Network problems with Xilo

[10thWay]

Hello,

I host with Xilo, recently I noticed that order confirmation emails did not arrive on random orders. I tested the network settings & this is what i got:

Error 500:

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

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@10thway.co.uk 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.

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

The possible causes Actinic is suggesting are as follows:

The test script failed to execute on the web 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

I contacted Actinic support & they tested my network settings (below) which came back correct:

HTTPPROXYMODE 0
HTTPPROXYADDRESS
HTTPPROXYPORT 80
HTTPPROXYUSER
HTTPPROXYPASSWORD
FTPPROXYMODE 0
FTPPROXYADDRESS
FTPPROXYPORT 21
FTPPROXYUSER
FTPPROXYPASSWORD
SCRIPTID 1
SCRIPTEXT .pl
SMTPHOST mail.10thway.co.uk
WEBSITEURL http://www.10thway.co.uk/
IGNOREPASSIVEERRORS true
USERELATIVECGIURLS false
PATHTOPERL /usr/bin/perl
USEENHANCEFTP true
FTPCLIENTTIMEOUT 15000
FTPRETRYDELAY 3000
FTPSILENT true
FTPMAXRETRIES 3
FTPCONNECTTIMEOUT 25000
SMTPAUTHREQUIRED true
SMTPUSERNAME *****10thway.co.uk
SMTPPASSWORD *********
CATALOGURL http://www.10thway.co.uk/acatalog/
ONLINESTOREFOLDERNAME acatalog
CGIBINURL http://www.10thway.co.uk/cgi-bin/
PATHFROMCGITOCATALOG ../acatalog/
CODEBASE ./
FTPHOST ftp.10thway.co.uk
FTPUSERNAME ********
FTPPASSWORD ********
PATHTOCGIBIN ./public_html/cgi-bin/
USEPASSIVEFTP false
FTPPATHFROMCGITOCATALOG

I should also menton that despite this, I can upload/refresh the site without problems.

Finally, emails are also failing (see attached screenshot).

Any help you could offer would be much appreciated.

Matt Graziani

[Mike Hughes]

Have you by any chance got a comma separating multiple email addresses in your email address field ? Or even a comma after a single address? In actinic you just use a space to separate multiple email addresses in 'send receipt email copies to:'

Mike

This may not be the cause of all your problems as you have some odd error messages in your errror log that I haven't seen before.

[10thWay]

Hello Olderscot,

Thanks for responding, I just checked, we only have one email address in there & no commas.

I really don't know what's going on mate.

[Mike Hughes]

Xilo say you can send emails from the server using localhost:

If you are sending from the server itself, you can just use the mailserver as 'localhost' without a username or password.

So try this:

- clear the email username and password boxes
- turn off smtp authentication
- enter localhost as the name of the smtp server

Mike

[10thWay]

Thanks for responding, nope, still the same.

By the way, I still get the following error when testing the network settings:

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

Run Web | Configure Web Site Details... to review your web site configuration.

[leehack]

Is it really worth this much trouble to try and get it working? You may never manage it and waste hours trying to do so. Select a company that works with actinic (please don't choose fasthosts or godaddy) and change over, so much easier. It's not a challenge trying to get a certain host to work with actinic, it's a sure fire way of wasting hours of your time and ultimately losing money.

[10thWay]

Hello Leehack,

You are right, I was just thinking the same. I had a look around and prices vary a lot. I was considering webfusion.com, do you know if they are any good?

Otherwise, what's the best deal/company you could suggest?

Thanks,

Matt.

[RuralWeb]

Network settings for webfusion here

[10thWay]

Thanks mate, what do you think of them? Any good?

[RuralWeb]

I have over 40 sites on them and I think they are one of the best. They do have problems every now and then but so do all the others

[10thWay]

OK, I'll have a look at their packages shortly.

[leehack]

Webfusion, pinbrook, tame the web and 1 & 1 are regularly spoken about on the forum, i personally would not look outside of using one of those 4. They are proven providers with a number of actinic users, thus maximum support.

[Darren B]

They do have problems every now and then but so do all the others

This is so true, its how they deal with it is more to the point.

[RuralWeb]

its how they deal with it is more to the point

True - Im sure every hosting company has its horror stories including all of the above

[10thWay]

Thank you all for your feedback. I found a new host which is much more reliable & ready to offer support.

I am still appaled by Xilo's (lack of) customer service. They have been most un-helpful, so whatever you do, don't go with Xilo...!

Thanks,

Matt.