Not Found - .htaccess ??

Hello everyone,

I feel kind of bad posting this, as
1st, I'm sure this has been asked various times.
and 2nd, I'm sure it's somewhere I messed up.

I uploaded vbSEO's .htaccess file to the forum root (( /var/www/forums/ ))
I just verified that mod_rewrite is working on the server, by following the instructions on this link.

The main forum page comes up fine (( http://mysite.com/forums/forum.php ))
Yet if I click on "Main Forum" or the only thread I have so far, it comes back with a

Not Found

The requested URL /forums/f2/ was not found on this server.
Apache/2.2.16 (Debian) Server at mysite.com Port 80

Oddly enough, when I click on the "Home" button, it comes up blank... nothing comes up.
Not an error page or nothing.

Am I missing something basic?

When searching for a solution in vBSEO.com, I came across this thread: Page not found error
and this other one 404 HTTP Errors

Any thoughts on what I can check? Change? Verify?

Thank you for your help!

Hello,


Please make sure you uploaded the vBSEO .htaccess file to your forum directory. It should be the directory where your vBulletin installation is located.


If you have already uploaded the .htaccess file, please first try enabling RewriteBase within .htaccess file.
In order to do so please find the following line within your .htaccess


#RewriteBase /


and replace it with


RewriteBase /


If you are using a folder for your vBulletin installation such as forum or forums you should use the following RewriteBase


RewriteBase /forum/


If this does not resolve your problem please make sure your host supports mod_rewrite and you are allowed to use .htaccess file on your hosting. In order to check if your host supports mod_rewrite please create a new .htaccess file with the following content and upload it to your vBulletin installation folder


RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule testpage\.html Google [R]


Once the .htaccess file has been updated, enter the following into your browser:


http://www.yoursite.com/testpage.html


If this does NOT work, then mod_rewrite is either disabled or setup incorrectly. In this case you should contact your hosting provider and ask them to enable mod_rewrite and .htaccess usage on your account.


If the above test works but your forum links are returning 404 errors, please open a support ticket and supply us ftp, admincp and vBSEO Control Panel login information so we can investigate the issue for you.

Hello!

Thank you for your help.

I modified the .htaccess file inside var/www/forums/
I uncommented RewriteBase /
And added the line RewriteBase /forums/

I'm still coming up with the error page.
So I moved that .htaccess file out of the forums/ , and created a new one with the two lines you provided.
I wrote them like so:

Code:

RewriteEngine On
 RewriteRule testpage\.html http://www.google.com/ [R]

Yet that didn't work when I visited http://mysite.com/forums/testpage.html

=======
About my host:
I bought the small instance of a RackSpace Cloud Server.
I installed Debian on it.
So I *guess* we can do whatever we wish with the .htaccess and mod_rewrite rules... not sure.

Previously (a week ago?), I had enabled mod_rewrite on the server.
I did that by running the command a2enmod rewrite

I just ran that command again, and it came back:
Module rewrite already enabled.

I'm sure I'm messing something basic up.

I can try something else, or if you think it's better, I'll open the support ticket and provide you with the needed login details.

Thank you very, very much for your time and help... it is greatly appreciated!

Originally Posted by LiveWinds-com

Code:

RewriteEngine On
 RewriteRule testpage\.html http://www.google.com/ [R]

Yet that didn't work when I visited http://mysite.com/forums/testpage.html

You could try instead:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule testpage\.html Google [L,R]

If still doesn't work, then something is messing up your mod_rewrite. If it works for you, then you might need to enable "Custom Doc Root" and "Define vBSEO Custom Relative Doc Root" in your vBSEO CP -> General Settings -> vBSEO Options -> Advanced Settings

If that doesn't work either, please open up a support ticket for troubleshooting.

Hello,

Thank you for the super quick reply!

Sorry, yet I missed a very obvious step above.
I am posting my .htaccess for review, if possible.

I had not un-commented the RewriteRule line.
I just realized that while reading your new post.
Sorry for that.

Going to enable it now, and see the result.

I should also add that although I can access my site via:
http://mysite.com
and the forums via
http://mysite.com/forums/

It is still not setup for the www.
So if I visit http://www.mysite.com I get nothing.
I'd like to fix that too... when possible.

Here's the present .htaccess:::

Code:

# Comment the following line (add '#' at the beginning)
# to disable mod_rewrite functions.
# Please note: you still need to disable the hack in
# the vBSEO control panel to stop url rewrites.
RewriteEngine On

# Some servers require the Rewritebase directive to be
# enabled (remove '#' at the beginning to activate)
# Please note: when enabled, you must include the path
# to your root vB folder (i.e. RewriteBase /forums/)
RewriteBase /forums/

#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.mysite\.com
#RewriteRule (.*) http://www.mysite.com/forums/$1 [L,R=301]

RewriteRule ^((urllist|sitemap_).*\.(xml|txt)(\.gz)?)$ vbseo_sitemap/vbseo_getsitemap.php?sitemap=$1 [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(admincp/|modcp/|cron|vbseo_sitemap|api\.php)
RewriteRule ^((archive/)?(.*\.php(/.*)?))$ vbseo.php [L,QSA]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/(admincp|modcp|clientscript|cpstyles|images)/
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ vbseo.php [L,QSA]

EDIT:::
I think I should get the www. fixed before continuing... as I see two of the Rewrite rules have the www.
Going to do that now, and update ASAP.

Your .htaccess looks fine. Did you try the above suggestion?.

On regards of the www issue, you should replace these lines:

#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.mysite\.com
#RewriteRule (.*) http://www.mysite.com/forums/$1 [L,R=301]

with:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^yoursite\.com
RewriteRule (.*) http://yoursite.com/forums/$1 [L,R=301]

When I reviewed your site, I found also a redirect loop in your CMS coming from somewhere. Make sure you're not using " "Component URLs" settings.

If the www version of your site is not loading anything, the dns level portion of your site needs further configuration in httpd.conf or whatever your host happens to use. You should really contact them at this point as only they will know their set up.