New Customer - First Issue ;)

Hi There

Just purchased the product- the installation is cool, no worries about doing, however, I will have an issue with the htaccess file.

The last time I upped an htaccess file to my server, it crashed the site - however it was easily sorted by removing the file - my server company is notorious (Cari) at refusing to help out in issues like this as it's a dedicated server.

Off the top of your heads - why would an htaccess file crash the site ?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated...

Graeme

Off the top of my head, is what ever was in it the first time was wrong. Does the vbseo .htaccess work fine for you?

Originally Posted by Michael Biddle

Off the top of my head, is what ever was in it the first time was wrong. Does the vbseo .htaccess work fine for you?

Sorry - having a blond day...

I meant, an unrelated (to vbseo) htaccess file crashed my site, I'm just "concerned" the same will happen again, and what to do if it does

Well, as I said, what was in the htaccess the first time? It might not have been written correctly. Another reason is your server might not support a .htaccess file. What kind of web server software is it?

Originally Posted by Michael Biddle

Well, as I said, what was in the htaccess the first time? It might not have been written correctly. Another reason is your server might not support a .htaccess file. What kind of web server software is it?

Probable knowing my server company.

Fedora Dual Core....admin through plesk.

After the last time - I found that the issues were related to mod_security, and when I tried to up an htaccess file to turn the rules off, the site crashed.

Cari came back with this solution

"We have disabled mod_security for you by removing the config file from /etc/httpd/conf.d/ directory. The config file is in /root/archive"

That solution was after even they tried to use htaccess and crashed the site....

SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off

^^ was what was in the htaccess file

Well I would try to install it and see if it works. If not then either we can help you, your hosting company can enable mod_rewrite, or put the rewrite rules directly in your http.conf. If none of those solutions work, then we can provide you with a refund.

Originally Posted by Michael Biddle

Well I would try to install it and see if it works. If not then either we can help you, your hosting company can enable mod_rewrite, or put the rewrite rules directly in your http.conf. If none of those solutions work, then we can provide you with a refund.

Brilliant - many MANY thanks, however I hope the latter is NOT required !

So do I

Hi Michael...

It's all good (phew)

Everything upped and working okay - slight issues with Sitemap that I'm not sure about but apart from that everything is URL rewriting working !

Google tell me I'm missing sitemap_(no's 1 thru 6_).xml.gz ? Have a horrible feeling they were deleted from server in error, but #7 is there and working okay...

You can create a ticket and we can look into it if you like.

Also, glad the installation went well

Originally Posted by jambos_1969

Hi There


Off the top of your heads - why would an htaccess file crash the site ?

i realize you've got yourself up and running, but just for future reference, there are many issues in .htaccess that could cause problems for a site, depending on the server configuration. it's not going to be having the .htaccess per se, but the settings in combination with your config.

the server may also be configured to NOT allow certain directives in the .htaccess. for example, on my server, i have it configured to not allow individual accounts to turn off modsecurity filtering via .htacess, so if they try to do that, their sites won't work.

when you come up against a specific issue, look at the directives one at a time. but overall, .htaccess is definitely your friend!

Originally Posted by goddess_dix

i realize you've got yourself up and running, but just for future reference, there are many issues in .htaccess that could cause problems for a site, depending on the server configuration. it's not going to be having the .htaccess per se, but the settings in combination with your config.

the server may also be configured to NOT allow certain directives in the .htaccess. for example, on my server, i have it configured to not allow individual accounts to turn off modsecurity filtering via .htacess, so if they try to do that, their sites won't work.

when you come up against a specific issue, look at the directives one at a time. but overall, .htaccess is definitely your friend!

Thanks for that - but I discovered that it was the mod_security that was denying the htaccess from "working"...once mod_security was disabled, htaccess works (seemingly) fine....

Originally Posted by jambos_1969

Thanks for that - but I discovered that it was the mod_security that was denying the htaccess from "working"...once mod_security was disabled, htaccess works (seemingly) fine....

ummm, you may want to rethink that decision. modsec can be configured to allow .htaccess overrides or not. sounds like yours was configured to "not." much better to change your modsec configuration than to turn it off.

in fact, you couldn't pay me to run ANY site on a server with modsec disabled. if you are running with reasonable rulesets (like what you might find at gotroot.com), take just one look at the logs of who is trying to do what, and you'll become a believer instantly. if you didn't have additional rulesets added, though, then the logs won't tell you squat.

even if you mistakenly believe you don't need the protection from hacking attempts and script exploits (and that IS a mistake, by the way), you will see a marked increase in spam without a properly configured modsec as opposed to with. and lets not forget spammer forum registrations - i went from 10-20 a day to ZERO a day by enabling modsec with current rulesets.

if you've never set up rulesets, understand you might get a few false positives which need to be tweaked at first, but the protection is well worth the trouble.

since you were able to turn off modsec, i assume your on a dedicated. and since you decided to turn it off, i also assume you're an inexperienced sysadmin...i would also suggest configserver.com's mailscanner and firewall package. they charge about $125, but they help you lock down pretty tight, makes managing mail and the system much easier, helps you avoid massive amounts of spam, and it notifiies you when things are getting wonky on your box....and you'll be AMAZED at how many people try to get it every hour of every day...seriously.

no offense inteneded, by the way....just my advice, take it or leave it as you see fit, but i did my best to do my good deed for the day.

peace out.