ModX on GoDaddy: things i've learned

just a few tips that will hopefully help others in the future...

[glow=yellow,2,300]1)[/glow] to get modx to work without error on the godaddy linux server, i had to scatter a few php.ini files around. first, create a blank txt document and put this code in it...then save that file and give it a filename of "php.ini".
then place that file at the root/top level that you have access to - the same level that your homepage/index file would be.
then place a copy of that file in the modx "assets" folder.
then place a copy of that file in the modx "manager" folder.
and lastly, IF you installed modx in a subdirectory, place it at that root level too.
(note: i did not experiment to see if having fewer of these would work also; but i heard it "might" work with just the root level one)

Also, an important thing to note: it would seem that in most cases (mine included) that these uploaded php.ini files do not take effect on modx for aprox an hour after upload!!!!!

[glow=yellow,2,300]2)[/glow] by default, php was set to not allow any files uploaded thru the modx system that was over 2mb’s in size. this was unacceptable to me. but oddly enough, i didn’t discover this was the issue until several hours of troubleshooting. why? because when i would go in to edit a page, and click to insert an image or media, and click to browse, then click to upload (as one normally would) - i would get this error message: "Failed to upload file, internal error". i would expect it to tell me that the filesize limit has been exceeded, but it didn’t. so this error message lead me down many paths that were not the issue. after much experimenting, i discovered that indeed it was due to the 2mb file size limit. it would seem that changing it in the Tools -> Configuration -> File Manager -> Maximum upload size area had no effect with GoDaddy. the info at Reports -> System Info -> phpInfo() View -> upload_max_filesize still would show 2M.
so after much investigation, i found that using those php.ini files that i used above would provide a good workaround.
take each of those php.ini files from above, open them up, and add "upload_max_filesize = 10M" to them on a second line. (note: use whatever max size you want). so the file would now look like this...Then after about an hour of waiting, the info at Reports -> System Info -> phpInfo() View -> upload_max_filesize now showed 10M.

[glow=yellow,2,300]3)[/glow] in using the "eForm" snippet to have a contact form on the site, i discovered that the email address(es) you have it sent to MUST be same-domain email addresses. for instance, if the domain that i am using modx on is "domain1.com" then i need to send the emails to "[email protected]". when i tried to send them to "[email protected]", they simply would never show up. the rest of the form would work appropriately, just never any email from it.

So there you go - my 3 issues (so far) with putting modx on a godaddy server.
hope that’s helpful to somebody.
-jason.

interesting. i just fought a battle with godaddy last night, using shared hosting for several different sites under the same account. somehow my php scripts were being run from subdirectories instead of the root level directories and content from different sites was being mixed between the sites. it was a real mess, and godaddy’s tech support had no idea what to do, so i wound up purchasing hosting elsewhere.

i also ran into the mail problem just like you did. my experiences with godaddy so far haven’t been too fun. any particular reason you are using them? client preference?

yeah, i hate using godaddy. not my choice - it’s what my client has and refused to move until his term ends; doesn’t want to loose the money he’s already invested in it.

in about 18 months, i’ll be moving him from gd to my server.

A number of shared hosting providers are limiting the email to sending to its own domain to block spam being sent from their servers. I had to move my domains from one long-time hosting provider for this reason some time ago.

Since I am managing a number of non-profit sites as well as three of my own (one not developed yet, but someday...) I went with a VPS and love it. I’d run my own server, but the connections here are not very reliable so I’m better off with a server somewhere in the UK or the US with better infrastructure. The company I’m with (Clook Internet UK) is a bit expensive for me, but the support is absolutely fantastic (apache and php recompiled to use cgi and suexec within 10 minutes of a request and not so much as a hiccup in any of the sites hosted on it, for example) and I’ve had maybe two minutes of downtime (a MySQL failure that was automatically reset almost before I had time to panic) in the last year, so it’s worth it.

Quote from: sottwell at Mar 20, 2008, 12:49 AM

A number of shared hosting providers are limiting the email to sending to its own domain to block spam being sent from their servers. I had to move my domains from one long-time hosting provider for this reason some time ago.

Since I am managing a number of non-profit sites as well as three of my own (one not developed yet, but someday...) I went with a VPS and love it. I’d run my own server, but the connections here are not very reliable so I’m better off with a server somewhere in the UK or the US with better infrastructure. The company I’m with (Clook Internet UK) is a bit expensive for me, but the support is absolutely fantastic (apache and php recompiled to use cgi and suexec within 10 minutes of a request and not so much as a hiccup in any of the sites hosted on it, for example) and I’ve had maybe two minutes of downtime (a MySQL failure that was automatically reset almost before I had time to panic) in the last year, so it’s worth it.

Hi Susan, I’m trying to get out of a Godaddy shared server and move to a bigger and better server, do you have any that you would recommend here in the US?
Toda!

Josh

No, I’ve always used UK based servers.

Quote from: miamisurf at Apr 03, 2008, 03:13 AM

Quote from: sottwell at Mar 20, 2008, 12:49 AM

A number of shared hosting providers are limiting the email to sending to its own domain to block spam being sent from their servers. I had to move my domains from one long-time hosting provider for this reason some time ago.

Since I am managing a number of non-profit sites as well as three of my own (one not developed yet, but someday...) I went with a VPS and love it. I’d run my own server, but the connections here are not very reliable so I’m better off with a server somewhere in the UK or the US with better infrastructure. The company I’m with (Clook Internet UK) is a bit expensive for me, but the support is absolutely fantastic (apache and php recompiled to use cgi and suexec within 10 minutes of a request and not so much as a hiccup in any of the sites hosted on it, for example) and I’ve had maybe two minutes of downtime (a MySQL failure that was automatically reset almost before I had time to panic) in the last year, so it’s worth it.

Hi Susan, I’m trying to get out of a Godaddy shared server and move to a bigger and better server, do you have any that you would recommend here in the US?
Toda!

Josh

see the hosting recommendations thread; there are some good ones there.