CGI scripts are not executing properly

[tattysilver]

We hadn't updated our site for around two months and since then we upgraded to Actinic 9.0.5. What a surprise - the whole thing messed up with error upon error, reset scripts with no warning - just the usual nightmare. As you can tell I'm very much regretting not going down the route of one of the dynamic platforms such as or , and we're learning them quickly so we can move away from Actinic once and for all. Perhaps we're unlucky, but this is bordering on unusable now.

However, rant over. The latest error happens when I try to refresh the website or purge & refresh, as we recently modified the coupon codes. Having battled through the numerous "Actinic has encountered an error" and other similar Windows errors that cause it to crash at totally random intervals with no useful diagnosis information, the latest error is:

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Actinic received a server error from the web server. The CGI scripts are not executing properly on the server. The error could be caused by several things. Check:
- the 'Path to the Perl shell'
- the 'CGI script extension'
- the 'Path to CGI-BIN'
- the 'CGI-BIN URL.
- the amount of web space left on your server
- if your server is configured to accept POSTs to CGI scripts
- the permissions on the server:

On Linux/Unix based servers the permissions should be:
cgi-bin (755) – drwxr-xr-x
Online Store Folder (777) – drwxrwxrwx
On Windows based servers (need to be checked with the hosting company):
IIS
cgi-bin = read/execute
Online Store Folder = read/write/execute
NTFS
cgi-bin = Catalog's FTP account needs 'Change' permissions on the directory
Online Store Folder = Catalog's FTP account needs 'Change' permissions on the directory AND the IUSR_<servername> account needs to have 'Change' permissions on the directory

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This error appears when trying to update the site. Actinic takes 25 minutes to load up with this site, so every crash costs us 25 minutes. So far it has crashed on me 30+ times, so that's over 12 hours of sitting and waiting. During this time, adding to cart gives the customer a GENERAL SCRIPT ERROR so the entire site has made zero sales. I've tried the following:

- updating website
- refreshing website
- purge and refresh
- cgi-bin permissions to 755 (folder only and folder & files)
- acatalog permissions to 777 (folder only and folder & files)
- contacted server admin - web space 20GB free
- path to perl shell hasn't changed
- tried script number of 1, 2, 3
- cleared cgi-bin directory then retried
- cleared *.fil and *.cat files using shell then retried
- restarted computer
- double checked that the server is configured to accept POSTs to CGI scripts - it is
- double checked that server software has been recently updated - it hasn't
- checked available server RAM - enough available


This store was fully functional until this basic update went horribly wrong. It makes me shiver every time I cilck the update button. Come on guys, reliability needs some drastic improvement.

Thanks in advance for any help with the CGI error.

Matt

[Mike Hughes]

What happens when you run a network test? (much quicker than a failed upload).

Mike

[tattysilver]

Thanks for the suggestion. When I run a network test everything passes successfully, both normal and SSL. I re-enabled Enhanced FTP (as I'd previously disabled it as advised) and amidst several more crashes it finally managed to get to the "Completed" stage. Having felt like I had finally won the battle, I tested the site out. Now the Extended Info pages are dead links. Actinic is not uploading them. I've barely touched the site and a seemingly simple upgrade is completely messing the site up bit by bit. It shouldn't be like this. I would condiser myself experienced at Actinic, however the intermittent, random nature of this is any developer's worse nightmare. I'm now refreshing the website in between 25 minute waits for the thing to boot up after crashing (number 2 so far), on the hope that maybe by the 10th, or 20th attempt (or 50th, who knows) it will actually get to the "Completed" stage again, this time with Extended Info pages intact.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and I apologise for the lack of specific information for debugging, but this is all the program is providing me with.

Matt

[guccij]

You were having a problem with Extended Info pages in August, before this latest upgrade. Did you fix the problem you outline in this thread: http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?p=282143

[Mike Hughes]

I really don't know how to solve your problem.

What I would recommend though is to roll back to your previous version to get the site working again and take the pressure off.

I'd then load 9.0.5 onto a separate PC and focus on getting that to work on a test domain / sub-directory before going live with it.

Mike

[tattysilver]

Thanks for all the help with this. It's a shame we couldn't find a concrete reason as to what the cause was, but fortunately I have been able to now update the site with all links intact and no CGI errors. It wan't an issue with our server/host, nor was it related to the Extended Info pages. Whatever it was I hope it never happens again, as, despite the earlier rant, we do find Actinic an excellent piece of software when it works as it should. We'll also look into tidying up our sites to make the job easier for the future.

Matt