Re: FW: [vps-mail] Possible FormMail Issue

[Abigail Marshall <abigailrm@xxxxxxxxx>]

Colin, its really hard to debug without having access to the server. Did you
ever figure out how to check your own error logs?

I'm wondering how someone who is relatively inexperienced with CGI and form
installation ends up with sites hosted on a VPS1 platform, given the fact
that the server must have been put into service so many years ago.   Did you
take over management of this account from someone else?  I think part of
your problem is that Verio has not provisioned VPS1's in a very long time --
probably at least a decade --  so most of us on the list no longer are
running sites on those platforms.  There are changes in basis directory
structure and path designation that make it hard to remember (or guess)
where your system might be going awry.

One more thing, however -- I notice that you wrote that the script alias
points to  /usr/local/etc/httpd/fhm-cgi-bin/   ---
but you also said that this was the 2nd web site on the same server with the
issue.

As I recall, on a VPS1 server, the main site on the server was hosted in a
directory called "htdocs" directory, but all other subhosted sites were in a
directory called "vhosts" -- so I'm wondering if the path you specified in
the the alias is correct for the site you are working on.


-Abigail

On Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 6:48 AM, Colin Adams <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

>  Hi All, ****
>
> ** **
>
> Any suggestions at all?****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* Colin Adams [mailto:webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> *Sent:* 02 September 2011 06:37
>
> *To:* 'vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> *Subject:* RE: [vps-mail] Possible FormMail Issue****
>
>  ** **
>
> Sadly, this isn’t the issue this time around, this is an extract from the
> FormMail.pl file:****
>
> ** **
>
> $DEBUGGING         = 1;****
>
>   $emulate_matts_code= 0;****
>
>   $secure            = 1;****
>
>   $allow_empty_ref   = 1;****
>
>   $max_recipients    = 5;****
>
>   $mailprog          = '/usr/sbin/sendmail -oi -t';****
>
>   $postmaster        = '';****
>
>   @referers          = qw(antigua-marina.com 161.58.1.84 localhost);****
>
>   @allow_mail_to     = qw(webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx localhost);****
>
>   @recipients        = ();****
>
>   %recipient_alias   = ();****
>
>   @valid_ENV         = qw(REMOTE_HOST REMOTE_ADDR REMOTE_USER
> HTTP_USER_AGENT);****
>
>   $locale            = '';****
>
>   $charset           = 'iso-8859-1';****
>
>   $date_fmt          = '%A, %B %d, %Y at %H:%M:%S';****
>
>   $style             = '/css/nms.css';****
>
>   $no_content        = 0;****
>
>   $double_spacing    = 1;****
>
>   $wrap_text         = 0;****
>
>   $wrap_style        = 1;****
>
>   $address_style     = 0;****
>
>   $send_confirmation_mail = 0;****
>
>   $confirmation_text = <<'END_OF_CONFIRMATION';****
>
> ** **
>
> Does anything there look incorrect?****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* owner-vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> *On Behalf Of *Abigail Marshall
> *Sent:* 02 September 2011 03:23
> *To:* vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* Re: [vps-mail] Possible FormMail Issue****
>
> ** **
>
> The last time around I think part of your problem was that you had the path
> to sendmail wrong.  It was****
>
>  '/usr/lib/sendmail -oi -t'  and you changed it to  '/usr/sbin/sendmail -oi
> -t',****
>
> ** **
>
> I don't know that it would produce a "forbidden" type error message, but it
> would on place to start.****
>
> ** **
>
> -Abigail****
>
> ** **
>
> On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 1:49 PM, Colin Adams <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:****
>
> Come to think of it, I had another form issue on a website on this same
> server using the same Perl script that you helped me out with before and
> there wasn’t a problem with permissions then.****
>
>  ****
>
> The form reference is as follows:****
>
>  ****
>
> <form method="POST" action="/cgi-bin/FormMail.pl" onsubmit="return
> FrontPage_Form1_Validator(this)" language="JavaScript"
> name="FrontPage_Form1">****
>
>  ****
>
> The Script Alias is: ScriptAlias /cgi-bin /usr/local/etc/httpd/fhm-cgi-bin/
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> The FormMail.pl script is in the fhm-cgi-bin directory.****
>
>  ****
>
> Any ideas?****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* owner-vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> *On Behalf Of *Abigail Marshall
> *Sent:* 01 September 2011 16:25****
>
>
> *To:* vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* Re: [vps-mail] Possible FormMail Issue****
>
>  ****
>
> >From what I recall, permissions are not usually a big problem on a VPS1,
> but path designation in the form can be an issue.  ****
>
>  ****
>
> On a VPS2 or 3, the error logs are usually in a file in the /www/logs
> directory -- you can just submit the form, then log in via shell and run
> tail on the error log to see the last few lines.  Example****
>
>  ****
>
> cd /www/logs****
>
> tail error_log****
>
>  ****
>
> -Abigail****
>
>  ****
>
> -****
>
> On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 12:47 PM, Colin Adams <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:****
>
> I’m on a V1 Unix platform****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* owner-vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> *On Behalf Of *Abigail Marshall
> *Sent:* 01 September 2011 15:14****
>
>
> *To:* vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* Re: [vps-mail] Possible FormMail Issue****
>
>  ****
>
> What platform are you on?  (VPS 3?  Unix? )****
>
> On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 5:13 AM, Colin Adams <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:****
>
> Hi,****
>
>  ****
>
> First of all, thanks for looking at this so quickly.****
>
>  ****
>
> I’m definitely not “technically inclined” so can I ask the following:****
>
>  ****
>
> How do I change the permissions?****
>
> Where do I find the error log?****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> Thanks again…****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* owner-vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> *On Behalf Of *Abigail Marshall
> *Sent:* 01 September 2011 01:03
> *To:* vps-mail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* Re: [vps-mail] Possible FormMail Issue****
>
>  ****
>
> Start by looking at the error log -- that often will give a clue.   If it
> doesn't make sense to you, post whatever the output is here.  It could be a
> lot of different things, and without access to your server or your script,
> it's hard to guess.  ****
>
>  ****
>
> You can start by checking permissions on the script, however -- that's
> basically the most common reason a newly created script won't work.  Set
> them temporarily to 777 for testing, and then if it solves the problem, you
> can experiment by tightening them up.  (You don't want to leave it at 777
> because that's a security risk, but if you test at that level and things
> still don't work, you'll at least know that it is not a permissions problem)
> ****
>
>  ****
>
> -Abigail****
>
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 9:37 PM, Colin Adams <webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:****
>
> Hi ,****
>
>  ****
>
> I’ve just created a new form using the FormMail.pl script to process the
> results.****
>
>  ****
>
> The form can be found here:
> http://www.antigua-marina.com/booking_proof310811.html****
>
>  ****
>
> I added a script alias for the cgi-bin directory to the virtual host config
> (ScriptAlias /cgi-bin /usr/local/etc/httpd/neem-cgi-bin/) and changed the
> variables for the FormMail.pl script.****
>
>  ****
>
> I thought that I had got everything right but am encountering the following
> error message when I submit the form: ****
>
>  ****
>
> *Forbidden*****
>
> You don't have permission to access /cgi-bin/FormMail.pl on this server.**
> **
>
>  ****
>
> I double checked the @referers variable but couldn’t see anything wrong
> with it.****
>
>  ****
>
> Can anyone help?****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> Thanks!****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
>  ****
>
> ** **
>