Errors after my provider moved me to a cpanel system from hsphere

I have a similar (but not exactly the same problem). Would it be hijacking to post to this thread?

On the permissions note. My provider just moved me to a cpanel system from hsphere - I can't leave my two configure.php files at CHMOD 0644, zencart complains. If I CHMOD to 0444 they won't run. So I cheated, in CPANEL file manger I can CHMOD to 544 - not a legal number but it lets it run.

The second half of the above statement was meant to help someone else.
My Hosting provider moved me from hsphere to cpanle. THis of course changed my paths, database location, and miscellaneous other stuff.

I followed the steps at https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=100

the portion of it where I upload and run the "Fix_Cache_Key.php" is not working. I uploaded it, but my server will not let it run using CHMOD0644. I get: "Internal Server ErrorThe server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request."

Amusingly my storefront is working, it's the admin section that is not working and giving me the session ID error.

bjjohns:

I can't leave my two configure.php files at CHMOD 0644, zencart complains.

Yeah, Zencart doesn't like its configuration files to be writable during normal operations. There is no reason for them to be writable, and it can pose a (very small) security risk.

bjjohns:

If I CHMOD to 0444 they won't run.

This is VERY unusual.
PHP files only need to be readable (to the web server) in order to function, and 444 files permissions the most readable they can ever be. There shouldn't be an issue here, and I've literally no explanation for it whatsoever.

bjjohns:

So I cheated, in CPANEL file manger I can CHMOD to 544 - not a legal number but it lets it run.

Who said that this isn't a 'legal number'? It is unusual for sure, and even pointless because all it is doing is setting the 'execute' bit for the file owner, but as stated, PHP files don't need to be executable to function, and frankly I'm a wee bit concerned as to why this is needed, and equally curious as to why the 444 permissions don't work (What was the actual error message you were getting?).

Now if you were referring to folder permissions it is a slightly different ballgame, because the execute bits have a different meaning for folders than they do for files.

Very strange indeed.

Cheers
Rod

Possibly a "badly configured" server... suggests a host that may not really know how to config a server for eCommerce. And there are a LOT of these around.

Thanks to both of you. I guess I will try to get the provider to figure it out. Anyone know what happens if I just delete all the sessions in the database?

schoolboy:

Possibly a "badly configured" server... suggests a host that may not really know how to config a server for eCommerce. And there are a LOT of these around.

Under most other situations I'd agree with you, but for the life of me I can't imagine what the host could have possibly mis-configured that would produce such a bazaar set of requirements for functionality. It really defies all logic and goes against the grain of everything I know about file permissions.

If I weren't so busy with other matters I'd not hesitate to investigate this a little further. I'm sure there is a logical answer to the mystery, but I just can't see what it would be.

Oh well... nothing for me to lose sleep over...

Cheers
Rod