Website is down

[ComandoSupremo]

My website, http://www.comandosupremo.com is down. Can anyone tell me why and for how long? The site is on jupiter.

Regards,
Jim

[Arria]

I can access your site, but you have a server error:

500 Internal Server Error

[ComandoSupremo]

What does that mean?

[Chase]

Could be some form of script that isn't working right, those return 500 errors.

I'm not familiar with FrontPage, but I've heard some of problems you can encounter with it also return 500's but I'm not sure.

Do you have a script running or using FrontPage?

[ComandoSupremo]

I'm not using Front Page, plus I haven't done any website work in the last couple of days. The site worked fine last night when I went to bed. When I logged on this morning I had this problem.

[Arria]

I suggest that you check your site via ftp and make sure everything still looks okay.

[ComandoSupremo]

Hi,

Yes, I looked and made sure all my files were still present and everything looks normal.

[Chase]

I would contact support. I believe their call center opens pretty soon this morning... maybe a moderator, admin or staff user will be able to contribute more to this when they see the thread.

Edited in responce to to the post following mine::: I just think that moderators will have heard of more of these situations and may have some generic advice on what issues to check. :::

[stevel]

Moderators can't help with this - we don't have special access to the server and this sort of problem needs someone to look at the actual files on the server to see what's up.

[ComandoSupremo]

I emailed technical support. Hopefully they can solve this problem soon.

[extras]

Have you checked your .htaccess file?

Check the time stamp of the file to see
if it is modified recently.
(By you, or by someone else?)

If you specified your own ErrorDocumment for 500,
premature header error and usual CGI error would use it.
But if there is a mistake in .htaccess, you will get
the ErrorDocument of PowWeb for 500.
(It depends on what kind mistake, though...[edit])

[ComandoSupremo]

It hasnt been modified since Jul 2001

[extras]

Oh boy. It's looong ago..
So, that will eliminate .htaccess from the list of suspected terrorist.
(Note that it's possible to modify a file without changing time stamp.
But in your case, I don't think you have to worry about that.)

If you have time while waiting for the support,
I would check access_log and error_log
by downloading it by FTP/WebFTP as recommended
if you haven't done so.

[ComandoSupremo]

I took a look at the logs. They state certain files that cant be found, but I verified thay are all there. Other than that, I cant make much heads or tails off these logs.

[YvetteKuhns]

On which server are your files? PowWeb posted an announcement recently about problems with Front Page. It is possible that your directories (folders) or files may need to have their permissions reset.

Do you have a backup of your .htaccess file? If you remove your .htaccess file, your site may become visible. But I don't know if your file had anything important in it. You can try uploading the backup and see what happens.

[YvetteKuhns]

Oops. You said you were on jupiter. I missed that. I didn't see anything posted about Front Page and/or jupiter. I still suspect .htdocs or permissions error. But if your domain name points to a script like a forum, that may have a problem.

[ComandoSupremo]

I'm a little disappointed in the support desk. I emailed them yesterday and finally got a reply today, however, the reply basically said to make sure everything is chmod correctly.

It would be nice if they provided a little more effort. Isn't the support department able to review the files in htdocs? Now that I replied that my files are chmod right, I have to wait probably another 24 hours for another half effort answer.

[mjp]

I don't have root access on that server, but I should still be able to view your files but I can't even get into your root directory, "Permission denied."

If you have an .htaccess file in your root directory (above /htdocs) try renaming or removing it and see if the site comes back up. If not, I can ask an admin to take a look.

[YvetteKuhns]

Gee, we already mentioned the permissions here and you have already checked that. How about the .htaccess file? Did you remove it from the server? (Be sure to save backup before doing so.) Is it in htdocs?

Due to Easter holiday, support may not be as available.

[YvetteKuhns]

Hey Michael! You posted while I did. I suspected the .htaccess file from the start.

I questioned the location of the file as well.

[mjp]

Originally posted by YvetteKuhns
Due to Easter holiday, support may not be as available. We're fully staffed today - Friday was our holiday.

[YvetteKuhns]

My son had no school Friday but goes on Monday. My husband worked Friday but has no work Monday. And I work every day!

Happy Easter!

[ComandoSupremo]

Sorry about getting short here. This is a bit frustrating. Anyway, the only htaccess file I have is in htdocs. Chmod at 644 in Jul 2001. I dont have any other htaccess files.

As I stated before, I don't see how it can be a chmod or script problem because the site was working great 2 days after my last website update. The 500 error came after I checked my site on the morning of the 10th.

I'm not very educated on permissions and htaccess files, so I may be wrong somewhere. But I have suspicion there is another cause, which is a mystery to me. The site has 120 + pages, not all pages have scripts...none are working.

thanks again, I apologize for getting short. Happy easter as well.

Jim

[stevel]

Well, a .htaccess error by itself would typically give a 403 Forbidden error rather than 500. 500 tends to indicate a script problem. Have you tried temporarily removing the .htaccess to see what happens?

[extras]

If you want, I may be able to identify your problem by
reading your .htaccess and other configuration via CGI.

As it is for the first time I try this, I don't know if your files are
visible to my CGI.
Also, you have to tell me your username for that.

So, if you are confortable with it, send me a Private Message
with your username, as well as give me a permission to visiti your site
through my CGI, here in Forum.


Otherwise, maybe you can call Support for quicker reply
if they are still open, today. (There is a chat support, too.)

[mjp]

The permissions on your root directory are 700 - I've sent the issue to an admin, but they may not get to it until morning. Sorry for the delay.

[YvetteKuhns]

So it WAS the permissions on the root directory! Had to be that or .htaccess. Thanks for the reply. :)

[extras]

With that permission, I could have done nothing to help
even if he wanted....

The question is; How did it become 700?
I know that we can chmod our 'root dir.' with some FTPs, etc.
But did ComandoSupremo change it by himself, accidently?

Last week, I have intentionally changed my home directory to 700
to see if Apache can be happy wiith that setting,
but quickly put it back as it did not work.

Anyway, one problem solved, and it's always good news !

[ComandoSupremo]

Originally posted by mjp
The permissions on your root directory are 700 - I've sent the issue to an admin, but they may not get to it until morning. Sorry for the delay.

What do you mean by root directory and what can I do to change it?

When I use ftp to look at my files, I see cgi-bin, etc, htdocs, and logs files. All show chmod to 755.

[Arria]

All of that is in your root directory.

[ComandoSupremo]

ahhh..back up and running thanks to tech support and you guys. Apparently there was also a index.pl file somewhere in my root directory. I have no idea where that came from. Now I can relax :)

Thanks again,
Jim

[YvetteKuhns]

A few months ago, a mysterious htaccess file appeared on the server of one of my clients. I simply deleted it and the site was magically working again. Glad that you are back in business.

[extras]

Mysterious .htaccess or index.php may be a signe of
someone trying to hijack that account....

I would check if there is any security hole
(ie. known weakness of certain scripts)
and change FTP/OPS passwords
so that it will not happen again.

[YvetteKuhns]

I would think the same thing, but sometimes I think it is an FTP program anomaly. My FTP program likes to switch connections or last opened folders on occasion. If you don't pay attention, you may upload something to the wrong place!

[extras]

It may be a "feature" of certain FTP program
to bring you back to where you've left last time.
And people who worked hard for that program may start weeping
if they hear you calling it "anomaly".....

[YvetteKuhns]

It may be a "feature" of certain FTP program
to bring you back to where you've left last time.


Yes, and I like when it does that. But that is where you expect it, and when you try to open another site, the darn program ignores the command and opens the first site anyway!