Questions about Plesk and Joomla

[manolis]

I am not sure if this is the right place so please forgive me in advance.

I am testing the testvps (cloud) server and i have some problems that are my fault (not so good knowledge about plesk etc)

I have managed to setup a joomla site but since it's the first time i use plesk i have the problem with the ftp layer (in joomla).

So can anyone help me on how i can make joomla connect to the ftp server ?
I have setup the server to respond on "localhost" ....of cource google helped me a lot on that but it seems i am stack for now.

I also have to say about cloud vps etc... after i setup the joomla i executed a shutdown -r command ....on the vps...but my site was there still working!!!!! although the same time i was running a ping command on a cmd box and the ip was not responding.

But a refresh on my site was working and i was able to read articles etc on it.

[Rock]

Hi Manos,

Thread moved to appropriate section

Joomla 1.5 introduced a new feature, the FTP Layer. The FTP Layer allows file operations (such as installing Extensions or updating the main configuration file) without having to make all the folders & files writable.. Not having to make your folders writable also adds to site & server security. This has been an issue on Linux & other Unix based platforms in respect of file permissions..

But TBH, I've seen FTP Layer, which being applicable to Linux Server users only & NOT for Windows ones, causing a lot of problems for many people.. You should rather opt for running suPHP on your VPS which negates the need for using the FTP layer & adds far more security to your Joomla site. With suPHP ownership issues as well as file write permissions are all things of the past.

suPHP for PHP Scripts is exactly what SuExec does for Perl files, that is, it makes them run under your specific user account, as opposed to the Apache user account. It consists of an Apache module (mod_suphp) & a setuid root binary (suphp) that is called by the Apache module to change the uid of the process executing the PHP interpreter. This allows us to better monitor the resource usage of accounts, as well as track down runaway script files with greater ease.. Also, it gives you the benefit of all your php scripts running 'in' your account. For some PHP applications this is a great help because now when you create files/folders from inside the script, they will be owned properly by your account & not the generic Apache user account.

The installation documentation of some php scripts will state that you should set the owner of the scripts as "nobody:nobody" or "apache:apache." Because of our use of suPHP, this is not the case. All files contained within your account (including php scripts) should be left as owned by your account..

[manolis]

Thanks for your help Rock, so what you are proposing to install suPHP ?

sorry i am not quite sure that i understand you. The problem is that when i try to set user name and password in the configuration file of joomla, i get and error saying (JFTP::connect: Could not connect to host "localhost" on port 21)

p.s. thanks for moving the thread

[Rock]

Originally Posted by manolis

Thanks for your help Rock, so what you are proposing to install suPHP ?

sorry i am not quite sure that i understand you. The problem is that when i try to set user name and password in the configuration file of joomla, i get and error saying (JFTP::connect: Could not connect to host "localhost" on port 21)

p.s. thanks for moving the thread

You're welcome.

I proposed suPHP because it's more secure than having world writeable [777] files/folders on a web server.

Regarding the FTP Layer error, please try using ftp.your-domain.com [where you-domain is actually your domain name].

Also, make sure that the configuration.php file is set to 777 [chown 777 configuration.php].

Let us know if it still errors out..

[manolis]

Well since it's the test vps i haven't transfer any domain on it. you can see it with the ip (the one that you gave me for testing).