called the hosting company, and they claim that port 1129 is open.

Here's the pertinent part of the error log:

Jun-28-2010 10:25:26

Communication Result: 7 - couldn't connect to host

Response Code: < <

=================================

Sending to Gateway:
result = GOOD
oid = 2054-ldIeJJ
subtotal = 20.70
shipping = 5.00
chargetotal = 25.70
items = Array

....

Result: proved>FAILURE</r_approved><r_error>Could not connect.</r_error>

Communication Result: 7 - couldn't connect to host
CURL info: Array
(
[url] => https://secure.linkpt.net:1129/LSGSXML
[content_type] =>
[http_code] => 0
[header_size] => 0
[request_size] => 0
[filetime] => -1
[ssl_verify_result] => 0
[redirect_count] => 0
[total_time] => 189.034381
[namelookup_time] => 0.063603
[connect_time] => 0
[pretransfer_time] => 0
[size_upload] => 0
[size_download] => 0
[speed_download] => 0
[speed_upload] => 0
[download_content_length] => -1
[upload_content_length] => -1
[starttransfer_time] => 0
[redirect_time] => 0
)

Any assistance anyone can provide would be most appreciated. Client can currently accept payments through paypal with no problem, but firstdata is down, and that's how most of his clients pay.

Thanks in advance,
Christopher

DCDC:

Communication Result: 7 - couldn't connect to host
CURL is the method being invoked to tell your server to go out to the FirstData site and complete a transaction.
Without that communication working properly, you won't be able to get those transactions.
The software (Zen Cart, and firstdata module) is simply asking CURL to do the communication and watching for a response.
Your server then tries to connect to the correct published FirstData URL at: https://secure.linkpt.net:1129/LSGSXML
The server's CURL client is encountering a problem and reporting the error to you: "Error Number 7", which means "couldn't connect to host".
That means the same as if you put a URL in your browser address bar and somehow it can't find the page.
Possible causes of the problem:

• wrong URL (not applicable in this case)
• (firstdata) server is down (you said that's not the case here)
• something wrong with the client (your browser, or in the case of CURL, the server's CURL client configuration, managed by your hosting company)
• SSL problems on the server's client configuration
• firewall blocking the port, thus preventing the client from getting outside the server/network
• server config can't do nameserver lookups properly, perhaps due to broken resolv.conf setup, or worse maybe broken ns configuration
• or any number of other more advanced server/network problems that your hosting company is the expert on

Your hosting company should know this, and if they don't then I suggest running quickly to someplace that does:

• fire up a browser on the server (there are simple ways to do this without installing big complex software apps)
• try to connect to the URL in question: https://secure.linkpt.net:1129/LSGSXML
• if it doesn't connect then it's clearly something that the server admin must fix, esp if connecting from a PC's browser does give a response.

Problems that "suddenly" occur are almost always a result of something getting changed by the hosting company at the moment things broke.

Hi ZenGeniuses,

Thank you in advance for your big brains.

I've had no trouble with my credit card gateway until 6/26/2010 when my site suddenly stopped taking credit cards. Several customers have written in to say their cards were rejected, and my own cc did not work either. I have not made any setting changes or added any addons or mods in months. Error message as follows:

"Your card has been declined. Please re-enter your card information, try another card, or contact the store owner for assistance."

I uninstalled and reinstalled the PEM certificate and Linkpoint payment module, but the problem persists. Testing mode didn't work, nor did live mode, same error message.

I tried changed the proxy cURL to "false" it still did nothing to solve the problem, though it seemed to work for these guys:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137637

Running ZC 1.3.8, so this may be the culprit, I need to upgrade to 1.3.9, but still confused as to why it would stop working all of a sudden. I have not made any recent changes or updates other than renewing my security certificate 6/21/2010.

I contacted Dreamhost and they say port 1129 is open, say there is no server trouble on their end, the Linkpoint people say the data is not coming from the cart to the terminal, so there is some communication breakdown.

