fetch meta tags not working

[Dowhatchalike]

I recently moved some sites to a new host, and the fetch meta tag feature no longer works. I tried on both a 5.4.1 installation and a deluxe version installation. Basically, I press the button and nothing happens. When I run server_test.php, it shows Apache mod-rewrite module ( optional)... failed. Is mod-rewrite required for this function? Anyone know how to enable mod-rewrite on a basic shared hosting account using cPanel ? Anyone know where to start troubleshooting this feature not working? It sure does make it easier when adding new sites. thanks

[Bruceper]

mod_rewrite has nothing to do with the fetch meta function. I can't remember exactly, but fetch meta should use curl and php sockets to get it's job done. If it doesn't work for you then your new host doesn't support these features.

And if they don't support mod_rewrite then it sounds like you've definately chosen the wrong host.

Talk to your host to see if this is something you (or they) can enable, on most servers this just works by default without having to do anything.

[FSGDAG]

Bruce is right about the CURL and PHP Sockets. Ensure that they are enabled on the server.

As far as the mod_rewrite option goes, your host is probably fine. I know that mod_rewrite is enabled on all of my servers, yet running that same server_test script shows mine as failed too. I think something is just wrong in the script for that area.

[Dowhatchalike]

Thanks for the replies. I have noticed the same thing with regard to mod-rewrite, the test script shows it fails, but in practice it works fine.

I am showing the following for my php settings ( phpinfo.php )

cURL support enabled
cURL Information libcurl/7.19.2 OpenSSL/0.9.8i zlib/1.2.3 libidn/0.6.5


Sockets Support enabled


So it appears these are both enabled , am I missing something, or do you have any other ideas?

[Bruceper]

It could also be firewall related. If curl and sockets are allowed then I would speak with your host to ensure the outbound connections are not being blocked.

[Dowhatchalike]

I just noticed that if I go down to Fetch Meta under tools, it will go out and fetch the data correctly. I am only having the problem in the Add New Link form. I am going to contact my host today and ask about outbound connections.

[Dowhatchalike]

My host is requesting the following information in order to unblock the script for me.

1. What port is the script trying to use?
2. What type of script is running?

any ideas???

[Bruceper]

What port? Any TCP port that will open.
What type of script? curl

Sounds like your host needs an education on what outbound connections are all about. Typically a script (in this case curl) opens a socket and the server assigns a port. On the next outbound connection the server assigns the next port.

[Dowhatchalike]

from my host...

We are aware that the script typically gets a local port assigned to it. The question is what port is it attempting to access the remote sites on? If it's using cURL, the most likely port would be 80. I have now added your username to the get-users group. If this does not work, your developer will need to specify the port that the script is trying to connect to on the remote server.

still not working...

[Bruceper]

Then they should have asked, "What port is the script connecting to?" and not what port is the script trying to use.

English, it's a wonderful language. And yes it's going to connect to port 80 on most sites.

If it's still not working it's going to be a host issue. I can't really help you here.

[Dowhatchalike]

I know you said you can't help me with this, but I thought I would at least post what my host had to do to fix it so that if this issue comes up, perhaps it will help someone else. Also, there are additional errors that the script is generating even if I can't see anything wrong with the operation. Any input on this issue is appriciated, I am happy with my host and this script so I hope to get them working together, now and in the future.

This script was generating all sorts of errors. It's failing to properly load Smarty templates, and it has several javascript errors. However, the main issue was that it was attempting to use the POST method to retrieve the meta tags from the URL provided but it wasn't sending any POST DATA. This was generating an error 411 from the server. I changed the javascript to use the GET method instead and had to whitelist the domain for a mod_security rule. The script is now functional, but the other errors should be addressed as well. Let us know if you need any further assistance.

[22-Jan-2009 03:38:17] PHP Warning: Smarty error: unable to read resource: "/home/MYUSERNAME/public_html/MYDOMAIN.com/themes//$base_path/admin_tpl/menu.html" in /home/MYUSERNAME/public_html/MYDOMAIN/lib/smarty/Smarty.class.php on line 1088


The following error was encountered:


* Invalid Request


Some aspect of the HTTP Request is invalid. Possible problems:


* Missing or unknown request method
* Missing URL
* Missing HTTP Identifier (HTTP/1.0)
* Request is too large
* Content-Length missing for POST or PUT requests
* Illegal character in hostname; underscores are not allowed


[Thu Jan 22 03:56:09 2009] [error] [client 216.110.94.227] ModSecurity: Access denied with code 403 (phase 2). Pattern match "(?:http|https|ftp):/" at REQUEST_URI. [file "/opt/mod_security/98_asl_jitp.conf"] [line "881"] [id "1234234"] [rev "1"] [msg "JITP:1234234"] [severity "CRITICAL"] [hostname "www.MYDOMAIN.com"] [uri "/ajax.php"] [unique_id "SXhCuUo1CiIAAA5sWx8AAAHP"]

[Bruceper]

That smarty error is a known issue. It's slated to be fixed soon.

I'll get them to look into the fetch issue, but it works for almost every other user. Your host appears to have locked down it's server too tight because they're paranoid and that's fine, but for most users this works out of the box.