3 websites suddenly down - all unable to connect to server = RESOLVED RESOLVED RESOLVED!

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Hi

I have a server that has 3 concrete5 websites on it (Windows/IIS) with Apache and IIS6.0 on it.

Suddenly today they all stopped working, where each website got the dreaded error:

Unable to connect to database. A database error occurred while processing this request.

These websites are very big,

http://www.akhter.co.uk is 439MB
http://www.SiliconCPV.com is 450MB
http://www.adasuk.org is 185MB

I do not know why they have stopped as the websites have been running a very long time and I have not touched anything to do with the settings or concrete5.

I have googled this and researched these forums and done some minor tweaks but still stuck. Although I am the Webmaster here I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to Servers.

I definitely would appreciate any help on this.

Regards

Steve

 
WebcentricLtd replied on at Permalink Reply
is mysql running? Is it on the same server?
Do you see it in your process list?
Do you have phpmyadmin on the server? Are you able to connect to and query the mysql server?

Apologies for all the questions :)
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
Thanks andyj


I think mysql is running, I can login and see the database and tables

where is the process list is? is it on the services list on the server?

I do have phpmyadmin but can't login, however I am not sure of the password
WebcentricLtd replied on at Permalink Reply
hi,
yes I meant the list of services on the server. You should be able to log into phpmyadmin using the user id and password contained in one of your site's config files.

That said, as MrK has written you might want to hit up your host and see if they know anything.
MrKDilkington replied on at Permalink Reply
MrKDilkington
Do you have current backups?

Have you contacted your web host?
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
Hi MrKDilkington

I have been unable to do concrete5 backups as the websites seem to be too big and crashed when I tried to back them up.

Unfortunately I am the web host! but untrained on server matters.

Regards

Steve
MrKDilkington replied on at Permalink Reply
MrKDilkington
What method were you using to back up the websites?

Is this a VPS?
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
I was using the Restore and Backup feature within the Concrete5 dashboard.

I do have to connect to VPN before getting onto my server

oh sorry, no noT a VPS
MrKDilkington replied on at Permalink Reply
MrKDilkington
"Backup & Restore allows you to create and restore backups of concrete5's database. Note that this will not backup your website's files - only the text, structure and settings of your website are saved."

I don't believe Backup & Restore is supposed to be used as a replacement for server backups. It also can fail on large databases.

Since you can access your database, I would recommend exporting it along with a copy of your files.

For future backups, you will want to look into an automated solution.
enlil replied on at Permalink Reply
enlil
Check your disk usage. I had a bunch of sites go down momentarily a couple weeks ago due to running out of space.
digitmaster replied on at Permalink Reply
digitmaster
Hi,
which version of C5?
1) If it is 5.6.x go to the ftp and delete any file in
files/cache
files/tmp # here you might have hundredthousends of ses files

this slows down the backup and the performance on a Linux machine, I guess it makes a Windows server to stop responding.

2)Then go here:http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/chat/help-millions-of-ses...

and download and install the C5 job posted there.

a feedback would be really appreciated.
digitmaster
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
Hi everybody and thanks for all your replies above.

My gut feeling at the moment is that my problems are to do with Apache2.2 as when I try to start the service from the icon tray it says: “The requested operation has failed” but when I go from the Start menu and click on MONITOR APACHE SERVERS, I receive the message: “Apache monitor is already started”. I have had these circumstances before but all the concrete5 websites have been running with no problem.

If I go to the Services list there is nothing in the Status list for Apache to say it is started and when I click on Start the Service I receive the following message: “Could not reliably determine the servers fully qualified domain name, using 10.0.0.37 for servername.

I also had a look the httpd.conf file and where it says listen I see the following:

listen 12.34.56.78:80
Listen 80

If I try and login to PHPMyAdmin I get: “#2003 Cannot log in to the MySQL server” (however I am not sure of the password)

I can login to the MYSQL 5.5 Command line where I can see the list of databases (Show Databases) and list of tables, which I believe means that ALL the databases and tables from my Concrete5 websites are still there?

