Joomla blank after changing server, admin panel good - joomla

I did a cPanel move of a Joomla 1.5 website and a PHPBB3 forum from one server to another, and when the DNS changes kicked in all I see is a blank page. The administrator panel works without any problems whatsoever. cPanel works. Website and forum (which is separate from the website) are both blank.
I have then manually downloaded and then uploaded all files (didn't move the databases manually), and some files wouldn't upload because of 555 file permissions. I changed the permissions to 777 temporarily to overwrite the file with the manually uploaded one. So all files are now the same as they were on the old server.
Even when I turn the Site Debugging on, the screen is blank.
There is no hidden index.html or default.html file which could be causing the problem.
The entire account was moved with cPanel so it's the same on the old server and the new server. The hosting provider reports no problems. The DNS changes kicked in two days ago.
PHP is working, as this link works: http://oklade.net/findpath.php
In configuration.php, there is nothing specifically pointing to the old site.
var $dbtype = 'WeboMySql';
var $host = 'localhost';

All roads in these cases generally lead to configuration.php Check spelling and punctuation for mistakes. Also, enable one of the default Joomla Templates to be sure that whatever template you're using isn't also using old values.

Problem is solved.
The configuration.php file was to blame, as everyone suggested, but there was no possible way to change it manually and get it right, I had to make the system determine its own configuration.
I installed a fresh version of Joomla in a separate folder, and a fresh version of PHPBB3 in a separate folder.
Then I took the configuration.php and config.php files for those two things and put them in the existing folders of the website which didn't work.
Changed the minor details such as database prefixes (as I couldn't have entered the existing ones while installing), and that's it. Now it works.
So this might be a good workaround for anyone facing the same problem. Install a dummy version of Joomla and use the generated configuration.php file for the old, non-functioning website.

Before starting to debug the server, turn debug-mode on (in the admin CP)
First thing I would try is to delete the cache by running: rm –rf /var/www/html/<your website directory>/var/cache/*
The next thing I would try is to switch to another template - make sure that the template is not the issue.
Also, make sure to check the apache access log - just in case. also, you can check .htaccess for stuff like 301 redirect rules or any other problematic configuration (same applies for httpd.conf and configuration.php)
Good luck!

Related

How to restore a website offline. using XCloner on Joomla thats run on Xampp

I am totally new to this stuff. I have installed Joomla on my windows pc to test my changes to the site before I try them on the actual site and mess things up.
I was given a backup using XCLONER. I installed xcloner but cant seem to restore the website.
I am using XAMPP.
I am also unsure where to place the directory where the restore file should be.
Any help will help. Any tutorials on this? again, just starting out with this stuff.
Thank you in advance.
There are so many references and tutorials out there:
Google
Also Joomla.org has adequate documentation for this.
I can't say exactly about how the XCloner works, but the general steps to replicate Joomla is:
Copy and place the files and folders at the new location
Download the database
Create a new database at the new host (your computer) and import the data from the one you downloaded.
Configure Joomla (configuration.php) to connect to the new local database (host,user, password, prefix -if changed).
At this point you should be able to run your site to the new location, but you probably want to change also the path for logs and tmp folders, to reflect the new location.

Feared: Blank frontPage yet accessible backend in joomla 1.5.22

I am no expert in Joomla... :)
On my local station using XAMMP, my Joomla 1.5.22 site is running fine but when I upload it to our server online, my problem began, when I visit the frontpage it pulled out nothing but I can still access its backend. I tried to search all over the net, I did some suggested fix but still failed :(
Look for error log in the root folder of your Joomla install, that will give you a hint on why this is happenning.
Also, instead of copying the files and database manually use Akeeba Backup extension for backing up complete site (all files and database) in a single archive. Then use Akeeba Kickstart script for restoring. Akeeba Kickstart will automatically change all configurations needed to run your site on the new server. The extension and the script are free and the process is very simple, look for Youtube videos that show the backup / restore process step by step.
Good luck.
I just get my site back, I just learned that a depreciated module caused the problem, because our server has been upgraded, so I just disabled all my modules on site then single by single I enable it again and find the module that caused the problem, which I did, I'm now replacing that depreciated module with new extension so that the site will be working back.
-- Update --
Now my site is back, I just found out that GD library is not installed on PHP, that's why it shows blank page in the first place, PHEW!
thanks

