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Kitka
Posts: 2520
Joined: 1/31/2002
From: Australia
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What to do about broken FPSE? - 11/16/2004 10:36:19
(Sorry for the length of the post, there is so much to explain!)
We have been having a major problem with our server for a few weeks that we are not getting any assistance with from the Host. We hoped it might eventually clear up of its own accord perhaps when a reboot occurred or they upgraded some software but that doesn't seem to be happening and I am about at the end of my tether.
Background: Server is Red Hat Linux, FPSE 5.0.2.2634, we have a reseller account that currently contains 16 sites about half of which use FPSE for publishing (fortunately we, not the clients, do all the publishing). We manage it through the Plesk 7 interface. Two of our sites are huge (175mb and 47mb) and we find the FP site management very useful, so really don't want to change either of them to ftp.
One site, I publish to almost every day. One day it worked, next day it didn't. I had made no changes locally nor in Plesk. Nor had there been any server upgrades that week. I had just finished building a brand new computer, so with a brand new install of FP so I tried again from that computer with no luck. From Plesk I tried to access the FP WebAdmin to try recalculating hyperlinks and persistently got a blank page. Next day I got my colleague (who lives 270kms away and connects to a different ISP) tried from 2 computers at his end. We also asked the Host for support. The asked us if we could see the site in a browser and to do a traceroute which were both fine. They then said, "Okay, so I fail to see what problems are happening at our end. Have you considered deleting, and re-publishing the site? "
By now, we were dismayed to find that the problem was not just confined to the first site - ALL the sites published with FP refused to co-operate. And deleting and republishing them really was not an option we wished to consider, unless we were certain it would fix the issue. So we deleted and republished one very small site. Yippee, it worked... (so we thought!) We got our backlog published and thought all was well until 30 mins later we tried again, only to find we couldn't.
The Host support was still unhelpful, but we discovered a rough and ready workaround. We registered a "Test" domain and created an empty default site on the server. Now, when we want to publish our normal sites, we delete the Test domain, then reinstall it on the server (with FP support) - we do not ever publish to it. We then have about 10 mins to publish all the updated sites before it all collapses again. Naturally with such a rigmarole, we are publishing far more rarely than normal.
We asked our Host to reinstall FPSE on the server (it is a shared IP, we are resellers and we can only install or remove FP to individual domains, which has no effect on the problem). They flatly refused and said, "No, we can't "reinstall" frontpage extensions. Frontpage is a Windows platform native environment, and there are no frontpage management utilities on Linux. We're finished with this issue! Frontpage is a third party application, and *very* loosely supported on Linux. We can't keep running over this issue. "
I find it difficult to believe that they can't reinstall the FPSE. Does anyone have any technical knowledge that would help us get the Host to assist? 
Otherwise, it is looking like we may have to move some domains to another Host who will actively support FPSE perhaps Windows rather than Linux. This will cost us considerably more money, besides the headache of migrating them. In all other respects we are very happy with the Host we are with. 
Any suggestions please??
<edited for spelling and clarity>
< Message edited by Kitka -- 11/16/2004 10:43:32 >
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Kitka
**It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.**
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Giomanach
Posts: 6128
Joined: 11/19/2003
From: England
Status: offline
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RE: What to do about broken FPSE? - 11/16/2004 10:45:59
quote:
"No, we can't "reinstall" frontpage extensions. Frontpage is a Windows platform native environment, and there are no frontpage management utilities on Linux. We're finished with this issue! Frontpage is a third party application, and *very* loosely supported on Linux. We can't keep running over this issue. "
Kitka my dear - get a new host.
FPSE are fully supported on Linux - I provide them with all accounts on my servers, and they have never failed me yet. I didn't read any further than they above, as I feel I have no need to, you need a new host, that doesn't treat you like your dumb.
I can provide the accounts, on Linux, with full FPSE support, or I can arrange a reseller account for you? All you will have to do is sort out the DNS on the domians, so they point to my servers, instead of the current ones
My servers are Linux, and fully support FPSE, your current host is being lazy, and refusing to do the job they have set out to do
Sorry if I seem harsh
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Giomanach
Posts: 6128
Joined: 11/19/2003
From: England
Status: offline
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RE: What to do about broken FPSE? - 11/16/2004 11:10:41
Just to make sure it isn't you, I'll make a test account on my servers, and email you the details, I'll ensure that it has FPSE installed and working
The thing is, FPSE are installed on Apache when using Linux servers, and all controls for FPSE will be integrated into Apache, but apache holds no control over them, as they are installed via Shell programming (aka manually), they can be installed, uninstalled and reinstalled, but all has to be done manually. I'm not sure if there is an automatic installation for Apache servers, but your current host is certainly lying to you, thinking that you are dumb enough to not go and ask someone else.
If you do decide to make the move, just drop me an email (to dan{at}giomanach.com), with the details of what you need and want, and I'll see what I can do for you, I could probably provide it cheaper too
It's not the host being right...it's the host being lazy....
<edit>
http://wiki.debian.net/index.cgi?SargeApacheFPSE
</edit>
< Message edited by Giomanach -- 11/16/2004 11:32:12 >
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Kitka
Posts: 2520
Joined: 1/31/2002
From: Australia
Status: offline
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RE: What to do about broken FPSE? - 11/22/2004 8:57:16
Hi Dan,
Many thanks for your help and advice.
We have bitten the bullet and signed up for a reseller account with a new Host company, cost is only AU$20 per month with lots of extras. Now comes the (not) fun part - transferring all 16 domains with many mailboxes and a couple of databases etc AND learning cPanel after using Plesk for some years 
Thank you for your offer of hosting, but we really need to have access to telephone support in this country even if it costs a bit more. A couple of clients have to be up 24/7 with absolutely no interruptions. The "other" host offered very prompt service via support tickets, but when we encountered the problem above, we felt that telephone support would have helped save us some time trying to explain a complicated problem in writing. They have made it very clear now, that they have no interest supporting FPSE, so it makes me wonder why they offer them.
Anyway, it looks like this issue has precipitated our moving to a much better, more supportive environment, so it is a positive outcome.
Regards,
_____________________________
Kitka
**It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.**
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