This is a long one I'm afraid...
I'm posting because I'm at my wit's end, and unfortunately nobody at Sellerdeck support or my webhosting company seem to be able to shed any light on two major issues I'm facing since upgrading to Sellerdeck 2013. I've put thousands of hours into creating my website, and the lack of meaningful response from either party is really disappointing. Sorry if that sounds blunt, but my frustration has boiled over and so I've turned to the Sellerdeck community to see if any kind soul is prepared to help.
1) Basically I run a website that relies exclusively on download links being made available after an order is placed. I have been hosted by Internetters for 9 years, originally on a Windows NT server before it was suggested I migrate to a Linux server (by both Sellerdeck and Internetters). As I was also upgrading to Sellerdeck 2013 from Actinic 7, I thought it was probably wise to coincide this migration with the time I would have to 'refresh' the site. No point spending a week sending 7.5Gb up the line to a Windows server if the very next day I would have do start again with Linux.
I used the website configuration wizard to set up the site and all seemed well (apart from the SMTP mailtest failing - more on that later). However, after successfully sending the html pages and cgi scripts up to the server, I then decided to add a couple of digital download products to test. Went up okay, appeared in the DD folder, tried to order one and when the receipt page appeared, the link took me to a 'This page can't be displayed' error (in IE10). Chrome posts a similar message. Has anybody else found problems setting up digital downloads on a Linux server, do you manually have to set permissions or alter the file path, or change a script? I've posted lots of info and possible 'leads' below.
2) To compound this, customer emails are not being sent after an order is made. For years and years this worked just fine at Internetters. Then last year I added lots of new products, in batches so as to not exceed my webspace. Before each one I would test the network settings and it would pass, and a confirmation email would be sent to me. Just before I made the final update, the settings test failed on the SMTP server, and it has failed ever since despite me now running a new version of Sellerdeck on a new computer and being hosted on a new server. I have repeatedly rung Internetters, they tried lots of different IP addresses and smtp.iomartmail instead of localhost, but nothing works through my Network settings test. They apparently use an unsecured port 25 for SMTP, so this should be compatible with Sellerdeck as far as what support have told me. This is inevitably turning into a blame game between both companies, Internetters say there are no reported issues on the mail server, Sellerdeck say that when they tested a snapshot of mine on their own server the mail worked fine. Are there any helpful IT people out there who could give an objective opinion as to what's going on here, and why Sellerdeck cannot connect to a standard smtp mail server using localhost on an unsecured port 25? Might there be an adjustment I could make to a script or a workaround I could employ?
So to recap there are two major issues
1) The download links on the receipt page take the customer to a 'This page can't be displayed' error. Also, the links do not appear in a customer email because -
2) Sellerdeck can't seem to connect with the smtp mail server at Internetters. For instance if one were to send me a message on my contact page (http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/...CTION=SHOWFORM) then it fails, likewise order emails are not sent. A reputable piece of software cannot connect to the mail server of a reputable hosting company, everyone blames everyone else and I'm fed up with it.
Before anyone asks, I didn't choose Internetters arbitrarily, I chose them back in 2005 because they were heralded as a 'Gold Partner' on Actinic's website. While their webspace isn't unlimited (like Sellerdeck silver hosting is), the monthly traffic is, which is very important to me. So switching really isn't an option, as I would need to go from paying £325 a year to over £2500 with Sellerdeck. Unless of course anyone from Sellerdeck sees this and would like to offer me a comparable hosting package specification and price, in which case I'd probably bite their hand off! However, like I say, the download links used to work on Internetters' Windows server, and I can see absolutely no reason why they shouldn't on their Linux server.
I apologise for writing such a long rambling post. But for me to see my thousands of hours of work disintegrating before my eyes due to an unknown party's incompetence is heartbreaking.
Needless to say, if anybody in the Community can solve either issue I would be more than eternally grateful. Below I've included a whole load of information that could conceivably help in addressing the problems.
Thanks very much
Paul
-----------------------------------------------------------
Appendix of info(!):
Relevant Network settings: attached as txt file
I have also attached a jpg of how the directories are set up on my Linux server at Internetters which also shows where the digital download file below (Andriessen Ballade) is situated
An example receipt link that is generated (which should initiate a download but instead returns an error page): http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/...5a3b...etc.etc
(This might be worth comparing to how the links used to appear when they worked on the old Windows NT server - http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/...e4f1e..etc.etc. It might be worth noticing that on the second one the name of the product is not mentioned before the DAT starts. Not sure why that's not been stripped away, whether this is simply a discrepancy between Linux and Windows servers.)
Permissions on CGI-bin - 755
Permissions on www directory - 755
Permissions on DD directory - 777
Permissions on the mp3 product I tried to order within the DD folder - 644 (not sure why this is different to the parent directory?)
-- None of the directories have the 'Recurse into subdirectories' ticked, I'm not sure whether they should or not?? --
I have also attached a jpg of the messages displayed when the network settings test fails at the SMTP stage
I would be more than happy to provide an administrator with the complete server info for the Internetters Linux server, as they have provided me with a link. I haven't posted it here in case it is at all compromising, however I have posted a jpg containing a snippet of information from it that might help with the email issue.
