Wizard use, cgi-bin locations, settings

[bullfrog]

I'm setting up my first site after purchasing Actinic 7. I have a virtual server multi-domain account with Interland.com on an Apache server. I'm still new at Unix, but am learning.

When I use my Interland Admin interface to create a site (frogazon.com) on the virtual server and add cgi-bin, it puts the cgi-bin foldler one level up from the main site folder and it is assigned a 775. For example, on the server the site is located at /usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/htdocs and the cgi-bin folder is at /usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/cgi-bin.

When I try using the Actinic Advanced Network Setup Wizard and give it the site URL, it doesn't find this automatically generated cgi-bin folder. I can manually add a cgi-bin to the main site (/usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/htdocs/cgi-bin) and give it 775, and Actinic finds it and continues with testing.

After a few minutes, I get this error message:

The specified CGI-BIN URL or possibly the path to the CGI-BIN is not correct. Check the CGI-BIN URL and try again. If the CGI-BIN is correct, return to the first page of the wizard and turn on the button to confirm each setting. Then progress through the dialogs once again and verify that he path to the cgi-bin is also correct. The web server returned (404) Not Found.

I've done the processes that the error message suggests and nothing changes. I enter the cgi-bin location as http://www.frogazon.com/cgi-bin

When I look in the cgi-bin folders, the /usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/cgi-bin location has no files. The /usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/htdocs/cgi-bin has one file - ActinicBasicCgiTest.pl

In my server setup, there is a configuration file called vhost.conf that includes the following line as part of the Virtual Host settings for frogazon.com:

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin /usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/cgi-bin

So here are the questions:

1. Is there a simple solution to the above so that you don't need to answer the next questions?
2. I've been told that putting the cgi-bin on level up from the site level in a security measure. Does it really matter?
3. Why would Actinic believe that the cgi-bin path is not correct?
4. There's a section in the Advanced Users Guide (page 81) about manually loading files to the cgi-bin. Is this what I really should be doing?
5. Is the ScriptAlias line a problem? If so, what should be done?
6. Can I, or should I, be using IP paths? If so, any idea of what the string would look like for this virtual host site? I've tried several variations without success.

Thanks for your help.

Bullfrog

[Mike Hughes]

Can you export your network set up and the copy and paste it here so we can take a look. Remember to overwrite the username and password so they're not publically viewable.

Mike

[Steve Zodiac]

When I try using the Actinic Advanced Network Setup Wizard and give it the site URL, it doesn't find this automatically generated cgi-bin folder. Bullfrog

It should do, does it not present you with a window for you to select the directory yourself? You can always put the full path in to the field.

(/usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/htdocs/cgi-bin) and give it 775, and Actinic finds it and continues with testing.

After a few minutes, I get this error message:

The specified CGI-BIN URL or possibly the path to the CGI-BIN is not correct.

That is correct, the scriptalias you have maps the url to the generated cgi-bin.
If you wanted your self created cgi-bin to work you would have to change the script alias to:-

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin /usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/htdocs/cgi-bin

[bullfrog]

network setup

This is the export of the network setup. I haven't changed anything since my first post. The user/pw I just enter when I get the prompt, so I guess it doesn't show up here.

HTTPPROXYMODE 0
HTTPPROXYADDRESS
HTTPPROXYPORT 80
HTTPPROXYUSER
HTTPPROXYPASSWORD
FTPPROXYMODE 0
FTPPROXYADDRESS
FTPPROXYPORT 21
FTPPROXYUSER
FTPPROXYPASSWORD
SCRIPTID 100021
SCRIPTEXT .pl
SMTPHOST
WEBSITEURL
IGNOREPASSIVEERRORS true
USERELATIVECGIURLS false
PATHTOPERL /usr/bin/perl
SMTPAUTHREQUIRED false
SMTPUSERNAME
SMTPPASSWORD
CATALOGURL http://www.frogazon.com/acatalog/
CGIBINURL http://www.frogazon.com/cgi-bin/
PATHFROMCGITOCATALOG <path>/acatalog/
CODEBASE http://www.frogazon.com/codebase/
FTPHOST
FTPUSERNAME
FTPPASSWORD
PATHTOCGIBIN cgi-bin
USEPASSIVEFTP false
FTPPATHFROMCGITOCATALOG

[bullfrog]

It should do, does it not present you with a window for you to select the directory yourself? You can always put the full path in to the field.

I am presented with the window to select a path, but it doesn't give me the option to move up past the virtual site root (the www.frogazon.com). I need to get one directory level higher.

That is correct, the scriptalias you have maps the url to the generated cgi-bin. If you wanted your self created cgi-bin to work you would have to change the script alias to:-

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin /usr/local/www/vhosts/frogazon.com/htdocs/cgi-bin

I don't really want to use the /htdocs/cgi-bin version. I did that as part of a trial-and-error experiment when it wouldn't find the cgi-bin that's one level up. But before I made that folder, Actinic would not even get to the testing stage.

[Mike Hughes]

There is at least one hole in your setup:

WEBSITEURL

Should be

WEBSITEURL http://www.frogazon.com/

That would cause a major problem. Try entering the website url and see what happens.

Mike

[Steve Zodiac]

PATHFROMCGITOCATALOG <path>/acatalog/

This should be: -

../htdocs/acatalog/

CODEBASE http://www.frogazon.com/codebase/

This should be: -

./

PATHTOCGIBIN cgi-bin]

This depends on where the FTP root is.
If you enter at:-

htdocs
cgi-bin

it should be: -

cgi-bin/

[bullfrog]

Solutions are found

The site URL and other info wasn't on the network setup because I was never able to finish the 'Wizard'. BUT!!!

I want to thank all for the advice I've been given, but I've worked it out. It took 2 basic actions.

The first was realising that I needed to give login data (user/pw) as my server admin instead of as site user. That allowed Actinic to FTP down to the server root, not just to the virtual host root.

The second was learning that even though I was no longer using the free trial version (I bought Developer), my new site was still considered a "pre-configured copy". Being new, I didn't realize that having about half of the Advanced Network Setup form grayed-out was not normal. While exploring options, I clicked on the 'Convert' button, but the prompt meant nothing to me, so I continued looking for a solution elsewhere.

I spent considerable time looking thru this forum and finally found a reference to what 'Convert' really means. After I 'converted' my site, I was allowed to use the input boxes and tweak the settings until everything worked.

My advice to Actinic is to make this info more apparent in your documentation, especially for trial users who then purchase. 'Convert' is not listed in the Help index, but can be found doing a word search.