Topic: ibays not working

[dustyp]

I am not able to view any of my ibays for a couple of years, My primary domain www.pulver.co.uk is perfect, however (for instance) I have an ibay called music, but on going to www.pulver.co.uk/music receive the 404 message "The requested URL /music/ was not found on this server."  This has worked for me in the past (on SME 7.0) but not on SME 8.x. Over the years, I have performed many unrecorded tweaks to my system, one of which has obviously broken it.
Can anybody suggest what I need to do/undo to get it working again, please.

[mmccarn]

Cautious / Forensic:
Take a look in /var/log/httpd/error_log and find out what file is actually being requested, then look in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf and figure out why.

Take a look at the output from /sbin/e-smith/audittools/newrpms and /sbin/e-smith/audittools/templates, and figure out why the ibay portions of /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf are not working as expected.

I have a box that behaves as you describe for one virtual domain because of a custom template I created to redirect a domain into /opt -- but the ibays still work if I access the same server using another hostname or using an IP address.

Wholesale / Drastic:
Backup to USB from the console / install SME 8.x on a new box / Restore the backup during setup / fix everything...

[dustyp]

Thanks for you swift reply which I can't immediately act on due to being taken into hospital a few days ago with a stroke.
However, I have previously run your Wholesale/Drastic fix which fixed nothing.
Will reply further when I return home and am not limited with a tablet.
I suspect that I will need to run a full format and re-installation if only I could backup and restore the users and emails only.
This would be a shame as the system has been up and running since 2001 since when my IQ has dropped by about 40 points.

[guest22]

dustyp,

sorry to hear about you condition and hope you'll recover soon.

I understand that you want to have your Ibay issue up and running soon, But as mmccarn advised, the best thing to do is to examine the httpd and even the messages log files. If things don't work as expected, some of the log files will catch it, that's for sure.

guest

[dustyp]

I've decided that the best way to go is to wait for the next stable version to be released (9.0?) - currently running 8.1b2,
then wipe then entire disk and start again from scratch.
My only problem is that I will need to backup/reinstall all the emails.  Is there any way to do only that?
  - Dusty

[janet]

dustyp

V9.0 stable release is likely to be many months away. Progress is happening but it's slow, & a lot more testing is needed.

Note that upgrading from v8.x to v9.x will only be possible via the standard Backup & Restore (including reinstall of contribs), as Centos6.x (on which sme 9 is based) does not support direct upgrade from earlier versions.

You may want to resolve your issues sooner than that, as the current release (sme 8.0) is stable, & there is nothing in it that would be causing your problems.

There are many things (tweaks) you could have done that would be the cause of your problems. As you yourself do not even know what you have done to your server, then it is likely to be a big task for someone to hold your hand & help you look through all your settings & configuration etc looking for the problem(s).
You have to do that work yourself, & looking at the log files & reading the errors generated is the best approach.
If you do not understand sme server enough to go through this diagnostic exercise, then the "simplest" approach for you IS to do a selective backup & restore to a new install of sme server OS (eg sme 8.0 or 8.1).

There are steps oulined in the Howto titled Backup server config. Click on the Howto link at top of forums & start reading.

Depending how you have modified your server, any normal backup & restore is just going to transfer your existing configuration problems to the new server.

I suggest using the method referred to in the Howto & do a test run first on a test server & see how you go.

NOTE: If all your modifications had been done using the recommended method of creating custom templates, then getting a non functional server back to good operation would simply be a matter of deleting or removing all the custom templates, uninstalling contribs, running post upgrade & reboot. So in future learn about & use custom templates.
If you have tweaked conf files directly or tweaked the templates (rather than creating custom templates & tweaking those), then it is difficult to get your server back to "standard".

[dustyp]

Point made! I'll wait for 8.1 to be released as I'm currenly working with 8,1b2.
My problems started before I realised that there are proprer ways to do things in SME and just fiddled.
I believe that the server-manager should have direct links to the HowTos so they can't be missed.  A hard link to the forums would be extremely handy, as well.
Can I assume that by backing up the users files I will have backed up the emails? and would I need to create the user and group files on the new clean server before I can restore the user files on it?
Thanks,
  - Dusty

[janet]

dustyp

Can I assume that by backing up the users files I will have backed up the emails?

