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Site Restoration

#11265 Object Not Found Error; possible problem with linked files

Posted in ‘Site restoration’
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Environment Information

PHP version
n/a
CMS Type
Other
CMS Version
n/a
Backup Tool Version
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Kickstart version
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Latest post by nicholas on Wednesday, 29 February 2012 02:31 CST

user58358
Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? many, but not all
Have I searched the tickets before posting? Yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Some, not all
Joomla! version: 1.5.15
PHP version: 5.2.17
MySQL version: (unknown)
Host: aplus.net
Akeeba Backup version which took the backup: 3.3.13
Kickstart version used to extract the backup: 3.3.2
xampp-win32-1.7.1

Description of my issue:

The backup proceeds to create a .jpa file without apparent problem; I have attached the log.

I used a binary transfer via FileZilla to move the backup from /hpc at Aplus.net to localhost hpc on a Windows 7 machine at home.

Kickstarter quits with the error message "Invalid Ajax data received".

Using the Akeeba extra wizard 3.3, it all seems to go fine until the very end when I get error 404

"Object not found!

The requested URL was not found on this server. The link on the referring page seems to be wrong or outdated"

I suspect that the problem is somehow related to the fact that at /hpc at Aplus.net the following appear all with the permissions: lrwxrwxrwx

CHANGELOG.php lrwxrwxrwx
COPYRIGHT.php
htaccess.txt
includes
index.php
index2.php
libraries
LICENSE.php
LICENSES.php
robots.txt
xmlrpc

while in the same location there are, for example, images, language, components all with the permission drwx-------


All the files with the lrwxrwxrwx permission are absent after the Akeeba extraction wizard does its job. Using a .zip file instead of .jpa and tools such as 7-zip to unpack the backup, each of those link/files creates an error message.

I am not much experienced with Akeeba, Joomla or with linux linking of files and do not know how to proceed and will be grateful for advice

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Let's forget about the permissions for a second. You told me that you performed the restoration, got to the final page, deleted the installation directory and now, whenever you try to access your site, you get a 403 error. Correct? If this is so, you have to follow our post restoration troubleshooting instructions first.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user58358
Thanks. Actually it is not a 403 error, but rather a 404 error. While on the original site there is index.php with permissions lrwxrwxrwx but when I try to restore to my xampp local host, there is no sign of any type of index.php file in the hpc directory. Hence the 404 Object not found error, There is an error message on each of the files with lrwxrwxrwx when I try to unzip a zipped file using 7-zip. When I use the akeeba extract wizard no error is thrown, but there is no sign of those files on the restored site. Regular files are found, it seems that the database includes the Joomla content.
I haven't yet found anything in the troubleshooting guide that helps, e.g. i had renamed .htaccess prior to the backup; my XAMPP installation came with mod_rewrite enabled; i have php 5.2.9 with the local XAMPP site...

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
What is the "hpc" directory? Is it your site's root? Is it another site under your site's root? Also note that eXtract Wizard extracts the files, by default in a subdirectory of wherever your archive file is. It's your responsibility to change the extraction directory to be the same as the restored site's root. Also note that if you do not see any files in your restored site's root, then you couldn't have performed a restoration or see any files, which contradicts your earlier message.

My suggestion:
- Delete the whole lot of what you did on your local site
- Create a directory named hpc in your XAMPP root directory. The hpc directory shall be referred to as "restored site's root" hereafter.
- Download the backup archive to your restored site's root using FileZilla in binary mode
- Open Akeeba eXtract Wizard
- Select the backup archive located in your restored site's root
- Use the browse button to the right of the extraction directory edit box and select your restored site's root
- Extract the archive
- Visit http://localhost/hpc/installation/index.php
- Perform the restoration
- Remove the installation directory

If the restored site doesn't work, follow the post-restoration instructions I linked you to above.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user58358
So we are on the same page, in my original message I stated that although the files with the permission starting with l do not appear " in the same location there are, for example, images, language, components all with the permission drwx------" So some files appear after the extraction and installation, some don't. The ones that don't appear are the files that are linked; the ones that do are all the rest.

As I tried to indicate before that the site is located in the hpc directory off the root in both the original and the restored site; i.e., what I had done originally seems to be what you are suggesting I do now. So additional suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks for your consideration of this problem which has involved many hours of previous unsuccessful struggle here.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Hm, I believe that you are missing something in the extraction. According to your log file, everything got backed up. Can you try extracting your backup archive (using Akeeba eXtract Wizard) to your Document's directory? Are there any files/folders missing? If anything is missing, can you please list the names of the files and directories in the site's root which are missing?

