Finally after two years of contemplating the updates to Apache 2.x, MySQL 5.x, and PHP 5.x, I finally updated my server to the latest version os Apache, MySQL, and PHP. I was not too concerned about custom work or any of my WordPress sites, but I was concerned XOOPS and/or XOOPS modules would have some problems, but it is now a week later and everything is running smoothly. Why finally? Well, as of the end of this month, support for PHP 4 will be discontinued. Better late than never. Time to update your servers too?

After spending a frustrating day yesterday working with a client, their web site overload issues, and the hosting “advanced support” I am worn out. The issue: extremely high traffic database driven web site - when moved into the production environment on a dedicated server - would spike the processors’ load to 100% and would then need to be restarted. I got called to help solve the problem. The “advanced support” blamed it on the CMS and that is where I stepped in. The first thing I wanted to see were the server logs. (Apache and MySQL to start) After a long and frustrating time on the phone with the “advanced support” they were finally convinced I knew what I was talking about and gave me shell access to the server so I could tail (tail -f logname_log) the log in order to see what kind of error messages were generated. Mind you - my client had been dealing with the “advanced support” for two days at this point and not once did they look at the log files. Within a few seconds I was able to see the errors that were causing Apache and … [more]

Apache’s mod_rewrite is very powerful. You can prevent hot-linking to your site’s graphics to prevent others from stealing them, redirect your from your old URL to a new URL, re-write URLs, as well as about 500 other really cool things…but today I wanted to share the syntax needed to redirect every incoming URL for a particular web site to a specific page. Why? This could come in handy when doing work on a site and you have a “Performing Updates” (in this case index.html) page. You can put the following code in your .htaccess or httpd.conf file:

# Enable rewrite engine
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

# Redirect internally all URLs to /index.html
RewriteRule .* index.html [L]

After working with Ben for almost eight years he had decided to move on. I wanted to wish Ben all the luck in the world. We had a great time working together for many years…as he put up with my on again off again relationship with Mac OS X Server and I put up with his “not as funny as he thought” videos and comics We also had a good time playing Carmageddon 2, Diablo, Diablo II and Quake 3 Arena. We did do some great work in between all the games and great music (I got him out of the “ambient” music mode and opened the door to electronica, DJs, etc). We did do a kick ass job of putting together a really sweet Mac OS X/Mac OS X Server server set up using Apache, MySQL, PHP, WebObjects complete with failover. Best of luck and thanks for the good times.

After working with content management managements for well quite awhile now, the thought of creating more than seven (more than five, less than ten) static pages for a client makes me cringe. Why? I am spoiled by using template driven solutions. With templateing, if I need to make a header change, I change it one place and I am done with it. With using static .html pages, I have to make the change to all the pages. I have grown very reliant on using find and replace, but then - because of the person I am - I have to go back and make sure everything looks right.

I am currently wrapping up a project where I was not able to use a content management system, PHP, or any sort of database. No, this is not 1998, this is present day. For decisions I will not get into, this was the situation, no getting around it. This web site has about 75 static pages and around the twentieth page I started to sweat when the client wanted a major layout change. After emailing someone technical in the department I found out they … [more]

After finally getting some to to set up my development environment, I began thinking...why am I not using Apache 2.2 and PHP 5.1.2? What made me think about this? "Legacy Release" The phrase "legacy release" is what httpd.apache.org described Apache 1.3.x as in their news section. I have been using Apache 1.x for several years now, only ever really thinking about migrating to 2.0 because of the need to run a subversion server. I have a solid web server solution in place that has made me very happy for the last few years using Apache 1.3.x, but it is finally time to check out something in the 2.x family, and I am going to make that 2.2. I am going to spend some time tomorrow reading about any known issues (especially with PHP, as I remember that being a show stopper for my interest in 2.0 before) and then install/configure it. Stay tuned for some tutorials on what I did to get everything up and running!
[tags]apache, php, mysql, subversion[/tags]

I cannot stress how amazing the Apache community has been when I have needed help. Not only do I spend a lot of time reading the great documentation on the Apache web site, I subscribe to the Apache mailing lists, and when I really need help fast, I jump on the #Apache channel using IRC (server=irc.freenode.net). So, if you ever have any questions/problems with Apache, support is only a few minutes away. (I had questions about some mod_rewrite syntax yesterday that I got instant help with yesterday via the IRC channel.) I know I promised a link today to my XOOPS project, but I still need a day or so to figure out the cacheing. I am not someone who likes to release links unless they are pretty polished, and I am not there yet.
[tags]Apache, mod_rewrite[/tags]