Archive for 'web'

I’ve never had to transfer a domain before. However, my dissatisfaction with my current registrar led me to seek out and decide upon a new registrar/webhost. What followed was an unexpected complication involving EPP codes that were “too complex” for my new host.

Simply put, an EPP code is what is used to prevent unauthorized transfers of a domain. To transfer a domain, you first request an EPP code from your current registrar and then submit it to your new registrar along with the domain name. In essence, it’s a password. You can read more about it at Wikipedia.

A modern EPP code looks like this (Note that this is not a real EPP code): 8BrJ*9G+4To-*2z). Nice and entropic, no? Those fancy symbols must lend some strength to the code. I’m warm with security.

When I submitted my EPP code to my new web host, I received the error: “You have entered an invalid EPP code.” Curses! I contacted the new hosting provider for more information. Apparently, special characters are not accepted by their registrar (they use eNom). I contacted my old registrar to see if they could create a less complex EPP code. They responded that they could not because they only dealt with the latest VeriSign EPPs.

I contacted my new host and sent out a cry for help. Fortunately, even though the wording of their KB article placed the blame on their registrar (eNom) the limitation could be worked around. It was merely the web form’s input sanitizing. I imagine there must be some kind of internal warring among teams over this. The host’s own knowledgebase articles are very well stocked with information concerning the limitation with complex EPP codes. In fact, the number 1 return for a simple Google search for rejected EPP codes comes back with a KB article from my new host.

To get the transfer process rolling, I had to swap out the complex characters (such as +, –, *) and replace them with a regular character (In my case, I chose the letter ‘Q’) in the web form. After submitting the form, I then had to update my help desk ticket that was already opened about this situation and give them the real code along with the modified code I supplied to the web form. Within minutes the proper EPP code had been manually put in place and the process for transferring started.

All of this to say: beware that there is a difference in EPP codes and that some registrars may be unable to process certain types. Caveat Emptor!

Someone I know was having issued with their WordPress installation. Since I’ve been using WordPress for ages (about ten days), I figured I’d have a look. Plus, I was the only one that he knew with technical experience. And his blog URL was printed in a periodical that was due to be shipped in two weeks, so expectations were running a little high. Sweet.

Every time an image was uploaded the following error was encountered:

Unable to create directory
/var/www/vhosts/domain.com/httpdocs/blog/wp-content/uploads.
Is its parent directory writable by the server?

I manually created the directory, and received a new error:

“The uploaded file could not be moved to /var/www/vhosts/domain.com/httpdocs/blog/wp-content/uploads”

After some sleuthing, it seemed to be an issue with PHP Safe Mode being enabled for the entire domain. There is a lot of differing opinions on how to address turning safe_mode off or even if you can turn it off for individual directories or not.

I’ll spare you the details, but let’s just say I got an unexpected self-taught crash course in PHP. After spending all morning on the issue, I ended up having the web host turn it off for the entire domain (something only they could do on the backend). The problem still persisted.

I came upon the answer after I changed the keywords I was using in Google. It’s so simple, I almost didn’t post it here. However, I am the Nubby Admin so it’s not like anyone has high expectations for me.

Solution:

First create the wp-uploads folder in the wp-content folder. Then change the permissions on wp-uploads to 777. I’m sure there are other possibilities, but that seemed to be the most straight-forward way.

Hopefully the search engines will smile on this post and save someone a morning of phpinfo() and ini_set().

This comic created by Flickr user Dan King (dannyk6) is a funny but oh-so-true explanation of how an end user gets their web pages delivered to them from a typical CMS based website (much like this very blog). Clicking the image above takes you to Dan King’s blog where you can see the full comic.

This made me stop and think. Have you ever considered the raw complexity that is within each and every personal computer that you touch? What about every enterprise class server or appliance? The things that were luxurious a few years ago are now open sourced, given away and hissy-fit material if our vendor doesn’t supply it yesterday.

Maybe I was primed for this topic since I’ve been working on more web based sysadmin tasks (WordPress, Joomla, Apache… I don’t know if I want to marry mod_rewrite or assault its creators). However, give pause for a few moments and think how far things have come.

Be thankful we don’t have to code in octal or worry about registers. Unless you like that sort of thing, in which case you should probably go organize your magnetized needle collection.

The thoughts of a soon-to-be business owner are deep and muddled. In between Form 8832s and 1099 MISCs are more aesthetic muses. I’d very much like to have a simplistic but personality-chocked website that can grow with me as time goes on and my business offerings (hopefully) grow.

I’ve been perusing CSS and site design galleries like CSSElite.com and Open Source Web Design for inspiration. Just when I was considering compiling my own list of site design galleries I was just made privy to a ginormous list of CSS design galleries: www.thecssgallerylist.com

Think of something the size of The Black Sea, add the square footage of Moldova and then double it. That’s how big The CSS Gallery List’s coat closet is. With my estimation of 200+ CSS galleries listed, if you don’t find something that you like then you need to consider Lasik surgery or check into the Betty Ford Center.

I was disappointed, however, that I didn’t find any open source web design galleries on the list. I’ll fill in that tiny gap with my own list. The designs on these lists are released under various Creative Commons / GPL licenses. Check each template before you use it:

• Open Source Web Design: http://www.oswd.org/
• Free CSS: http://www.free-css.com/
• Open Source Templates: http://opensourcetemplates.org/
• Open Web Design: http://www.openwebdesign.org/
• Open Designs: http://www.opendesigns.org/
• Open Source Web Templates: http://www.oswt.co.uk/
• Open Source Design: http://www.opensourcedesign.com/
• OS Templates: http://www.os-templates.com/
• Free CSS Templates: http://www.freecsstemplates.org/ (Added March 4, 2010)

Did I miss any? Let me know if you have any other CSS/HTML galleries that have templates under a CC, GPL or copyleft license.