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user58358
Okay, thanks, I just did that and the result is the same as in my original message... All the directories and individual files are successfully restored, except for these (which are the only files with this permission: lrwxrwxrwx)
CHANGELOG.php
COPYRIGHT.php
htaccess.txt
includes
index.php
index2.php
libraries
LICENSE.php
LICENSES.php
robots.txt
xmlrpc

user58358
In case it is relevant, when I download a zip backup and use the native Windows 7 zip extract utility, those same files that are not successfully restored, like CHANGELOG.php and index.php result in "An unexpected error is keeping you from copying the file.... Error 0x80040085"

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Ah, damn, I know what's going wrong:
DEBUG   |120226 15:12:57|Adding symlink to folder as file: includes
DEBUG   |120226 15:12:57|Adding symlink to folder as file: libraries
DEBUG   |120226 15:12:57|Adding symlink to folder as file: xmlrpc

and their permissions are lrwxrwxrwx.
See the first digit in permissions? It tells us this is a symlink. Same goes for the log file, it tells us that these are symlinks, not real folders.

There are two alternatives:
a. You are using a multisite solution, e.g. JMS multisites. In this case you have to backup the main site, all linked sites and all databases in one go. This means that you can not backup and restore one specific site, let alone transfer it to a Windows server.
b. For an arcane reason only you can shed light, you are using symlinks to move around directories. In this case you have to tick the "Dereference symlinks" configuration option as stated in our documentation.

Which now leads me to the million dollar question: why are you using symlinks for these folders?!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user58358
Thanks for the progress. Unfortunately, I am not able to answer the million dollar question. I used the cpanel option at aplus.net to install Joomla didn't make any kind of configuration changes. And myself don't even know how to use symlinks. The only additional information I can think of that might or might be relevant is that it is a shared hosting service; also I may possibly have installed Joomla twice, once when I was considering create a site in and a second time when I did go ahead and create the site we are discussing at \hpc

user58358
Definitely feels like helpful progress; I hope it's not hopeless. I took your advice to dereference symlinks and now the missing files appear in the restored sites root. However trying to get to /hpc/index.php results in this error:


Warning: require_once(C:/xampp/htdocs\..\private\joomla\includes\defines.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in C:\xampp\htdocs\hpc\index.php on line 26

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required 'C:/xampp/htdocs\..\private\joomla\includes\defines.php' (include_path='.;C:\xampp\php\pear\') in C:\xampp\htdocs\hpc\index.php on line 26

I think this is line 26 of index.php:
require_once ( M_JPATH_BASE_USER .DS.'includes'.DS.'defines.php' );

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
OK, STOP. Your host's control panel has modified Joomla!'s core files. Whoever wrote that control panel application must be skinned, tarred, feathered, hung and burnt in the stake. Never, ever, under not circumstances should Joomla! core files be modified for any reason at all. What you host did was to (excuse my language) completely fuck up your Joomla! installation. Not only do they have an ancient Joomla! version (1.5.15 is way too easy to hack!), they made it impossible to update and extremely hard to back it up. What a bunch of utter morons! Please tell me who they are. I have a "name and shame" policy for hosts screwing their clients.

OK, we will now try to fix your hosts's stupid deeds. Download the latest Joomla! 1.5.25 installation package (yes, your host made sure you are ten versions behind...). Extract all files and put them inside your restored site's root, overwriting all existing files. Remove the installation directory (it was included in the extracted Joomla! 1.5.25 files). Now your site should work.

Next thing to do, write an angry letter to your host, telling them that their idiotic script resulted in a vulnerable site which can not be upgraded, then find a new host. I strongly recommend one of CloudAccess.net, Rochen and iRedHost. They're not the cheapest among hosts, but they are the best Joomla!-optimised hosts I've used.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user58358
Wow! Spectacular! I have no idea why that worked or how you knew that it would. But you did and it does! Thank you very much indeed!
And, yes, a major impetus for trying to make this backup is that I wanted to move away from the host aplus.net which, in a variety of ways, has been unsatisfactory and actually seems to be in the process of disappearing. Just looked at CloudAccess.net; looks terrific! May well move there, but will check out those other hosts also.
Thanks again!!

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
You're welcome!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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