I'm posting because I'm at my wit's end, and unfortunately nobody at Sellerdeck support or my webhosting company seem to be able to shed any light on two major issues I'm facing since upgrading to Sellerdeck 2013. I've put thousands of hours into creating my website, and the lack of meaningful response from either party is really disappointing. Sorry if that sounds blunt, but my frustration has boiled over and so I've turned to the Sellerdeck community to see if any kind soul is prepared to help.
1) Basically I run a website that relies exclusively on download links being made available after an order is placed. I have been hosted by Internetters for 9 years, originally on a Windows NT server before it was suggested I migrate to a Linux server (by both Sellerdeck and Internetters). As I was also upgrading to Sellerdeck 2013 from Actinic 7, I thought it was probably wise to coincide this migration with the time I would have to 'refresh' the site. No point spending a week sending 7.5Gb up the line to a Windows server if the very next day I would have do start again with Linux.
I used the website configuration wizard to set up the site and all seemed well (apart from the SMTP mailtest failing - more on that later). However, after successfully sending the html pages and cgi scripts up to the server, I then decided to add a couple of digital download products to test. Went up okay, appeared in the DD folder, tried to order one and when the receipt page appeared, the link took me to a 'This page can't be displayed' error (in IE10). Chrome posts a similar message. Has anybody else found problems setting up digital downloads on a Linux server, do you manually have to set permissions or alter the file path, or change a script? I've posted lots of info and possible 'leads' below.
2) To compound this, customer emails are not being sent after an order is made. For years and years this worked just fine at Internetters. Then last year I added lots of new products, in batches so as to not exceed my webspace. Before each one I would test the network settings and it would pass, and a confirmation email would be sent to me. Just before I made the final update, the settings test failed on the SMTP server, and it has failed ever since despite me now running a new version of Sellerdeck on a new computer and being hosted on a new server. I have repeatedly rung Internetters, they tried lots of different IP addresses and smtp.iomartmail instead of localhost, but nothing works through my Network settings test. They apparently use an unsecured port 25 for SMTP, so this should be compatible with Sellerdeck as far as what support have told me. This is inevitably turning into a blame game between both companies, Internetters say there are no reported issues on the mail server, Sellerdeck say that when they tested a snapshot of mine on their own server the mail worked fine. Are there any helpful IT people out there who could give an objective opinion as to what's going on here, and why Sellerdeck cannot connect to a standard smtp mail server using localhost on an unsecured port 25? Might there be an adjustment I could make to a script or a workaround I could employ?
So to recap there are two major issues
1) The download links on the receipt page take the customer to a 'This page can't be displayed' error. Also, the links do not appear in a customer email because -
2) Sellerdeck can't seem to connect with the smtp mail server at Internetters. For instance if one were to send me a message on my contact page (http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/...CTION=SHOWFORM) then it fails, likewise order emails are not sent. A reputable piece of software cannot connect to the mail server of a reputable hosting company, everyone blames everyone else and I'm fed up with it.
Before anyone asks, I didn't choose Internetters arbitrarily, I chose them back in 2005 because they were heralded as a 'Gold Partner' on Actinic's website. While their webspace isn't unlimited (like Sellerdeck silver hosting is), the monthly traffic is, which is very important to me. So switching really isn't an option, as I would need to go from paying £325 a year to over £2500 with Sellerdeck. Unless of course anyone from Sellerdeck sees this and would like to offer me a comparable hosting package specification and price, in which case I'd probably bite their hand off! However, like I say, the download links used to work on Internetters' Windows server, and I can see absolutely no reason why they shouldn't on their Linux server.
I apologise for writing such a long rambling post. But for me to see my thousands of hours of work disintegrating before my eyes due to an unknown party's incompetence is heartbreaking.
Needless to say, if anybody in the Community can solve either issue I would be more than eternally grateful. Below I've included a whole load of information that could conceivably help in addressing the problems.
Thanks very much
Paul
-----------------------------------------------------------
Appendix of info(!):
Relevant Network settings: attached as txt file
I have also attached a jpg of how the directories are set up on my Linux server at Internetters which also shows where the digital download file below (Andriessen Ballade) is situated
An example receipt link that is generated (which should initiate a download but instead returns an error page): http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/...5a3b...etc.etc
(This might be worth comparing to how the links used to appear when they worked on the old Windows NT server - http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/...e4f1e..etc.etc. It might be worth noticing that on the second one the name of the product is not mentioned before the DAT starts. Not sure why that's not been stripped away, whether this is simply a discrepancy between Linux and Windows servers.)
Permissions on CGI-bin - 755
Permissions on www directory - 755
Permissions on DD directory - 777
Permissions on the mp3 product I tried to order within the DD folder - 644 (not sure why this is different to the parent directory?)
-- None of the directories have the 'Recurse into subdirectories' ticked, I'm not sure whether they should or not?? --
I have also attached a jpg of the messages displayed when the network settings test fails at the SMTP stage
I would be more than happy to provide an administrator with the complete server info for the Internetters Linux server, as they have provided me with a link. I haven't posted it here in case it is at all compromising, however I have posted a jpg containing a snippet of information from it that might help with the email issue.
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