Can't get orders off my site

[ianb]

Well, that's a slight lie.

Sometimes when I click on the get orders button it downloads the orders. More often than not it comes up with an error telling me I don't have the configuration right. I have set all the permissions, had them checked by my host and they must be right because sometimes it works.

I will often get an e-mail to say I have a new order but cannot get it off the site. When an error occurs I can sometimes get it to work if I click 'retry'.

Actinic say its a host problem, my hosts say its a software problem. My hosts suggest I edit the perl scripts because they think there is a space missing - I'm not inclined to start changing the program scripts!

Anyone else experienced this huge frustration which seems to slip between the cracks of the hosts and the software developers??

Very grateful for any thoughts.

Ian

[ianb]

Typo

Sorry, in the first line that should read 'sometimes pulls down the orders...'

[webyourbusiness]

make sure that the checkbox "use passive ftp" is checked in the advanced network setup and retry - please report your result back to the community.

regards

GHL

[ianb]

Passive FTP

Passive FTP has been enabled (checked) throughout.

The two errors I get are:

You don't have permission to access /cgi-bin/nq000002.pl on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Although this Perl script is set to 755 like all the others.

And from Actinic

Actinic received an request forbidden error from the web server. The server is not properly configured to allow Actinic to run CGI scripts from the cgi-bin. Run Web | Configure Web Site Details... to review your web site configuration.

Yet there are no error reports logged on my server or in the .err report of Actinic.

What I find curious is that the routine works about 1 in 20 times???

[webyourbusiness]

is this a *nix server or 'doze?

If it's *nix, then I'd check using an FTP program that your cgi-bin files and the order files are in the same group as your FTP user...

[ianb]

Er... I think its a Linux server, does that make sense??

[ianb]

Frustration - Loosing orders

I know there are orders on my site as customers have contacted me but I can't get them to down load.....

[ianb]

Ahhh.... managed to pull it down.

Only took 27 attempts.

[Mike Hughes]

Only 26 tries more than most people.

I've never heard of this problem before. It sounds like it could be an access setting on host somewhere. Probably worth talking to them about.

Mike

[webyourbusiness]

what Actinic is going to tell them to do is increase the FTP timeout settings on the servers - we have increased all of ours and clients occassionally have problems downloading orders - I have spent probably 30+ hours on the problem, but as the issue is almost always found off out network (Verio normally) - I have no suggestions, other than to run a traceroute between you and the server... see if you get a 500ms+ response somewhere (probably verio if you do) and if so, you found your problem.

[ianb]

Thanks Everyone

Thanks to all those that have posted replies to my problem.

I will copy the responses and send them to my host. Hopefully, they will be able to 'tweek' the server settings to prevent this problem.

Its really irritating to customers waiting for some sort of response from me when they have placed and order, and more irritating when they have requested an account to be set up (this is by submitting and order at zero value).

Thanks again. If I find out the cause I will post it up on the site for the benefit of others.

Ian

www.citnexus.co.uk
administration@citnexus.co.uk

[ianb]

Problems with server timeout

Having contacted my host and run a trace there seems to be a problem when the trace re-enters their area. They are trying to find the choke point and do something about it.

The really frustrating thing is that this problem mainly occurs when there are orders waiting to be downloaded and some of them are getting lost as a result!

Doesn't help to pay the bills!

[ianb]

Still no joy

My hosts have upped the ftp settings as follows:

I have set the following FTP timeout values in our ProFTPD configuration.
These values are twice the default values that are specified and should hopefully be enough to allow your application time to FTP what it requires.

TimeoutIdle 1200
TimeoutLogin 600
TimeoutNoTransfer 1200
TimeoutSession 3600
TimeoutStalled 3600

And still the order download does not work.......

[cdicken]

Hi Ian

This looks like it is going to need more detailed investigation. Could I ask you to register an email support query at http://www.actinic.co.uk/support/register.htm and the team there can actually test your server for themselves and see what results they get.

[webyourbusiness]

My hosts have upped the ftp settings as follows:

I have set the following FTP timeout values in our ProFTPD configuration.
These values are twice the default values that are specified and should hopefully be enough to allow your application time to FTP what it requires.

TimeoutIdle 1200
TimeoutLogin 600
TimeoutNoTransfer 1200
TimeoutSession 3600
TimeoutStalled 3600

And still the order download does not work.......

because DESPITE what Actinic support told OUR clients experiencing the very same problem, it turned out to be a messed up router on the Verio network - their network is a shambles in traceroutes I've done from the US to the UK and vice versa... of course, all sorts of routers go bad and are horribly loaded - you have to run a traceroute between you and your web server and also the ftp server (if different)... see what responses you get...

check the routers you see en-route to your server on this list too..

http://www.broadbandreports.com/badrouters

You will also find a number of tools to check status of your server and other hops between you and your server there - these are easy to use...

regards


Greg