CUtils website issues

[AndyKF650]

Hi Hans

As you may be aware I have been having real issues with my webhost and website which has been crashing out. The host has reset the site a few times now with no real indication of what has been causing the issue.

I dug around the error files at the hosting site and found a recurring problem in that the CUserMenu.txt was missing from the public-html file store. I remembered that I had removed this file as I don't use it for my site as I use the CUtilsMenu.def file method. I reinstated the .txt file on the site and realised just why I had removed it, the menu bar on the website was doubled up with items.

So I have now reinstated the .txt file on the website folder but taken all the information out of the file. It seems that the errors on the website have slowed down.

From your development perspective does CUtils automatically look for both the .txt and .def files but not stop looking if one or other is absent from the website /public-html folder. I suspect that this persistent looking is regarded as a security issue for the webhost and then after a while it blocks the site to prevent a major issue.

Hopefully the crashes will become a thing of the past but I will let you know how it goes.

[HansR]

Hi Andy,

Wrt the menu file: it is optional and belongs to menu system 1. It is looked for and given a warning if it is not present. You will see the warning every time the site is started. Not a big deal and has nothing to do with the crashing of the site I think.

Wrt the site crashes: I do not understand what, when and why, but do you have the site open all time?

From your development perspective does CUtils automatically look for both the .txt and .def files but not stop looking if one or other is absent from the website /public-html folder. I suspect that this persistent looking is regarded as a security issue for the webhost and then after a while it blocks the site to prevent a major issue.

The def files are used at generation time. The txt files are used at runtime. Both types of files are looked for at the moment they are needed but if not present nothing happens. The def files are only used when generating the website. The txt files are only accessed once at the startup of the site (or a ctrl-F5 refresh). They would not be regarded as a security issue.

Do you have a reason to believe they are regarded as a security issue?

And besides that: if the site crashes, can you restart it immediately?

[AndyKF650]

Hi Hans

Thanks for your responses to my issues. Rather than the problems being all CUtils in origin I think that that they are a result of the interaction of Cutils with the host. When I had removed the .txt file from my web public-html folder the errors on the HostPresto log showed that it was being looked for and returned a "File not found" error multiple times a minute until HostPresto automatically stopped/ blocked the site (my crashed site).

At this point the website became unavailable with a "Connection refused" error. There was nothing I could do to access it until I messaged HostPresto at which point they reset certain settings and the site became instantly available to me without needing a CUtils restart.

When I reinstated a blank .txt file the blocking errors disappeared. I did retest the removal of the .txt file and the site crashed out again until HostPresto reset their settings.

Currently the site seems quite stable with no problems at either HostPresto or MXDiags or CUtils. The site has been major error free for a couple of days now. By the way when the site crashed out the data recording at the CMX level did not stop nor did the uploads to third party providers, this issue was only with uploads to HostPresto ie website and MySQL

[HansR]

Hi Andy,

I get that error for the CUsermenu.txt only once when I initiate the site (on the F12 console) so it can't be in the serverlog more often (it is only tried to read during initiation of the site). It just give a 404 HTML error and that cannot trigger the provider into a security stop. If that would be the case the whole internet would come to a grinding halt as 404 is somewhat the most common error on the net. So afaiac that cannot be the cause.

But in the logfile you sent in the other thread, I see a lot of errors concerning sending over the PHP protocol:

Code: Select all

2023-06-14 15:16:54.090 PHP[0]: Error uploading to realtime.txt
2023-06-14 15:16:54.091 PHP[0]: Error uploading to realtime.txt - Exception Type: System.Net.Http.HttpRequestException
Message: Connection refused
Inner Exception... 
Exception Type: System.Net.Sockets.SocketException
Message: Connection refused

This continues until 22h30. That seems an error for which your provider may trigger a security action (though it takes a long time). From 22h30 there seems to be no more problems and the rollover is flawless.

If that upload error is a recurring issue which disappears after a reset, I would put my money on that as the culprit. So check for the CMX logfile for PHP errors and see if that corresponds with your provider stopping the site. So far it does NOT seem to be related to CUtils.

If you still think the menufile is the cause, then could you post the server log (including the timestamps).