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New Installation to Subdirectory Problem - 'The site is currently down for maintenance'

I have recently taken over the management of an existing website using a very old version of exponent (0.96.3).

The existing site was installed to the root web folder. I am attempting to install the latest version of exponent (2.3.3) to a subdirectory which has been defined as a subdomain so that I can begin building a new site while leaving the existing site up and running.

I uploaded the extracted files to the subdirectory, changed file permissions as described in the installation instructions, created a new database, and then attempted to install 2.3.3 by visiting 'subdomain.mydomain.org/install/index.php'. I am displayed a page stating that the 'The site is currently down for maintenance.' In red bold letters 'Database is currently Off-line!'. And asks me for the administrator login.

If I attempt to hit the new site by visiting 'mydomain.org/subdirectory/install/index.php' it shows the existing site only with broken images.

This seems like a routing problem or something... I've tried changing the .htaccess file under the subdirectory by uncommenting RewriteBase and setting my subdirectory appropriately but it doesnt make a difference.

I need to be careful not to damage the live site that is in the parent folder.

Please help! Thank you...


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  • I have recently taken over the management of an existing website using a very old version of exponent (0.96.3).

    The existing site was installed to the root web folder. I am attempting to install the latest version of exponent (2.3.3) to a subdirectory which has been defined as a subdomain so that I can begin building a new site while leaving the existing site up and running.

    I uploaded the extracted files to the subdirectory, changed file permissions as described in the installation instructions, created a new database, and then attempted to install 2.3.3 by visiting 'subdomain.mydomain.org/install/index.php'. I am displayed a page stating that the 'The site is currently down for maintenance.' In red bold letters 'Database is currently Off-line!'. And asks me for the administrator login.

    If I attempt to hit the new site by visiting 'mydomain.org/subdirectory/install/index.php' it shows the existing site only with broken images.

    This seems like a routing problem or something... I've tried changing the .htaccess file under the subdirectory by uncommenting RewriteBase and setting my subdirectory appropriately but it doesnt make a difference.

    I need to be careful not to damage the live site that is in the parent folder.

    Please help! Thank you...


    View article...
  • OK, you can NOT directly upgrade from v0.96.3 to v2.x, you must first get a shell/empty v2.x up and running, then "MIGRATE' the database into (new) v2.x database from the v0.96.3 database. .Here's what I'd recommend

    * Recreate the 'subdirectory' folder
    * Extract the v2.3.3 package into 'subdirectory
    * Extract the v2.3.3.patch1 file into that same subdirectory
    * Copy the existing /files folder into the 'subdirectory 'files' folder
    * Create a new (empty) database for the v2.3.3 installation
    * Browse to the install url and complete the installation WITHOUT loading a sample database selecting the 'Simple Theme' since it probably more closely resembles your existing 0.9x theme
    * Once the 2.3.3 site is up and running and you are logged in as the super-admin, select the Exponent menu, Super-Admin Tools, and Migrate 0.9x Site item
    * Follow the migration steps which should import all the content from your 0.9x site, abeit under a different theme
    * If you seem to have all your content up on the new site (sometimes footers, and side columns don't display due to the name of that object within the theme template)...you can ATTEMPT to install/update your 0.9x theme.
    * Copy over the 0.9x theme you are using (the subfolder folder in that themes folder) into the subdirectory/themes folder
    * Though we can't guarantee the theme will work in v2.x, we can give it a try.
    * Open and edit the 'index.php' file within the copied theme
    * Add the following line immediately AFTER the first <?php line

    *
    define('OLD_THEME_COMPATIBLE', 1);

    *
    Do the same for all the .php files found in the copied theme's 'subtheme' folder
    *
    On the web site, turn 'error reporting' on using the Exponent, Super Admin Tools menu
    *
    Switch to the new theme using the Exponent, Super Admin Tools. Extensions, Manage Themes menu. I'd recommend using the 'Preview' option in case this doesn't work well
    *
    If everything has worked well, you should see your site, abeit with a bunch of error messages telling you how to update some of the obsolete theme calls.
    *
    Visit this help page for details about updating the theme to the v2.x standard http://docs.exponentcms.org/docs/2.3.3/theme_update


    View article... <http://forums.exponentcms.org/discussion/comment/3813#Comment_3813>;
  • OK, you can NOT directly upgrade from v0.96.3 to v2.x, you must first get a shell/empty v2.x up and running, then
    "MIGRATE' the database into (new) v2.x database from the v0.96.3 database. .Here's what I'd recommend


    * Recreate the 'subdirectory' folder

    * Extract the v2.3.3 package into 'subdirectory

    * Extract the v2.3.3.patch1 file into that same subdirectory

    * Copy the existing /files folder into the 'subdirectory 'files' folder

    * Create a new (empty) database for the v2.3.3 installation

    * Browse to the install url and complete the installation WITHOUT loading a sample database selecting the 'Simple
    Theme' since it probably more closely resembles your existing 0.9x theme


    * Once the 2.3.3 site is up and running and you are logged in as the super-admin, select the Exponent menu,
    Super-Admin Tools, and Migrate 0.9x Site item


    * Follow the migration steps which should import all the content from your 0.9x site, abeit under a different
    theme


    * If you seem to have all your content up on the new site (sometimes footers, and side columns don't display due
    to the name of that object within the theme template)...you can ATTEMPT to install/update your 0.9x theme.


    * Copy over the 0.9x theme you are using (the subfolder folder in that themes folder) into the
    subdirectory/themes folder


    * Though we can't guarantee the theme will work in v2.x, we can give it a try.