I have read and reread the Linkpoint install and troubleshooting guide...
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=298

...and I am compliant with the following:

• LinkPoint or YourPay (also called FirstData Global Gateway) account (naturally)
• cURL is required and MUST be compiled into PHP with SSL support
• TCP Port 1129 is used for communication with the gateway, so must be open on your host's router
• PEM RSA Key File (Provided by FirstData)
• You need to have an SSL certificate active on your site to protect your customers' sensitive data

Any advice greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

Interesting you would mention this. I've got the same problem with one of my clients right now (see post below) - his went down on Thursday for seemingly no reason. The host double checked and says that port 1129 is indeed open, and referred me back to the setup of linkpoint, which I know is setup correctly. At least you are getting a rejection screen - we're just getting a blank screen, though we are running 1.3.9.b.

Did you take a look at the error logs, what error messages are you getting?

Christopher

good to know i'm not alone, sorry you're having the same trouble with your client. the only error message that look suspect to me (the rest seem to be image problems or client connection problems:

[Sat Jun 26 19:59:40 2010] [error] [client XX] ModSecurity: Access denied with code 503 (phase 2). Pattern match "0" at ARGS:record_company_name. [file "/dh/apache2/template/etc/mod_sec2/99_dreamhost_rules.conf"] [line "37"] [id "1990004"] [hostname "iheartguts.com"] [uri "/shop//admin/record_company.php/password_forgotten.php"] [unique_id XX]

here's another:
[error] [client XX] ModSecurity: Access denied with code 503 (phase 2). Pattern match "=(http|www|ftp)\:/(.+)\.(c|dat|kek|gif|jpe?g|jpeg|png|sh|txt|bmp|dat|txt|js|html?|tmp|asp)\x20?\?" at REQUEST_URI. [file "/dh/apache2/template/etc/mod_sec2/gotroot/50_asl_rootkits.conf"] [line "23"] [id "390144"] [rev "2"] [msg "Command shell attack: Generic Attempt to remote include command shell"] [severity "CRITICAL"] [hostname "iheartguts.com"] [uri "/shop/index.php"] [unique_id XX]

I removed the IP addresses and unique IDs..

Does any of that make sense? They sound like security errors, but not necessarily cc related.

Hello again,

I was actually referring to zen error logs in your cache (zen_directory/cache) - I think the error log entries you pasted came from your server admin.

In 1.3.9x php error logging is automatic, but you need to install a php error logging program in 1.3.8 which creates error logs. See this post:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84613

I don't know if the linkpoint error logs automatically dump into the cache folder without the php error logging program, or if you will need to install that first.

Turn on the php error logging, run a test transaction in zencart, and then paste the logfile entries here...

Christopher

iheartguts:

... confused as to why it would stop working all of a sudden....

I contacted Dreamhost and they say port 1129 is open, say there is no server trouble on their end, the Linkpoint people say the data is not coming from the cart to the terminal, so there is some communication breakdown.

What happens if you use the curltester script?
www.your_site.com/extras/curltester.php?linkpoint=1
(was called curltest.php in v1.3.8, so adjust accordingly)
(if you deleted the /extras/ folder already (as you should), then you can obtain the file here: http://zencart.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/zencart/branches/v1-3-9/trunk/extras/curltester.php (right-click and save-as ) )

The hosting company is?

Hi DrByte,

Thanks for the curltester script, it seems communication is open, but then at the end it says "malformed or unrecognized request," here are the results:

COMMUNICATIONS TEST OKAY.
You may see error information below, but that information simply confirms that the server actually responded, which means communications is open.

Array
(
[url] => "https://secure.linkpt.net:1129/LSGSXML"
[content_type] =>
[http_code] => 200
[header_size] => 40
[request_size] => 213
[filetime] => -1
[ssl_verify_result] => 0
[redirect_count] => 0
[total_time] => 0.34863
[namelookup_time] => 0.09813
[connect_time] => 0.111113
[pretransfer_time] => 0.297731
[size_upload] => 37
[size_download] => 280
[speed_download] => 803
[speed_upload] => 106
[download_content_length] => 280
[upload_content_length] => 0
[starttransfer_time] => 0.348589
[redirect_time] => 0
)

Malformed or unrecognized request.
EOF

hey guys...i dont know how i stumbled here but Ive searched and been on the phone all day about this issue. So i'm #3 having this problem.,.. this makes me realize im not insane.

So my problem is actually on OScommerce with linkpoint API and Dreamhost also. I hadn't gotten an order since Wednesday, so something has happened somewhere after then.

I called Linkpoint 5 times today with them telling me my PEM file checks out OK and i can see they're right, the test transactions are in my console.