The Server uses Windows Server 2008 and iis6.0 with Apache2.2 and MySQL5.5


In answer to some of the questions above, I have used 2 different versions of Concrete5, I think 5.5 and 5.6 but as I can’t login due to these problems I am unable to check.

There is plenty of disk space available.

I have manually deleted all the files in Files/cache of the Concrete5 websites

I am really hoping somebody can point me in the right direction

Regards

Steve
WebcentricLtd replied on at Permalink Reply
ok - sound like it is time to take a step back.

You are running Concrete5 using apache 2.2 on a windows server - correct?

If you go to any of the websites you do get served a page but it is either a static html page or a C5 delivered page with an error saying that it could not connect to the database - correct?

Apache and mysql are running on the same server - correct?

You can log into mysql by the command line but not using phpmyadmin? How?

What happens if you try to log into phpmyadmin using the userID and password found in one of your website's config files:

e.g.

/siteroot/config/site.php

Your problem appears to be that your webserver is running but you cannot connect to your database for some reason.
WebcentricLtd replied on at Permalink Reply
Hi again,
I just checked the headers being returned from:

http://www.akhter.co.uk

and it tels me that the webserver being used is IIS 7.

Is that definitely one of the sites on the server that you are having difficulty with?

What is the path to the root of this site on your server?
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
Hi Andyj

You are running Concrete5 using apache 2.2 on a windows server - correct?

Answer: Yes that is correct

If you go to any of the websites you do get served a page but it is either a static html page or a C5 delivered page with an error saying that it could not connect to the database - correct?

Answer: Yes that is correct

Apache and mysql are running on the same server - correct?

Answer: Yes that is correct

You can log into mysql by the command line but not using phpmyadmin? How?

Yes that is correct

What happens if you try to log into phpmyadmin using the userID and password found in one of your website's config files:

e.g. /siteroot/config/site.php

Answer: I receive the following: #2003 Cannot log in to the MySQL server

http://www.akhter.co.uk/PHPMYADMIN/index.php?token=2169bcae210beaab...

Your problem appears to be that your webserver is running but you cannot connect to your database for some reason.

Answer: Yes that is correct
WebcentricLtd replied on at Permalink Reply
ok - well it looks like you're websites are being served by IIS and not by Apache.

Do you know why Apache is running? Is there something else going on on the server.

Are the three websites you mentioned the only sites that you have on the server?
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
Hi Andyj

when I installed Concrete5 many moons ago, Apache was part of the installation. The issue is now resolved which I shall post as a separate message. I would like to thank you for your time and effort on helping me to resolve this issue.

Regards

Steve
WebcentricLtd replied on at Permalink Reply
no problem. Interested to know what the issue was. Glad you sorted it...
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
Hi
I just checked the headers being returned from:

http://www.akhter.co.uk

Answer: Yes that is correct

and it tells me that the webserver being used is IIS 7.

Answer: Yes that is correct, I started with IIS6.0 years ago. but now use IIS7.0

Is that definitely one of the sites on the server that you are having difficulty with?

Answer: yes it ishttp://www.akhter.co.uk

What is the path to the root of this site on your server?

Answer: D:/inetpub/akhter2012
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
On D drive I have 9.89 GB free space, 264 GB used

on C drive I have 13.5 GB free space, 84 GB used space
blokeybloke replied on at Permalink Reply
RESOLVED

Thanks everybody for your time and advice on this matter, in the end it was a server problem and nothing to do with Concrete5.

I rebooted the server that these websites were on and saw that Apache was running but IIS was not, so I stopped the Apache server which then enabled me to start the websites where with Apache running I could not start IIS.

You might wonder why I did not do a server reboot immediatly, which would be a very valid question. I am not trained on my 2 servers as I inherited this job and when I reboot the server I run into a lot of problems as I think they must be badly configured. Therefore I delayed rebooting as a last resort and was trying to learn as much as possible about why the websites went down.


Thanks again for all your help and I did learn quite a bit from y#our replies.

Regards

Steve

p.s I can also now login to PHYMyAdmin ok