Yes, if you do the backup on the sme server (so it includes the Maildir folder for each user).

....and would I need to create the user and group files on the new clean server before I can restore the user files on it?

Yes, you should create those first & then restore the user data backup. They should be IDENTICAL on both servers.

Note that ibay data is in
/home/e-smith/files/ibays/ibayname/....
and user data including email is in
/home/e-smith/files/users/username/....
emails are in
/home/e-smith/files/users/username/Maildir/....
user home folder data is in
/home/e-smith/files/users/username/home/....

(replace ibayname & username with the actual names you use)

Please read the Howto & the Manual (re backup). it is all detailed there.
You have various optional ways of doing selective backup & restore.
Actually you can do a full backup using the standard sme backup to workstation (to local USB on the server), & then just do a selective restore of the user folders.

What you are doing is non standard, so I suggest you try a test run first with 2 users.

I believe that the server-manager should have direct links to the HowTos so they can't be missed.  A hard link to the forums would be extremely handy, as well.

To make that happen, the first thing you do is go to bugzilla & lodge a New Feature Request (NFR). If the devs think it is a good idea then something may happen.

All the links are across the top of these forums (except Contribs), & on the main wiki page, but you at least need to make the effort to look.

[janet]

dustyp

I personally do not think you need to go to the extent of reinstalling & restoring user emails etc.
It's a big effort fraught with problems if you are unsure of what you are doing.
Easier I think to resolve the ibay no access problem.

If I browse to
http://217.146.113.153/music
it opens a "log in authentication window" asking for username & password, so access is possible.

You need to tell us what you have installed & whether you setup redirects etc etc, did you use the web redirect method as it is buggy & so on.
More info about your actual server is needed.
Where is the main web  site, is it in the Primary ibay or in another ibay or maybe in /opt ?
Did you redirect the main domain URL to /opt ?

Knowing some of this may at least indicate where the issue may lie.

You really need to look at the messages and http access log files to see what is being called up when you try to access the music ibay by URL name.
That will give the best clue. Try accessing the site & then look in the log files around that same clock time.

This is probably relatively easy to fix, but you need to do the investigation & feed the answers back here.
We cannot read your log files

As previously asked, show us the output of
/sbin/e-smith/audittools/newrpms
and
/sbin/e-smith/audittools/templates
as these will be very informative.

Run these commands in a putty window & then use the icon in the top left corner (right click it) to copy all the screen contents into the clipboard, then paste into a post here.

[TerryF]

in a putty window & then use the icon in the top left corner (right click it) to copy all the screen contents into the clipboard.

  perfect example why reading all posts elicits little gems like this, years of putty use and, in the aussie vernacular, bugger me, didn't know that 

apologies for the highjack..

[janet]

TerryF

... and in the aussie vernacular,
No worries mate !

[dustyp]

OK, problem solved - mea culpa,
If I go to my ibay as http://pulver.co.uk/music, it works as does http://217.146.113.153/music (thanks for the hint janet)
However if I go to www.pulver.co.uk/music, it doesn't.  I didn't realise that www. is not required for an ibay even though it's a web page.
Thanks for everybody's help. Now on to write the web page....
  - Dusty

[dustyp]

strangely,  http://pulver.co.uk/music is no longer working, though if I address it by the ip number,  http://217.146.113.153/music it is. Off to look at the logs...

It was due to the servername not being the name of the server. All OK now.

[janet]

dustyp

I can confirm that all URL variants are working.

Now that proves a little troubleshooting was far easier than a server rebuild.

[dustyp]

Janet,
Many thanks for your help in solving this. It was impossible to figure out from a hospital bed using only an android tablet after suffering a stroke. Still, I'm at home now in my study alongside my server.
  - Dusty Pulver