I called First Data and they didnt see anything changed on my account.

I submitted/chatted with dreamhost about 7 times today so far referenceing it and they claim nothing has been changted on my account since the php4-5 switch over (which i recovered from and was working fine for 2 weeks)

I did a fresh install of my cart with the latest version and the latest version of Linkpoint API--SAME ERROR!!!

So i dont know what to do...everyone is blaming others at this point and its nice to know i'm not alone...

I'll keep checking back to see if theres any updates from you guys because i need this fixed as much as you guys do---great to know im not alone here

DCDC:

Hello again,

I was actually referring to zen error logs in your cache (zen_directory/cache) - I think the error log entries you pasted came from your server admin.

In 1.3.9x php error logging is automatic, but you need to install a php error logging program in 1.3.8 which creates error logs. See this post:

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84613

I don't know if the linkpoint error logs automatically dump into the cache folder without the php error logging program, or if you will need to install that first.

Turn on the php error logging, run a test transaction in zencart, and then paste the logfile entries here...

Christopher

Hi Christopher,

I installed this and ran a transaction, but then I realized I'm not sure what I'm supposed to put in the xxxx field after myDEBUG -- the date? store name? linkpoint number?

/cache/myDEBUG-xxxxxxx.log

i also spoke to dreamhost help and they thought the problem might lie in the extra web security, which i have checked under my site certificate info. i tried running a transaction with that switched off and still have the same problem.

Are all of you using Dreamhost?

Kim:

Are all of you using Dreamhost?

i am, yes.

Hosting company is Niewie. It was selected by client a number of months prior to the time I began working for him.

Kim:

Are all of you using Dreamhost?

Yes, and they claim "nothing has been changed on their end". Over and over and over.

I also asked is 1129 was open and they claim it was.

No, Kim, using Niewie for production here. Staging server for client test site is hosted through Mochahost, and I'm having no problem processing a test credit card order over there (https://www.deercreekdesigncompany.com/beads).

My client's production domain resolves to an IP in Germany. Don't know if that has anything to do with the problem. Doesn't seem like my problem is the same as iheartguts. Don't know about Shelly's until we see more info from her.

Thanks,
Christopher

iheartguts:

Thanks for the curltester script, it seems communication is openCorrect. So that means the problem isn't on FirstData's end.

iheartguts:

... but then at the end it says "malformed or unrecognized request,"Correct. That's the actual message sent back by FirstData since what you submitted to their server was a blank transaction, and thus they're telling you that what you sent was invalid. The error message is proof positive that their system is actually responding fine to you when you're connecting to it from your browser, running on your PC.

The next test is for the hosting company to attempt to run it from inside the same network as your server's on, inside their firewall. Even running it on the server would be better still. But good luck with that.

Whether you can get them to do that or not depends on how high up the ladder you can escalate your ticket and the competence of whomever it gets assigned to.

Since the problem isn't Linkpoint/FirstData and it's not Zen Cart, then it appears to be almost (99%) certainly a problem on the hosting company's end, esp since there are several people with the very same symptoms starting the very same time, with the very same hosting company.

shellyky:

Yes, and they claim "nothing has been changed on their end". Over and over and over.

I also asked is 1129 was open and they claim it was.

Ditto for the tech guy at Niewie.

iheartguts:

Hi Christopher,

I installed this and ran a transaction, but then I realized I'm not sure what I'm supposed to put in the xxxx field after myDEBUG -- the date? store name? linkpoint number?

/cache/myDEBUG-xxxxxxx.log

i also spoke to dreamhost help and they thought the problem might lie in the extra web security, which i have checked under my site certificate info. i tried running a transaction with that switched off and still have the same problem.

iheart,

I believe the logs should auto generate when there is an error (has it really been this long since I used 1.3.8 that I can't remember?!?) and you just open them up in a text editor or html editing program to see the contents.

Christopher

Go to Admin->Modules->Payment->Linkpoint API, and click Edit. Then scroll to the bottom of the list of settings, and enable Debug Logging (to file preferably, or to email). Then try a transaction. The log for the transaction will show up as a Linkpoint log file in your /cache/ folder and show the details of what's happening when CURL attempts to communicate to FirstData.

If you're getting a "7 - could not connect to host" message, then the port is blocked or the server doesn't know how to do client connections properly (which is way more serious than a firewall issue).