Cannot install Wordpress: What has happened to Powweb?

[jmirickg]

Long time Powweb user, first time regrets...

I've been combing the forums and chatting with Powweb reps for 4 days now and I am completely flabbergasted at the difficulties that I am having.
I have personally set up half a dozen Wordpress blogs with Powweb. I maintain them, update them, backup, run anti-spam plug-ins and optimize databases. I'm no expert by I try and do what I can. The installation processes have never had an issue and has always been a snap.

So the other day, I get a client to go with Powweb since it has always been so easy. I start the process as usual and then I start getting the dreaded 500 Internal Server Error. After some research and talking with a customer service rep, I activate CGI and wait for the 6pm window to pass.

Nothing. I talk to a customer service rep, they say it wasn't activated properly and they say they take care of it. I wait to the next morning. Multiply this experience by four times and I'm starting to get pretty frustrated. It has been four days of doing this before each 9am or 6pm window and it never works.

Now even if it does, I was reading on the PHP Read First sticky that I have to update the local php.ini file. Seriously?

Not to mention the roar over what is going on with the mySQL load balance issues I've been seeing in the forums. It leads me to wonder if it is even worth it to fight this fight. "You get what you pay for" has been tossed around, but is that really the response you should expect from a company that has functioned reliably for years?

So, this is a rant, a possible warning for new users and a plea for assistance all in one. How can I get them to activate the CGI already? Once there, is PHP not on by default anymore? Finally, is the amount of mySQL slowdown meaning that it’s not even worth it to try and install CMS system or boards?

[IanS]

PHP is available, once the CGI is activated. You've support already, but which method of contacting support did you try? Phone support is the best.

Some have success with MySql and we're promised the problems are being worked on and solutions may be in sight, but down a long tunnel. You need to decide on the appropriateness of Powweb for a CMS using MySql.

Powweb now isn't the same company that you joined in 2002, it's moved on.

[jmirickg]

Powweb now isn't the same company that you joined in 2002, it's moved on.

Very interesting way to put it,”Moved On”, as if you're finally letting go of an old girlfriend/boyfriend. And moved on to what? If they can up the amount of storage space from 100mb when I first started to 3Gb now, that other architecture needs could also be similarly addressed. Dynamic database driven sites are replacing the old static HTML version en masses and no one should be surprised by this.

I guess I'll try and see if phone support does any better, although it see that if apply for support over phone or chat, the same amount of care should be seen to your concern, similar to other online businesses.

As with many here, I have a great deal of time and effort and faith invested in Powweb. I would like to see them work it out.

[jmirickg]

Ok, once again another CGI update window has passed. No CGI activity, no PHP enabled. OPS says that everything is enabled, but for the 4th day in a row, after talking to customer service over chat it fails to start.

I just wonder why before everything would just "work" and now they changed it to where it seems to have issues. Perhaps trying to make the use of mySQL an unattractive option to reduce the load.

Guess we'll see. On to phone support.

[Doc C]

As a test, I just loaded Wordpress twice. Once in an existing database and then in a newly created database. Both went without a hitch. Don't know if that helps but I did it.

[R.Reinhardt]

I ran across this thread because I'm having similar installation probelms with e107 and Mambo. So, I decided to try to install Wordpress, just to see if these problems are related.

I'm getting this message when trying to access the site.

The server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request.
The script had an error or it did not produce any output. If there was an error, you should be able to see it in the error log.


This is the Wordpress location http://ahmps.com/agent/

I'm about as tired of this as you are... Any useful suggestions would be nice.

(I've been waiting for CGI for two days now)

[HalfaBee]

If CGI is still causing problems, contact support.
Check your version of php in ops (link in my sig)
If it does not show PHP4 or PHP5 email support and ask them to fix it.

[dmacminn]

Rather than all this generalizing, lets just recognize that 99% of the time, when you click the [Enable] for CGI it fulfills in the next run [09:00 and 18:00 Eastern Time)..

When that doesn't happen, it will be tried again, after removing and re-adding the feature to the account setup (that gets 99.5%) ... it that doesn't work, it will be escalated for review -- they will check the error code and setup another manual entry to refulfill in the next run... (that gets us to 99.98%)

If that fails, it will be tasked to an Engineer who has full server and script access to determine at what stage it is failing and remedy the problem... (that's the remaining .02%) -- generally less than 1 in 1000 accounts has any problem with CGI fulfillment.

This ticket (I presume there is one at this point) will probably be in the Engineering center at this point ...

You need to remember, that the system does not currently Enable the CGI until you select that option -- and, once you do, it gets scheduled for fulfillment in the next run... as Joshua has noted in another post, that is likely to change at some point in the not too distant future, to a scenario where once the CGI is enabled, the fulfillment will run a short time later (perhaps even within minutes); until then the present wait for a fulfillment run is required.

[HalfaBee]

Sorry if I was generalizing, this seems to be a common problem recently.
If the problem is 1 in 1000 then you must have signed up a lot of accounts in the last few weeks.
I had one package that had to be fixed, Croc had his fixed and a few other threads as well in a 2 week period.

So I will make general posts to contact support if the same problem is indicated.

[dmacminn]

No, allow me to apologize if there was any hint that I was being critical of your suggestion/handling... you are bang on, as always HalfaBee ...

My point was that the thread begins "what has happened to Powweb" .... as if this is some general experience.

In any complex system there will be occasional failures of automated processes ... and, it also follows that there will be occasional changes that cause something that "used to work" to stop working or not work as well ---

I certainly understand that this kind of thing (CGI not enabling) can be very frustrating ... that's one of the reasons that we've already "leaked" that we'd like to implement something that would allow the CGI fulfillment to run more frequently ....
and, that's why we had some slowness with OPS over last week to roll in changes to the administrative systems to make moving toward that easier...

So, jmirickg ... sorry about the situation, I fully understand how something seemingly so simple can be a frustration...

But, lets try to understand that most of the troublesome cases are just that ... single instances or corner cases where something quite out of the ordinary has happened... rather than a great trend ...

(ASIDE: And yes, we had a ton of new signups for the last weeks -- the admin system was hours behind adding domains and building DNS tables at one point ... and the CGI fulfillment job runs were practically running round the clock... additional equipment had already been put in place to handle the job, but it was running new code supporting some of the changes I've noted as a test bed ... anytime we make such changes, there may be a few accounts that get "shaken loose" somehow).

The missing version number [PHP ] and [PHP ], versus the ones with [PHP 4] and [PHP 5] in the dropdown usually relate to a broken/missing symlink on the account CGI setup, and it takes a ticket to get that fixed in most cases (though sometimes a re-enable will fix it); until that is done, the CGI won't work correctly.

The other message:
"The server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request. The script had an error or it did not produce any output. If there was an error, you should be able to see it in the error log."

generally occurs on an account with working CGI; the most common causes we see are changed .htaccess, a bad script, or a temporary load condition on the CGI call that caused the running script to fail.

SO -- if you have the PHP Version selector not showing the version -- do open a ticket to get it fixed -- sometimes the CGI system will work, sometimes not when you see that symptom ... I think we have most of them fixed from the "shake-loose" at this point, but the condition does arise from time-to-time.