WordPress connection issues?
This afternoon a client of ours called in stating that they were having issues installing wordpress and the error being returned was
Error establishing a database connection
Error establishing a database connection
The error to most means that either the database server specified within the installation is incorrect, or the username and password combination provided are too incorrect.
These typically mean typing errors how ever after digging a little further its apparent that the error “Error establishing a database connection” doesnt necessarily mean that this is the issue.
Some info regarding the hosted environment
- Windows 2003
- IIS 6
- PHP 5.3.8 (fastcgi)
During the tests we copied a working configuration file from another WordPress 3.2.1 web site and when testing the connection the same error occurred. Odd as we were certain that the credentials stored within the wp-config file worked. Telnet tests to the mysql data base server confirmed that no firewalls were causing connectivity issues.
During the past few years we’ve picked up on a few issues where the web user created by helm doesnt have correct permissions assigned to it or it isnt assigned to the correct user groups, so naturally a helm restore was performed on the domain to try resolve the issue. To our surprise this proved pointless as the error still existed.
Our only conclusion now is that the server which is serving website A (the one which cant connect) and the server serving website B (the site which does work) have different dependency files which is causing php to fail.
In order to isolate any inconsistencies between servers we created a phpinfo file on each server to compare the installation. Again no luck as the versions on both servers were identical.
At this point we’re scratching heads trying to figure out what is the cause of this issue. In a leap of frustration we created a simple test script to determine whether each site could connect to the database without the use of WordPress’s code
<?php
$con = mysql_connect(“localhost”,”peter”,”abc123″);
if (!$con)
{
die(‘Could not connect: ‘ . mysql_error());
}
// some code
?>
Success, on both web servers we werent able to connect to the new site’s database as the following was returned
mysqlnd cannot connect to MySQL 4.1+ using the old insecure authentication
A simple update to the password format on mysql resolved the infamous Error establishing a database connection issue
IP Address Missing from IIS 7 Site Binding
IIS 7
This may be a bit technical and perhaps rather boring but I know that someone out there will find this useful, so here it is.
If you use IIS 7 on Windows 2008 then you may run into this issue.
After creating a website within IIS 7, you’re prompted to specify the IP’s that need to be bound to the site. At the point of completing the New Web Site Wizard within IIS you get to the section where you would select your servers default IP address and its mysteriously missing.
The only two options listed within IIS 7′s IP bindings are are * or 127.0.0.1
hmmm…. what the heck. I’m sure at this point that you either check to see what IP’s are configured on your server or check some of your other sites?
The issue is caused by having a host file entry such as the machine name which points back to itself, or 127.0.0.1
Open your hosts file using notepad (c:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts) and remove or UN-comment the following line
machinename 127.0.0.1
Save
Close IIS Snap-in and reopen.
Breaking the boundries of shared e-mail hosting
With the completion of a SmarterMail upgrade to version 9 enterprise edition across all of our shared hosting servers we’re excited….. no wait, we’re ecstatic about the possibilities and features that we’re giving to our clients.
Up until now shared e-mail hosting has in past allowed you to do one thing, communicate.
Take what you know about shared e-mail hosting and turn it on its head and this is what you get with our new shared collaboration empowered e-mail services.
Keep in touch with employees in real time via chat features whether those are desktop based, mobile based or webmail based.
Share documents with clients, employees and friends.
Synchronize your mail, appointments, tasks, notes and contacts across multiple platforms with ease.
Share your inbox, calendar, notes and tasks with employees and domain users.
Import your mail, calendars and contacts from Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo and more.
Log into your webmail today and take advantage of our new shared collaboration empowered e-mail services, and once you have, share your insights with us.
60 Free Web Hosting Offers Coming up in April
We’re going to rock the hosting world in April 2012 by giving away more than 60 free web hosting accounts.
If you’re looking for a free web hosting package or reseller hosting package then keep an eye out on some of the popular online forums.
If you arent interested but know of some one who may benefit from this then please pass on the information, and remember to tell them that all of our Helm 3 Hosting Packages offer UNLIMITED BANDWIDTH!
If you know of any decent forums that you frequently visit then hit us back with some links.
Coldfusion 7 Resources Increased
We are please to announce that we have drastically increased resources on our Coldfusion 7 Web Hosting Products.
The increases see diskpace increases up to 400% and all Coldfusion 7 hosting packages now benefit from Unlimited Bandwidth.
Existing clients have already had their web hosting packages upgraded and we’re confident that this will benefit all.
how to get ioncube_loader working on IIS6 & IIS 7 php 5.3.8
We were recently tasked with php issues on a clients 2008 server in which their billing application would return wierd and wonderful errors.
