Trying to move server - from Fantastico install to CVS - end up with blank page
Hi all
Been going round in circles for the past week and getting nowhere :(
Drupal 5.1
PHP 5.16
Apache 1.3
MySQL 4.1
CentOS 4.4
I have a site set up on one server and now need to move it to another server with a different url.
Unfortunately, I set up the site as a quick demo and therefore used Fantastico - went away for a week and came back to find the department I set it up for had populated it with a fair amount of info.
As the title states, I'm now trying to move the site to a new server and a new url and change to a CVS install on the new server. I've read through numerous posts and handbooks and I think I have hit information overload and my heads about to explode.
What I've done is:
* Clean install of Drupal 5.1 via CVS on new server
* Database dump from old server
* Change all old urls in database dump to new url
* Import old database dump into new database
No matter what I do (tried numerous variations of above) as soon as import the database dump all I get is a blank page at the new url, with an empty page source. Nothing in the error log. No error messages anywhere to give me a hint as to the problem. No way to get to any page on the site.
As my "name" here suggests, I am basically a total newbie to Drupal.
If someone can provide any clues or point me to a definitive method of accomplishing what I need to do it would be much appreciated.
Thanks in advance :)
Meant to mention, have tried
Meant to mention, have tried clearing the cache and sessions direct in database, no change.
How
How did you install on the new server? There's nothing wrong with Fantastico, as long as you understand what it does. It installs obly core Drupal. You will have to copy all contributed modules and files to the new server. I'm not a big fan of using CVS to install as you never know what you're getting - it is just as likely to be untested, unstable code.
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database
Hi Nancy Thanks for getting
Hi Nancy
Thanks for getting back to me. Installed via cvs on the new server.
Have to agree to disagree on the Fantastico v manual install I think :)
IMHO Fantastico is great for having a quick look at something but I would never use it on a production site (too slow to update versions including security releases and can do some weird things, for example, with Moodle, it installs the data directory in public_html which can be a security risk). Much prefer having full control over my sites and find it much easier to maintain them using CVS or SVN. But in this case, new to Drupal and having a hard time tracking down this little "technical difficulty" which is more of a site transfer issue than install issue.
Regards
Harry
It's probably either
It's probably either incorrect permissions else you're running out of memory due to having too many modules in your modules folder (using CVS is a *bad* idea)... Have you also installed the Drupal codebase using CVS? Well... Don't... Your permissions will definitely be wrong as they're geared for CVS and not for your webserver, do yourself a favour and unpack a normal drupal install download over the top of what you've got (and don't forget to change your settings.php file).
...Another question springs to mind, do you actually know that the server you're now using can support php pages? If you're using Gentoo for instance, simply emerge-ing php doesn't work on its own as you still need to change the options in /etc/conf.d/apache2 to include '-D PHP5'.
Pobster
Thanks for your pointers
Hi pobster
Thanks for getting back to me.
Checked permissions and as far as I can see they "should" all be kosher (755 for folders, 644 for files) but heading to track down more specific info as this is not the same as my live site! Memory shouldn't be a problem, I haven't installed any modules other than core (can't get in there to do so!) and I have the memory limit set to 300MB.
This is a brand new dedicated server with only a handful of sites on it at the moment, mainly php scripts. The initial installation is fine (i.e. I can install an empty Drupal), the problem kicks in when I import the database dump from my old server (tried it a few times now so I would hope that would rule out a corrupt database dump).
I must admit I am somewhat surprised by both yourself and Nancy advising against using CVS. Does Drupal do something funky with its code? I run various sites (Moodle, DotProject, PHProjekt, VTiger, Gallery2 etc. based) all of which I install and maintain via CVS or SVN and have never had a problem.
Definitely got me scratching my head this one :(
Edit: Thanks again Pobster, just found this "Typically, Drupal (all versions) like to have most of their files at octal 755 or 775." in one of the handbooks, looks like you've pointed me in the right direction :) Any ideas why so high permissions on files? (At the host I am leaving they reckon folders should be no higher than 755 and files 644 as it can present a security risk?)
The reason we're both
The reason we're both against having *every* module available to be installed stems from pre-Drupal 5. You see even without a module being enabled, Drupal will still run out of memory when navigating to admin/modules as each modules entire .module file needs to be 'loaded' to access the hook_help to retrieve the modules description. Drupal 5 avoids this by moving the module description to a nice small .info file instead, which allows far more modules to be 'available'. Still though... *every* module? Even the smaller .info files add up to maybe eventually causing you to run out of memory... Do you *really* absolutely need that the bible module is available - just in case you fancy reading the bible after playing around with the fetchgals module??? ;o)
Anyways... Permissions are not just about the numbers, they're about the users too remember? It's no good assigning full permissions to the file owner, when the file owner is the CVS user and it's the webserver which runs with the user 'apache' and needs access too. That's why I suggested overwriting your install with a fresh downloaded one from this website rather than using the CVS one, as at least then you can be sure the permissions are correct (as they're already set!) Just don't forget to change your settings.php file afterwards... I assume you're using the standard 'sites/default/settings.php' file and not creating a new 'sites/example.com/settings.php' file? If you are... Then I hope you're using 'cp -rp sites/default sites/example.com' to preserve the permissions for both the file AND the folder?
Hope this helps,
Pobster
Not just loaded
I know for a fact that other hooks are also called for non-enabled modules. I have seen hook_info called, and I believe I've seen evidence that hook_nodeapi is also being called. By far the safest thing to do is to uninstall and remove any modules that are not going to be used immediately.
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database
Issue resolved :)
Good morning/evening Pobster and Nancy
Thanks again for trying to help me out, very much appreciated :)
As I thought, the issue seems to have been with either the database dump or the import.
Did yet another clean install (again via CVS, sorry, but I am a great believer in using CVS for ease of install and maintenance with other scripts I use and don't see why Drupal should be any different), did a fresh mysqldump on the old server, imported into new database and for some unknown reason . . . success! Then it was just a case of tarring and transferring relevant files across from the old server to the new, upload a redirect script to the old server and viola . . . up and running on a new server virtually seamlessly for the users.
Have a wonderful day/evening :)
Regards
H
Great
Glad to hear of your success.
Nancy W.
Drupal Cookbook (for New Drupallers)
Adding Hidden Design or How To notes in your database