    * Open and edit the 'index.php' file within the copied theme

    * Add the following line immediately AFTER the first <?php line


    *
    define('OLD_THEME_COMPATIBLE', 1);


    * Do the same for all the .php files found in the copied theme's 'subtheme' folder


    * On the web site, turn 'error reporting' on using the Exponent, Super Admin Tools menu


    * Switch to the new theme using the Exponent, Super Admin Tools. Extensions, Manage Themes menu. I'd recommend using the 'Preview' option in case this doesn't work well


    * If everything has worked well, you should see your site, abeit with a bunch of error messages telling you how to update some of the obsolete theme calls.


    * Visit this help page for details about updating the theme to the v2.x standard http://docs.exponentcms.org/docs/2.3.3/theme_update




    View article... <http://forums.exponentcms.org/discussion/comment/3813#Comment_3813>;
  • Thanks dleffler,

    This is basically what I was trying to do... the only things I hadn't done was install the patch and copy over the 'files' folder first. My attempt is to get a clean 2.X up and running (behind the 0.9 version for now)... I may not even want to migrate as I want to utilize a new bootstrap 3 theme.

    I'll delete the subdirectory/subdomain and try again being sure to do those steps. I'll keep you posted.

    Thanks for the quick reply.


    View article...
  • Ok, this time I created a new subdirectory (but did not create a subdomain). After extracting 2.3.3 and then extracting 2.3.3-patch1 on top of it, I set file permissions accordingly, and attempted to hit the install page as: 'mydomain.org/subdir/install/index.php'.

    Just like last time, it doesn't show me the installation page, but instead shows me the existing homepage with some broken images. It's almost as if it's using the existing database or something? The URL doesn't get forwarded to the main page, but it looks just like the main page. I'm unable to install the new version... this has to be a routing situation or something?

    I wanted to point out that some of the folders/files that need to have their permissions changed do not appear after the files are extracted... maybe those files/folders are no longer in the new versions? I just wanted to point that out.

    At any rate, I'm unable to install 2.3.3 because the installation page just shows the main page from the 0.9 version that is one level up in the file structure.

    Any ideas?! Thanks for the support.


    View article...
  • What you might be experiencing is due to the images within the WYSIWYG text having a hard-coded path (from the root folder /files) where when you run it from the subfolder /subdirectory/files it can't find them (since it's looking for it in the root folder /files). This wouldn't apply if both the 0.9x site and 2.3.3p1 site are in the same root folder with 2.3.3 in a subfolder of it.

    Other images (like those in a listing or photo gallery) should be ok since they get their url from the database.


    View article...
  • Ok, this time I created a new subdirectory (but did not create a subdomain). After extracting 2.3.3 and then extracting 2.3.3-patch1 on top of it, I set file permissions accordingly, and attempted to hit the install page as: 'mydomain.org/subdir/install/index.php'.

    Just like last time, it doesn't show me the installation page, but instead shows me the existing homepage with some broken images. It's almost as if it's using the existing database or something? The URL doesn't get forwarded to the main page, but it looks just like the main page. I'm unable to install the new version... this has to be a routing situation or something?

    I wanted to point out that some of the folders/files that need to have their permissions changed do not appear after the files are extracted... maybe those files/folders are no longer in the new versions? I just wanted to point that out.

    At any rate, I'm unable to install 2.3.3 because the installation page just shows the main page from the 0.9 version that is one level up in the file structure.

    Any ideas?! Thanks for the support.

    EDIT: I changed the .htaccess file in the subdirectory by uncommenting and changing the 'RewriteBase /subdirectory' appropriately. Now when I hit 'mydomain.org/subdir/install/index.php' and it now changes the URL to 'mydomain.org/~username/index.php?section=11'. I am still not presented with the installation page, it still shows the main page of the 0.9 site, but the images are all coming in correctly now. But, again, I need to get 2.3.3-1 installed in the subdirectory....


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  • So I'm not sure how, but I was able to get the subdirectory to stop redirecting... but I was receiving 500 Internal Server Error when trying to run the installation page.

    After pouring over logs I noticed an error: 'Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_PAAMAYIM_NEKUDOTAYIM'

    I determined that this was because the subdirectory was using the same version of PHP as the root web folder (running the old 0.9 Exponent). I upgraded the subdirectory PHP version to 5.3... and problem solved!

    I was able to install exponent 2.3.3-1 into the subdirectory and was able to get it to successfully install and I am playing around with it now.

    Thanks for the help.






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  • PHP v5.3.x is the minimum version for Exponent CMS at this point. Do you happen to know what php version you were running under? I'll do a quick test, but we should be able to at least get to the installer test which tells you that your php version is too old, instead of simply giving a 500 server error.


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  • I was running 5.2.17.

    Upgraded the subdirectory folder to run PHP 5.3.29.

    Edit: I also wanted to mention that the 500 Server Error was only detected by running developer tools on the installation page. I was simply receiving a blank page... when looking at the requests is when I noticed the installation/index.php was returning a 500. Looking at the server logs is where I determined the PHP error and some basic research led me to determine it was a PHP version issue.


    View article...
  • I thought I'd add that I was looking in 'exponent_bootstrap.php' and the PHP version check code is all commented out... Could this be why I didn't receive a proper error message?


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  • That's actually some redundant code since we check for the version in all installations and upgrades (sanity check).. Until recently I would occasionally do a test install against versions from v5.2.1 through 5.6.x, though I hadn't tested with v5.2.x since we deprecated its support. Thanks to your feedback I've moved the code you refer to, into the installation code to prevent the confusion you experienced. Thanks for catching and helping fix this issue which might be a big turn-off to using this software.


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