Latest two weeks I have made well over 10 complete site moves/upgrades on different servers. Often working fine but sometimes with troubles.
When I get into trouble, this is what I do, perhaps it could help:
When I get blank pages it is always because of some php error caused by "something". Just as it should be if "display error = 0" in php conf.
So what I would do first is to be sure I can see a log that catches errors. The Modx error log very often is empty even when there is a php error.
When I can read a working error log I can see what the error is, and then pretty easy correct it.
The phpinfo should tell where to look for error log. Very often it isn’t any defined. Force a php error and look in the log for it. If nothing there, the log isn’t logging.
When I have had problem with upgrades it is usually from one of these sources:
* /core/config/config.inc.php:
When upgrading sometimes some of the path becomes incorrect.
First thingh I check is line 57: $http_host=’yoursite.something.com’;
* Rewrite (FURL) is on in Modx config but not on server.
* File permissions
Modx and ftp is not running as same user or group. Can (will) cause all kind of errors, like not being able to install addons.
* Something missing in the enviroment that should be there.
* By misstake I copied files that I shouldn’t copy, like config.inc.php, after I made the complete install.
How I solve it:
I make sure to read a log that catches errors, like I started this message.
If not working, I do:
Make a clean install, add a few pages and check everything is working.
Install the addons from within Modx package manager instead of transfering components dir from old install.
When still working I copy my assets folder onto the server.
I then add a few tables from my old install, like site_contents, and the tables for chunks, template vars, site templates and perhaps snippets.
If everything still works I import all tables except site_config.
When I do it in parts like this I can see when it goes wrong and then it is easy to find the problem.
So far it has never been an error that I can blame Modx for.
(I do blame Modx for forcing me to install Modx on many VPSs to find one that can cope with the soon to be solved heavy caching load
)
I think Modx is extremely stable and works fine in many different enviroments.
Btw, two things I *never* do:
1. Trust anything a hosting company says. Never.
2. Start blaming the scripts I’m installing. As most people get the scripts to work without problems it would make me look like a fool shouting about bugs, I know it is almost always me doing something wrong.
MODX Staff
MODX Staff
