My Monkey Do

A Log of Coding Solutions

goDaddy

Link from Google Redirecting

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After years of not having a client get hacked, I got 2 in a few weeks.  One client (client A) has a WordPress site which I developed the theme on.  Another client (client B) was brand new, no WordPress.  Client A’s site was redirecting to a porn site whenever a visitor went through a link from Google.  Client B’s site was redirecting to a 404 page (a php file was not found).  Both sites were fine when visiting the direct link.

I found malicious code in Client A’s .htaccess file redirecting anyone visiting from google, bing, or any of the major search engines.  I found and removed the PHP files that were not supposed to be on the site.

Client B’s site was clean as a whistle. Nothing suspicious in the htaccess file and no mysterious php files.  Needed to contact the host about this one.

In searching for more information on how the attackers may have gotten in, I came across this worrisome forum.  Both clients are on GoDaddy so this is probably the issue they both had:

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/malware-redirect-hacks-specific-question-regarding-vulnerabilities?replies=12

Media Uploader Crunching Issue

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Problem

WordPress has a bug.  When uploading an image (even a small,  1KB image) the Media uploader stalls and freezes in when Crunching is 100%.   This problem happens in both the flash and html uploader.  In the HTML uploader you can see a 500 Internal Server Error.

 

Solution

There are 2 different problems that can cause this issue.

One is your server or hosting provider.  GoDaddy has since said they have fixed this issue.  However, when I contacted support they said to disable Fast CGI for PHP.  I responded with a link to the article above.  They then helped me out by telling me to update my php5.ini or php.ini file.   You’ll find that this solution was found on the WordPress forums also where you set the memory_limit and max_execution_time higher.  So in your php.ini or php5.ini if you use php5 (that’s important!  trust me, I’ve been frustrated with that before) add the following lines:
max_execution_time = 600
memory_limit =128M
upload_max_filesize = 2M

Adjust as needed.  You may also have to End your Web Process to quickly see changes.  See godaddy support forums for this.

The 2nd issue with this bug is a more frustrating and disappointing one.  I found out that WordPress uses the delete_posts capability to determine whether a user can delete a media file or not.  Well, guess what, it also uses the edit_posts capability when it crunches the file too.  So if you have a problem where only the Administrator can upload media files fine, check your user’s capabilities.  On a side note, to delete media the user needs the delete_posts capability.

 

 

 

PHP ini overriding

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On shared hosts, overriding the php.ini file can be frustrating.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.  It’s up to the host provider.   This post will keep a record of what hosts need what type of requirements and will be updated from time to time.  This overriding php.ini file can be a partial override like so:

[PHP]
; Maximum size of POST data that PHP will accept.
post_max_size = 20M
; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
upload_max_filesize = 20M

 

GoDaddy

The php.ini file needs to be named php5.ini if you are using PHP version 5.x.  Sometimes you’ll need to restart the web process in the control panel.  It is located under the “System Processes” icon.   Once in System Processes click on “End Web”.

Weblog Expert

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Problem

A client had wanted Google Analytics on their site a few months back so they asked me to put it in their website.  I thought I had, and I did, locally, but for one reason or another, it was not on the server.  The client depends on this report to get funding so I needed a way to get some type of statistics for the past few months.

 

Solution

GoDaddy, where the website is hosted, offers Statistics on traffic for free.  However, you need to enable this for it to start tracking.  Searching high and low I wanted to get access to the Apache Logs so I could use a tool like AWStats.  Through google I found GoDaddy’s help and saw that you can see Apache Logs in your FTP File Manager.  So I downloaded it.

A friend ran across Weblog Expert as I was retrieving the files.  I decided to try it since my last memory of AWStats was spending hours trying to find the right paths to enter into the config file.  Weblog Expert Lite is free and contains enough features for me to use.

I downloaded Weblog Expert Lite, installed it (it is a client installed on your local PC), created a new profile, selected the folder with all the downloaded logs.  Presto!  the reports were created and I was out of hot water.  So much simpler than AWStats.

 

GoDaddy Refund

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Today I learned GoDaddy offers a refund if you cancel your hosting plan early.  I couldn’t really find a straight answer for this and wanted to be sure.  So I emailed support and they replied pretty quickly saying they would refund the unused months.  To be sure this still applies and applies to you, send support a ticket request.

2016 update:  You only have 30? or so days to get a refund.  After that, NO REFUNDS!

MySQL Auto Backup

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The following commands should be run daily.  This will give you a backup for 1 full month.  After 1 month the backups will overwrite the oldest files.  The %d is the day of the month.

GoDaddy:

In your Hosting Dashboard -> Content -> Chron Manager, enter the following line as the command.  Replace <xxx> with the appropriate values.

mysqldump --opt -Q -h <server_address> --user=<username> --password=<password> <database_name> > <your_path>/<database_name>_`date +%d`.sql

BlueHost:

In the CPanel -> Cron Jobs, enter the following line as the command.  replace <xxx> with the appropriate values.

mysqldump --opt -Q -h localhost --user=<username> --password=<password> <database_name> > /<your_path>/<database_name>_`date +%d`.sql