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    Downloads not working, emails not being sent, desperate for help.

    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.
    Attached Files

    #2
    Way over my head but mine is on Linux and different to yours
    Attached Files
    Chris Ashdown

    Comment


      #3
      Thanks for your reply Chris

      In actual fact that doesn't look too dissimilar to my directory structure in regard to the fact there's a CGI-bin and httpdocs directory (in my case www) with the acatalog and DD subfolder below it. I think these are the only two main directories my site so that's where they should be relative to each other. I appreciate your response and wish you luck with your own websites.

      I'm pleased to say that some of the support has improved, in particular Simon at the Sellerdeck tech support team has been trying to address the mail issue. But there's still an impasse between the software and server which I just don't understand. It would seem to be a benign Linux server running Apache 2 and PHP Version 5.4.24, and I don't have the technical expertise to know why the download links fail.

      I might yet have to implement the mail workaround that Sellerdeck wizard Norman Rouxel has posted here - http://community.sellerdeck.com/show...4&postcount=68, I wonder if anyone else has experience of using this for an extended period of time.

      Best,
      Paul

      Comment


        #4
        Can SellerDeck offer you some temporary space on their servers to test with?

        Comment


          #5
          Sellerdeck have suggested emergency hosting, and even taking over the hosting of the website, but I would rather the issue was examined on the Linux server I'm hosted on as I'm sure it should be fixable with some forensic examination by an expert. I think I'm pretty much forced to stay with my current webhosters at the moment unfortunately, the capitalisation with which they emphasise that they don't return any money under any circumstances doesn't bode well for potential refunds.

          I'll bypass the email issue for now as the download issue is much more pressing.

          I suppose what I don't understand is how things can go wrong on what seems to be a standard Linux server. When I tested the software (test mode and test Sagepay) on part of my previous Windows server it worked fine. I sent a snapshot to Sellerdeck (with just one product available to download) and that apparently worked absolutely fine (haven't been able to find out from them what type of server this was on). Of course I now wish I hadn't migrated from Windows to Linux, but it was for good reasons and after following advice.

          It is only since switching to Linux (with the same company whose Windows server it worked on) that the downloads have gone wrong, despite the rest of the site working well. I was wondering if there can be anything inherently wrong with a server that stops download links from finding their target. Or whether permissions have to be set manually or the scripts modified in any way. Or whether any additional files have to be added to the server root to allow for this.

          Would still love to hear if anyone has faced similar issues or could provide some technical advice to exactly how the digital download procedure should work on a Linux server

          All best,
          Paul

          Comment


            #6
            Digital Downloads - I had a similar issue years back on v7 and resolved by renaming the file "nph-download.pl" to "download.pl" .. remove the "nph-" ... this is found in the Site1 folder on your PC.... rename then upload .. may be worth a try.


            Bikster
            SellerDeck Designs and Responsive Themes

            Comment


              #7
              Thanks for that Jont. I have seen that suggestion proposed for certain other download issues before, although none I've seen that directly relate to my problem. However, if it's something that you recognise and have resolved in this way then I'll definitely consider it if I don't hear anything back from support. I'm always a little anxious about changing scripts in case it leads to further problems and I can't revert back, but I presume I can just change the name back again if necessary.
              Would it work with a simple 'Publish to Web' or would I need a full refresh for that to work?

              Thanks again,
              Paul

              Comment


                #8
                You are not changing the script just telling the server not to use the non parsed headers part... publish the web as normal, if it doesn't work simply rename it back and upload again


                Bikster
                SellerDeck Designs and Responsive Themes

                Comment


                  #9
                  Have tried that and it brings up a different error message instead (a 500 internal server error):

                  ----------------------------
                  Internal Server Error

                  The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

                  Please contact the server administrator, support@iomart.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

                  More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
                  --------------------------


                  Having just reset it to nph-download it gives the former error in IE10 (it was trying to search for http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/cgi-bin/nph-dl000001.pl/Achron_Hebrew_Melody.mp3?DAT=90b2b9a3bebff19cb4bdbeb5a88ee1e1e2e8e8e38e90b2b9a3bebf8e99b4b3a3b4a68e9cb4bdbeb5a8ffbca1e2d1e0e2e8e2e5e2e0e2e4e0d1e4b4e4e8e1e2e4b7b4e0e3e0e3e8e4e9e9e8e9e9b7e2b0e3b5b5e2b3e9e2e3b5)

                  -----------------------------------------
                  This page can't be displayed

                  •Make sure the web address http://www.piano-accompaniments.com is correct.
                  •Look for the page with your search engine.
                  •Refresh the page in a few minutes.
                  ----------------------------------------

                  Really frustrated by this, I just can't understand it

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by PA.com View Post
                    This is a long one I'm afraid...

                    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.



                    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?)

                    .
                    Hi

                    It is not clear from your email which version you are using on the two servers, I am assuming V7 on the Windows server and V12 (2013) on the Linux server.

                    The permissions look OK, the differences are that the 644 means the public can read the file but not execute it, 755 the public can read and execute the file, for a folder this allows these actions on files in the folder but the files can have different settings to the folder. 777 means the public can read, write and execute files, for a folder it means anyone can upload a file into the folder and then execute it on the server. The three digits each represent a set of conditions for each of three sets of users, from the left the sets are owner, group, and public, within a digit the values are 4=read, 2=write, 1= execute, and these are added to gether to make the final value, 1,2,3,4,5,6, or 7, so 6 is a read/write and 4 is a read only.

