[Forum] 4.0.8 Picture upload failing

[sdolcourt]

Hi,

We have 4.0.8 in a hosted situation. Picture uploads are failing whether basic or advanced uploader, IE, Firefox, etc. Ours is a default installation, no monkeying around with config files.

What are things I can try to get picture uploading to work? Are there any vBulletin log files I can review that will tell me any error messages?

Is there anything the hosting company must do to allow pictures to upload?

Should I be storing the images in a file system directory, or the database? Would you suppose image updates are choking because the My SQL database is somehow not configured for it?

Grasping at straws...what do I need to know?

Cheers,

Seth

[Steve Machol]

Enable phpinfo in the Admin CP, then provide the URL to your forums. This may help us troubleshoot this problem.

Admin CP -> Settings -> Options -> Server Settings and Optimization Options -> Public phpinfo() Display Enabled

[trilogy33]

By failing you mean database errors?
Usually, with large images (anything above 1MB for some shared hosting).
So, a quick and simple way around this is not to depend on MySQL timing out/losing packets for large(ish) uploads and go for storing the images in the filesystem.
Try that first.

But if you really must use the database for storing images. Try to keep a filesize maximum of 1MB, I'd been doing that for years with no issues.

As for vBulletin log files, try looking for "error_log" in the your base forum directory. If you're getting DB errors, they'll be hiding in there, if you've not got email notification of DB errors enabled.

[sdolcourt]

Done, enabled.

https://www.drumtown.info/forum

[sdolcourt]

We are getting daily db errors, yes. I opened a vBulletin ticket, and had included the entire message, the details escape me for the moment. I'll look for the error_log, thank you for letting me know the location of it!

[sdolcourt]

Trilogy,

Thanks for the info. It sounds like storing in a file system is a much better approach. And no, there is no operational reason I can think of to store images in the database. I think we'd be fine with 500 KB / 1 Mb file size, and we have the auto resize setting turned on.

Is redirecting images to the file system something I can do without requiring the hosting company? I did create a folder that I intended for picture storage, but it's not clear to me the steps needed within vBulletin to change the location.

Can you assist with pointing me to a procedure?

Cheers,

Seth

[Zachery]

sdolcourt,

This shouldn't be bad since you're in windows.

The folder for your attachments shouldn't be located in a web accessable folder.

Once the folder is made, you need to go to AmdinCP > Attachments > Attacchment Storage Type

You can set the path to your attachments here, it should look something like this: d:\hshome\dtinfo\attachmentfoldername
If you need help with the specific path, ask your webhost.

[sdolcourt]

Hi

Here is the database error I'm getting. The hosting company said they modified a Windows setting to permit more connections between our site and MySql. Generally, forum performance has been much improved.



mysql_connect() [<a href='function.mysql-connect'>function.mysql-connect</a>]: Can't connect to MySQL server on 'mysql1.bluejethosting.com' (10054)
D:\hshome\dtinfo\drumtown.info\forum\includes\class_core.php on line 313

MySQL Error :
Error Number :
Request Date : Monday, November 8th 2010 @ 11:42:11 AM
Error Date : Monday, November 8th 2010 @ 11:42:32 AM
Script : http://www.drumtown.info/forum/forum.php
Referrer : http://www.drumtown.info/forum/
IP Address : 134.154.164.205
Username :
Classname : vB_Database
MySQL Version :

[Zachery]

Thats the error you get when trying to upload an attachment?

[sdolcourt]

Thanks, Zachery. I'll ask the web host for a non web accessible folder in the file system for the images.

[sdolcourt]

No, the error message I get is simply a Failed to Upload, like an orange dot in the Image Uploader. What I posted was an example of the database errors to which I'm getting via email. I have no idea if the error contains any clues which help troubleshoot the picture uploading issue.

[Steve Machol]

The upload problem is that your 'upload_tmp_dir' setting is empty. This is required ion Windows server. You (as root) or your host will need to edit php.ini and set 'upload_tmp_dir' to point to the full path to a directory on the server that is both world-readable and writable.

As for the 'can't connect' error, this is a server issue. Please see this page for the causes of this error:

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/cantconnect

[sdolcourt]

Steve, Thank you! I'll have the hosting company execute the change.

Also, thank you for the link to the database issue. I'll review that, too.