The solution was to install and load php 5.3.8 Win32 VC9 x86 onto their server and hopefully resolve the issue.
After enabling and installing php 5.3.8 our initial problems were that php was returning blank pages with no errors being logged despite us enabling error debugging and logging.
Our initial attempt saw us download the Ioncube loaders from Ioncube’s site. For this part you want find the version of ioncube that matches your php version, and then download the zip file, ie Windows VC9 (x86)
WE extracted the files and placed them into php’s ext folder only to find that IIS would not read the files as they werent prefixed php_ so we renamed ioncube_loader_win_5.3.dll to php_ioncube_loader_win_5.3.dll, reloaded IIS’s php extensions and were now able to see the extension and enable it.
Upon enabling we were presented with the following error
Site error: the file <b>C:\domains\xxx.domain.com\admin\index.php</b> requires the ionCube PHP Loader ioncube_loader_win_5.3.dll to be installed by the site administrator.
C:\Users\Administrator>c:\apps\php-5.3.8-Win32-VC9-x86\php-cgi.exe c:\domains\xxx.domain.com\admin\index.php
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.3.8
Content-type: text/html
The ionCube Loader is a Zend-Engine extension and not a module Please specify the Loader using ‘zend_extension’ in php.ini
At this point we undid the changes, renamed the dll back to its original file name and added the following line the php.ini
zend_extension=”C:\apps\php-5.3.8-Win32-VC9-x86\ext\ioncube_loader_win_5.3.dll”
Voila, success
Cyber Squatters and how to prevent it!
Your domain name could be stolen or given up to the evil entity known as the Cyber squatters whose main mission is to steal your web identity and this is how they do it. They could register YourDomainName.org, and do the same thing with YourDomainName.biz, therefore contacting you and try to sell you those names at advanced prices. If that doesn’t work, then the following events could happen.
They will allow your competitor to get a domain that sounds like yours, and allow him to cause confusion or try to steal your hard-earned traffic, business and clients.
Take these steps right now to halt the cyber squatters.
Simply Lock in all possible variations of your domain name/company name by registering them. You can buy these names and keep them under your roof by simply loading them on your domains hosting plan as aliases. This way even if people browse these possible variations of your domain, they still land on your website.
Start by doing a Domain Check for the different variations of your domain name.
Don’t let cyber squatters shake you down and ruin what you have built up on the net. Get the rights and the authorization to similar or like names to your main domain name!
Earn 50% commission on sales referred to us
Over the past few months we’ve noted a drastic increase in reseller sales (Can I get a high five?). Upon further inspection we have picked up on a few individuals who have referred us on a few IT related forums – for this we thank you.
After brief discussion around the topic we have decided to offer our resellers commission on all referrals sent through to us.
To qualify for referrals sent through to us please follow the procedures outlined below :
After referring a client through to us, send us a ticket with the potential clients details.
Once we’ve confirmed that the third party has signed up with us and been referred by yourself, and via which methods we’ll note a credit to be passed for 50% of their initial purchase.
The following terms apply :
The 50% referral fee is only awarded on shared hosting services, ie end user packages and reseller packages.
The new client needs to have their services active for three months, at which point a credit will be passed to your account for 50% of the initial referral.
The referral fee is in no way transferable and may not be exchanged for any other services nor paid out.
Your reseller account needs to be in good shape, ie not suspended or cancelled.
Feel free to send us your comments and suggestions.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss this on our forum, visit our Forums or contact us
Facebook Unlimited Web Hosting Promotion
As part of our new Unlimited Local Hosting service offering which was recently launched, we are giving away 20 Free Unlimited Local Hosting plans.
Free Unlimited Hosting:
We are completely serious, no jokes. Every Friday for the next 10 weeks we will be giving away a Free Unlimited Hosting plan to 2 lucky people, to the value of R900.
The promotion includes:
- A ZA Business Standard Unlimited Local Hosting plan Free for 6 months
- 1 Free Domain Registration
To enter is very easy:
Simply follow the steps below!
- Click the LIKE button on our Facebook page and join our Facebook community.
- TAG US in one of your status updates, eg. “@server admins I want a Free ZA Unlimited Hosting Plan!”
- Get your friends to LIKE your status update
Best Practices for Password Security Against Phishing and Hackers
Phishing schemes and password hackers are very successful due to weak passwords. However, users can take simple steps to increase online security.
Weak passwords are a constant problem for websites and businesses trying to secure their data. There are thousands of hackers all over the world trying to break into systems at all hours of the day using password cracker software.
It is extremely important to enforce a strong password policies in order to keep hackers out. If choosing their own password are left to users, they will most likely pick weak passwords.