                    To make this clearer 764 means owner can read, write and execute, group can read and write, public can only read. The set group usually relates to processes running on the server which do not have ownership of the file or folder.

                    The 500 error you got on changing the file name is not surprising as this error will occur if a script running on the server is unable to complete correctly. In this case renaming the file has affected a different script that was looking for the orignal file and could not find it hence the server gave the 500 error message.

                    The difference between the two download links is very significant, all the information in the link after the ? is data ( a parameter) that is being passed to the script part of the link for processing

                    http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/...5a3b...etc.etc

                    i.e to the perl script nph-dl000001.pl.

                    There is a problem with the other link

                    http://www.piano-accompaniments.com/...5a3b...etc.etc

                    as in this case the parameter is being passed to the file Andriessen_Ballade.mp3 which the server is being asked to process as though it was a program or a script. So that is the first port of call

                    "Why is Sellerdeck generating the link in this manner"

                    The email problem is a separate problem but you might like to ask your ISP whether they use the same mail server for both Windows and Linux servers as differences between the two types of server may well be the problem.

                    Apologies for the length of the reply.

                    Malcolm

                    SellerDeck Accredited Partner,
                    SellerDeck 2016 Extensions, and
                    Custom Packages

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Hi Paul,

                      Don't know if this *might* help? (on the email side...)

                      We had a problem last week (well for the previous month but had not noticed it!) where no email was coming though our SMTP Server... After 12-hours of frantic searching, and previously 8-years of working!, we found that the SMTP server, running on our Windows Server, could not be used as LOCALHOST anymore... we had to use a Fully Qualified Domain Name ie our website URL...

                      We had not previous modified any settings on the Server and no Windows patches had been installed in the same 1-month period... I think it has something to do with the Germans tightening up on unsolicited Spam! (Yes, our server's in Germany...)

                      I know you're on Linux, blah-de-blah, but it's worth investiating...

                      Have a read of this:

                      https://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr....mspx?mfr=true

                      Maybe help / maybe not... Good luck ;-)

                      KR

                      Bill.

                      PS: Within Sellerdeck we still use LOCALHOST as the SMTP server... It's just for Auto-Order Confirmations and ContactUs forms on the server that needed the FQDN changing...
                      Bill

                      HTML Code:
                      <a href="www.spicesofindia.co.uk">www.spicesofindia.co.uk</a>

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Malcolm, please don't apologise for a lengthy reply, that's by far the best analysis I've had so far about where the download problem might lie, and I really appreciate your time.

                        Yes I was using V7 on a Windows server for many years, and am now trying to use V12 on a Linux server.
                        However, before I uploaded the site to Linux I used V12 in test mode on the previous Windows server, and that seemed to work so I was confident the migration would be okay. Little did I know.

                        I'm really pleased that you think the difference in download link names is so significant, as this is what struck me. Your explanation helps me take this forward to Sellerdeck. The strange thing is that it worked previously on the Windows server in test mode, and apparently when Sellerdeck support tried a snapshot it worked okay (though I don't know whether this was Linux).

                        One course of action open to me is to try partially migrating and testing the site back on a Windows server, I think someone is addressing this possibility for me at Internetters. Not sure how that would change how the download name is generated though. I guess it won't do any harm to try, but if that fails too then I'm going to need to get help from the development team.

                        Thanks very much,
                        Paul

                        -------------------------

                        Bill

                        Thank you also for your reply, and that does seem similar to my issue - something changing overnight without warning, and an anti-spam update may well have been the unwitting cause. Trouble is Internetters insist nothing their end has changed, and what's more nothing they have suggested for me to put in the Network settings email boxes has been successful.
                        I have in the meantime tested the workaround script that Norman Rouxel has written, and initial fingers-crossed impressions seem to be that it works successfully! I may or may not have to ditch it if I'm put back on a Windows server, but once everything else is sorted I'll post back about how this unfolds.

                        Thanks very much
                        Paul

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Hi Paul,

                          I'm thinking the implementation of their Spam Filtering could even be Platform Independent?! a problem for Windows, Linux and others? ie maybe it is handled on their Router hardware?...

                          KR

                          Bill.
                          Bill

                          HTML Code:
                          <a href="www.spicesofindia.co.uk">www.spicesofindia.co.uk</a>

                          Comment


                            #14
                            ...Actually, that's probably wrong as, when I spoke to 1&1, they said that they had not implemented anything that would stop SMTP working from our server. When we investigated, we found we could open the SMTP port but it was immediately closed (from within our server, somewhere!) - so, it must have been something within the operating system...

                            Bill
                            Bill

                            HTML Code:
                            <a href="www.spicesofindia.co.uk">www.spicesofindia.co.uk</a>

                            Comment


                              #15
                              That's interesting Bill. But for me to have found the same problem on both my Internetters servers not connecting to their mail server means they must either have a chronic problem of emails not being sent or that the problem is isolated to me somehow. A couple of times over the past month their status page has mentioned people may be suffering from emails not being sent, but the status page is clear now. I simply don't understand it, there must be some update made, there must be something in the Sellerdeck scripts that's become unpalatable since aforementioned update. Puzzling


                              One other thing of note on the downloads issue - I have the expiry set for 48 hours but if I navigate back to a receipt page a few hours after an order, the link has already disappeared. Could this be related I wonder?

                              Paul

                              Comment

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