Any Troubleshooters Out there?

[AndyAitch]

Hello Forum

I'm looking for someone who might be interested in solving an ongoing issue with forum blocked access? I've been advised to ask for someone who is a vB coder with good knowledge of WordPress.

To save me re-writing the problem description, all the details can be found in in this thread (https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/408447-Any-Troubleshooters-Out-there). You might want to read it all, or you can get a quick idea of the issues in post #1 and #9.

Thanks in advance

Andy

[LouiseWilson]

Having a quick look, didnt read all of it just scanned when you login to ADMINCP
I saw you go through 2 URL's
The first is a security URL
Is this set in your .htaccess or by something else ?

[AndyAitch]

Having a quick look, didnt read all of it just scanned when you login to ADMINCP
I saw you go through 2 URL's

Is this set in your .htaccess or by something else ?
Hi Louise, and thanks for your reply.

From what i understand, the first URL is a security feature that acts as an extra layer of protection. I didn't set it up and don't really understand how it works, but I do have documents explaining it all.

Having said that, this is not what's causing the issue - apparently - because the guy who set it all up has already attempted to resolve the problem but to no avail. He knows the forum very well seeing as he's the one that installed and configured it all, yet even he had to admit defeat in the end.

All the forum files and folders are in place, yet none of them can be opened when putting the URLs into the address bar - sample page here (http://www.50ish.org/forum/forums/4-The-Middle-Aged-HEALTH-Forum). It really is most strange.

Andy

[Lynne]

Do you have an .htaccess file in the /forum directory also? And do you have a RewriteBase rule in there for the /forum directory?

[AndyAitch]

Do you have an .htaccess file in the /forum directory also? And do you have a RewriteBase rule in there for the /forum directory?

Hello Lynne, thanks for reading here.

Yes, there is a .htaccess in the /public_html/forum/ directory. I just looked for the RewriteBase rule and this is what i found:

# RewriteBase /forum-stub-directory/

There's not a lot of code in this directory and a few comments that I don't really understand.

Thanks once again for your input, it's appreciated.

Andy

[Lynne]

Can you post the contents of the .htaccess file in your /forum directory. And, most likely that RewriteBase rule should be:

RewriteBase /forum/

[snakes1100]

Its WP rewrite issue, its coming from his public_html .htaccess file.

[Lynne]

Yeah, I know. But I think he can get around it by adding the RewriteBase to his /forum .htaccess to counteract the other rule (but since he hasn't posted that .htaccess, I don't know).

[AndyAitch]

Hi Folks.

Sorry for the delayed response, but I'm living in the North of Thailand (Chiang Mai), so if you guys are in the US, Canada, or Europe, there's going to be quite a time difference between us.

Hi snakes1100, thanks for helping to identify the area of the problem yesterday. I guess the difficulty now is how to fix it. The strangest thing is the unknown reason(s) why these issues have materialized in the first place, when previously there were none. I mean, none of these .htacess files have been modified between then and now, which is why I was thinking some WP update might have caused a conflict somewhere.

I did wonder too if a WP plugin might have been the cause, but I've since deactivated all of them, with no success.

Hi Lynne. Below is the code from the /public_html/forum/.htaccess as requested. Hope it makes some sense?

RewriteEngine on

# This file is only needed if you have set the Forum Component URL in your admincp and you are
# using the mod_rewrite option for friendly urls. If this is the case, copy this file
# to your forum component stub directory.

# If you are having problems or are using VirtualDocumentRoot, uncomment this line and set it to your forum component directory.
# RewriteBase /forum-stub-directory/

# If you are having problems with the rewrite from content/ to content.php, uncomment this line to turn MultiViews off.
# Options -MultiViews

# Forum
RewriteRule ^threads/.* showthread.php [QSA]
RewriteRule ^forums/.* forumdisplay.php [QSA]
RewriteRule ^members/.* member.php [QSA]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /.*calendar\.php\ HTTP/
RewriteRule ^(.*)calendar\.php$ /$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteRule ^(50adm)($|/) - [L]


And here's what I discovered when working with snakes1100 yesterday:

The guy that installed and custom built the forum said that the issue with admincp denied access could be resolved by removing the line: RewriteRule . /index.php [L] from the /public_html/.htaccess file, and it can. But that line is also needed for the WordPress site to function, so its removal is not an option.

However, removing RewriteRule . /index.php [L] from the /public_html/ directory only allows access to the adminCP but it does not allow access to the forums, whereas temporarily removing the .htaccess file by renaming it without the dot, does allow access to ALL forum pages, but once again, it can't stay that way because it disrupts the WordPress site.

Like I've said previously, I don't understand most of what I'm writing here, so apologies if my lack of technical skills in this areas make it difficult to understand what I'm trying to say.

Thanks, as always, for any help and suggestions given.

Andy

[snakes1100]

As your running the default rule set for WP, it shouldnt be affecting the forum dir anyways, chking your other thread at the .com, did you remove all rules except for the default WP rules?

I know you disabled your plugins in WP, but that isnt going to remove/stop the custom rules in wp-cache either.

[Lynne]

What version of vbulletin are you running now? The rewrite rules changed so make sure you are using the current ones contained in the do_not_upload/rewrite/forum directory. And, I suggest you uncomment the RewriteBase line and enter your forum directory there:
# If you are having problems or are using VirtualDocumentRoot, uncomment this line and set it to your forum component directory.
RewriteBase /forum/

[AndyAitch]

Hi guys, and thanks again for your support, it is appreciated ;)

snakes1100: I haven't done any permanent modifications to the /public_html/forum/.htaccess file. I have taken a look in there, and can't quite make out what it is you're asking. Do you mean I should delete any line that starts with RewriteRule so long as it's not sandwiched between # BEGIN WordPress and # END WordPress? Please let me know so that I can try ;)

Lynne: the version I'm currently running is vBulletin (4.1.12 Patch Level 2). All I know about it is the last guy that worked on these issues a few weeks ago told me he'd brought the forum and its files up to date. That's all I know and understand about that to be honest.

I followed your suggestion and uncommented the RewriteBase line and changed it to my forum directory. I couldn't believe my eyes when this modification then allowed me to access all the forums on the site – thank you :) To let you know what level I'm on with these issues, I had to first Google how to uncomment code in an .htaccess file before I could to understand your instructions.

So this seems to have resolved the forum access issue which is HUGE, but there's still the problem with accessing the adminCP. Snakes1100, you discovered this is probably being caused by something in the /public_html/forum/.htaccess file rules, so I look forward to trying you above suggestion when you have a moment to break down what I need to do.

Thanks one and all. We've made some great progress thanks to your input, and even if it doesn't get any better than this, at least the forum is live and accessible, directly, and the adminCP indirectly, with some disruption to the site while accessing this area.

Andy