Kicked back to Admin login PHP 5.3.3

Dear Zen Cart Expertise,

I have been having this trouble and try to find related post and solutions in this forum. However, I have not been able to find any solutions.

Zen Cart ver.: 1.3.9h
PHP ver.: 5.3.3
Sever OS: Linux
Database: MySQL 5.0.77
Admin SSL: enabled with shared SSL

Problem:
I can login to admin page and can see admin home page. However, when I try to navigate to any of other admin pages, it automatically redirects to the admin login page.

When I change ENABLE_SSL_ADMIN to "false" it works with no issues.

I originally installed this Zen Cart on PHP ver. 5.1 but there was an issue in the product editing caused by PHP ver. (1.3.9h requires PHP vers. higher than 5.1 to allow product editing page to work properly) Therefore, I needed to change the PHP ver. to 5.3.3 then the problem started. (My host allows me to switch between the two PHP versions)

I have read through the instruction in the below,
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=281
and tried what is said below,

• edit your /admin/includes/configure.php and change ENABLE_SSL_ADMIN to 'false'
• clear browser cache AND cookies and try again
  My Zen Cart works fine when SSL is turned off. However, the instruction goes on "if it's still not working ....." but it does not tell what I should do if it does works.

I believe the problem is something to do with SSL. I checked that all spellings are correct in the admin/includes/configure.php

This might be host's problem but I am not sure if it is. Before going through tiring sessions with host's support team who is not willing to support, I would like to confirm if there is anything I can do on the Zen Cart side.

Please advise if you have any idea what I should do in order to fix the problem without changing host or purchasing dedicated SSL.

In the admin config file set all of the defines for the following to the shared url:

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'https://sharedurl');
  define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://sharedurl');
  define('HTTP_CATALOG_SERVER', 'https://sharedurl');
  define('HTTPS_CATALOG_SERVER', 'https://sharedurl');

Hello barcro57,

Thank you very much for your response and the solution. It works!

I would appreciate it if you could explain why it has to be set that way? Should HTTP_SERVER and HTTP_CATALOG_SERVER be set to the normal URL without SSL? Is this a bug?

You have already provided me with great support but that would be great if you could let me know for my reference.

Many thanks,

If you read the comments in your configure.php file, located directly above the define for HTTP_SERVER, you'll see that they answer your question.

Hello DrByte,

Thank you for your response. I should have read the instruction in the file better before going to somewhere else to seek the answer....

As you pointed out, I found the instruction below and noted this setting is required by the system.

If you desire your entire admin to be SSL-protected, make sure you use a "https:" URL for all 4 of the following:

Thanks all again for your support.