Updating problems

[simongilchrist]

I am a beginner with computers and am on a steep learning curve.

I have been using Actinic 5.0 successfully for 2 months with a few minor hickups, but recently have had problems updating the site. When i go to update the site it gets stuck on "checking search indicies", "creating remote directory structure". when i control, alt, del, it shows actinic not responding.

I have gone to advanced, network setup and done "test" - the result - "Unable to connect to the FTP server "www.bcmy.co.uk" because the specified server is invalid. This could also occur if the network connection is down. The server name or address could not be resolved"

I have recently had a hacker on my name server, from which has caused us to re-install firewalls, passwords etc. I gues my problem has something to do with this as it hasn't been able to update since!

I have changed my FTP password on actinic to the new one but appart from this i'm stuck. Does anyone have an idea of what to do first.

PS. ive gone bald since deciding to learn about computers!

[Darren]

Hello there.

Sorry to hear about the problems. Can you FTP to your site outside Actinic? You can try this through Internet Explorer?

To do this, type your username, password and hostname in this format:

ftp://usernameassword@hostname.com

So if my username was darren, my password is password and my hostname is myhost.com, I would type:

ftp://darrenassword@myhost.com

If it is successful, you should see the folder structure of your server, there is no need to touch anything, I just want to see if you can log on. If you cannot, the problem may be due to the firewall or possibility a proxy server. If you cannot FTP to your site from the network you are using at the moment, try FTPing in Internet Explorer from another machine.

Please post your findings.

[simongilchrist]

Sorry i couldn't answer you sooner,

I have tried to ftp://usreass@... the results were unclear as no file tree was displayed (stayed at same page) bottom of browser said done.

i spoke to the person looking after my server box and they said that they could see that someone (i.e me) was trying to get in but couldn't tell me weather I had connected successfully!

I have a gut feeling that the server can read what im doing but can't get information back to my home computer? I don't know how probable this is but any extra help will be appreciated.

Over and Out!

[Darren]

You have mail

[simongilchrist]

Helo again.

I have tried your idea of ftp in the address bar on my home computer, dosn't work, nothing happens.

Got a friend in another town to try and they said FTP proxy server warning came up. " the folder is read only because the proxy server is not set up to allow full access, to move, paste, rename or delete files you must use different proxy" or something.

My web site programmer (for another site) has had problems connecting to the server through putty, username password etc. and has to use the specific computer/server number instead (if that makes sence). Could my problems stem from the same thing that is causing this as well?

[garyhay]

If you know your IP address use this as the FTP server address

[simongilchrist]

The fact of changing FTP address to IP address didn't do anything new, but, the problems with the firewall have been iorned out, and this in turn has allowed me to update the site.

It felt a little strange whilst updating as it took 10-12 minits to update.... imsure it used to be quicker.... just need a bit of assurace here, or ideas of making it quicker.

I have now run a test through actinic and thr results were faulty CGI Internal server error.

We are checking if the server is configured to understand / accept POSTs to CGI scripts. The warning also asked me to check paths to the Pearl shel, CGI extention, path to bin, and CGI-bin url.

I understand all this information is on the same advanced page as the test button, the nly problem is i don't know what they should be so i don't know how to check if they are ok?

Any Ideas!

[cdicken]

The two very important fields to check are

1) The CGI-BIN URL - this is the web address of your CGI-BIN folder.

2) Path from CGI-BIN to acatalog folder - this tells the web server how to get from your CGI-BIN folder to the acatalog folder online via the folder structure on your server.

Check these two look OK. Now you've got your connection sorted out, it may be worth trying the 'Web | Configure Web Site Details' wizard again as this will ask rather more comprehensible questions.