Joomla administrator redirects to public site

I have a Joomla site running on a windows machine. The site was at 1.6 when some update requests came in. I decided to update the site, but the automated process didn't work, so I started FTPing the files up there manually.
I followed the instructions for the manual upgrade at http://docs.joomla.org/Upgrading_1.6.5_to_1.7 once I got the site to 1.6.5, but my problems had already started before that.
Now when I go to mysite.com/administrator most images are not there and when I try to log in I get kicked up to my site root rather than the /administrator folder. I took the opportunity to look at the code and none of the image src attributes or the form action attributes include "/administrator".
Soooo I need a little advice as to why this is happening. I would rather not have to restore from my backup and start over at 1.6. I was kinda hoping for this to be my first Joomla 3 site. Thanks in advance.
You said that you had trouble with updating Joomla via the admin panel, however did you check if the folders were writable? Site -> System Information -> Directory Permissions Always check this page once you have installed Joomla as it is the reason why a lot of people are unable to install updates or normal extensions.
You then mentioned that you had to upload the files manually via the FTP, however this is not requires. All that is required it to upload the update.zip to the foot of your Joomla site and unzip it.
As for a proper answer, May I suggest that you first update to the Latest version of the 1.6 series (1.6.6), then you download a fresh copy of Joomla 1.6.6, unzip the "administrator" folder, zip that folder, upload via the FTP to your Joomla root folder, then extract it. This will override all the default administrator files.
In the end I had this client move their Joomla install off Windows and onto a Linux machine. Things were just getting worse with the install and I threw in the towel. Thanks to Lodder for trying to help.
This can happen if you are using the JSecure plugin. It requires a token in the URL to enter the admin panel, for example:
http://www.yoursite.com/administrator?token
Explanation:
http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?p=2198164
I was able to fix this by removing the value that I had in the $live_site variable in the configuration.php file. I am also running this on a Windows server.

Moving Joomla + Virtuemart Installation

I have simply downloaded my joomla+virtuemart files from the server and the mysql file and set up a db, inserted the imported rows and updated the config.php file in joomla.
However, even after updating the configuration.php when I open my joomla installation my site (on the actual webhost opens up) as in example.com
I wanted it to work on localhost/joomla (where the downloaded files and modified configuaration resides).
I also have DELETED the .htaccess files to remove any redirections.
I also updated the virtue mart administratior/components/com_virtumart/virtuemark.cfg.php file's URL and secure url variables.
No matter what I do, it still opens up the example.com site instead of the localhost/joomla app directory
Any help is much appreciated.
Running on joomla 1.5.1
I thought it might be DB related so I exported the data to a php file through phpmyadmin and ran a check on example.com even on the sql file. But it didn't show up any either
Cheers
Dileep
Dileep,
There is an addon for migrating Joomla (and it's extensions) that we've had great success with in the past. I've moved sites dozens of times and to date, have had no big problems
It's called Akeeba Backup. There are free and paid versions and (last I checked) there are legacy versions still there for 1.5.x.
Combined with a package called Kickstart, you can backup and restore the entire site from one server to another with just a few clicks.
The website is akeebabackup dot com.
Migrating by hand, I've had mixed results. Use this software and you'll avoid those headaches.

What is the correct way of migrating a Magento installation from WAMP to an online domain?

Say i have a Magento installation which i've configured and developed on a WAMP server (perhaps also adding products, etc.), what is the correct way to migrate this to an online domain.
I had pretty good luck with this approach when I did it. The WAMP install was on my own box so I didn't use SSH on that side.
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/groups/227/moving_magento_to_another_server
I did have a couple errors related to the new domain that their help desk were able to resolve by modifying a couple entries in my .htaccess file. But other than that it was pretty seemless.
I've also done a full backup/restore by simply copying the entire contents from one box to the other. Copying up the MySQL DB, and then I reran the install procedure by simply deleting the app/etc/local.xml file (which forces Magento to run re-install scripts).
The script asks you for the location of the DB, passwords, etc... all the data, products, order history etc, survives a reinstall.
Oh, and make sure to clear your cache/cache folders before you move everything. That saves a lot of head-aches later and reduces the size of files you have to copy.

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