Big issues after Migration

[djillusions]

Hi all,

Our IT Manager wanted to upgrade our old Joomla 2.5 deployment to the latest version (3.3.3). We own our servers, running Ubuntu in house. So we created a new server to use for the deployment and get everything right before we made it the live site under the new version on the new server.

Basically my process was:
1. Used Akeeba Backup to make a copy of the old site.
2. Setup new server with all requirements.
3. Used Akeeba Kickstart to restore old site on new server as is.
4. I had to fix some permissions errors and stuff at this point in php which was fine.
5. Upgraded Joomla internally to 3.3.3 through the Joomla Update section.

So now, the site is running live on the new server with v3.3.3 without any real issues, there is a bit of stuff going on in the apache error log which I will get to however we are having one major issue that our web designer would like rectified, I have tried everything and have got absolutely no where.

At present we have the /index.php shown in the URL when you go to any page aside from the homepage of the site so if you go to contact it shows /index.php/contact - I have read how to fix this issue with mod rewrite etc. modifying the htaccess file and turning on URL Rewriting in Joomla.

Only issue is when I turn on URL Rewriting in Joomla, I get a 404 error on EVERY page EXCEPT the homepage. With URL Rewriting turned on the index.php part goes away, but obviously nothing works which is not an ideal situation.

I have tried googling etc. and tried many suggestions but nothing seems to overcome this 404 issue. Can someone PLEASE point me in the right direction? If it helps website is coastguard.com.au

Cheers!

[toivo]

In the HTML source code the links are prefixed with index.php, for example /index.php/donate, which could be the cause of the 404 problem. Just /donate or donate should work once you use mod_rewrite

[djillusions]

In the HTML source code the links are prefixed with index.php, for example /index.php/donate, which could be the cause of the 404 problem. Just /donate or donate should work once you use mod_rewrite

When you say mod rewrite, are you referring to enabling this on the apache server then turning it on in the htaccess file? If so I have done both of these things to no avail, I have dumped the Joomla cache too to see what that did but no change.

I am hesitant to post the entire htaccess file but things I have found and tried are:

Code: Select all

ReWriteEngine On
ReWrite Base /.
RewriteRule ^(([^/]+/)*)index\.php/(.*)$ http%2://www.coastguard.com.au/$1$2 [R=301,L]
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]
#RedirectMatch 301 ^/index.php/(.*)$ http://www.coastguard.com.au/$1

None of these really made any difference to the front end, nor did they resolve the issue I am having!

[toivo]

You should rather tidy up those links that start with index.php because that is not required when SEF URLs are enabled. Those entries in the .htaccess file will just confuse the situation.

[djillusions]

So I should comment out all those lines in the .htaccess file?

I am pretty much about to throw it in and give up, the web designer will just have to deal with the fact the links have index.php in them because NOTHING I have tried even comes close to fixing the problem. Everything just results in a page not found.

[toivo]

the web designer will just have to deal with the fact the links have index.php in them

That is not necessary at all. If you want SEF URLs, the links should not have index.php at all.

The links in the menus or articles are wrong. This is not a complex issue. Examples:

URLs when SEF URLs and URL rewriting are disabled:

Code: Select all

http://example.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=257
http://example.com/index.php?option=com_users&view=login&Itemid=233

URLs should look like this when SEF URLs and URL rewriting are enabled:

Code: Select all

http://example.com/single-article
http://example.com/login

The standard .htaccess file installed with Joomla does not need any rules to be added to achieve SEF functionality.

Get your web designer to talk to your IT Manager and they should be able to sort this issue out.

[djillusions]

Yes, what you have written is exactly right - I have literally read EVERY forum thread google-fu can find on this topic, I have followed every step and STILL as soon as I turn on URL Rewriting in Joomla I get the 404 error.

I have compared my apache config and httpd config files with the old server that works fine and they are EXACTLY the same, I have written a script to ensure mod_rewrite functions correctly on the server which I can confirm it absolutely is working fine. EVERYTHING is as per all instructions, yet it does not work and it would appear form reading thread after thread I am not alone in this problem.

I am the IT Manager, I manage the servers, our web master just designs and compiles the information, she attempted to remove the index.php part herself but could not do it and asked me to do it, which turns out I also can not do.

As I said in my OP the only thing that we did was move the website using Akeeba backup to a new server and upgrade. We had no other issues aside from this URL Rewriting 404 error.

[toivo]

she attempted to remove the index.php part herself but could not do it and asked me to do it, which turns out I also can not do.

If you mean that you tried different rules in the .htaccess file, I reckon that they must have interfered with the SEF process in Joomla.

All you should have to do is to follow this tutorial:
http://docs.joomla.org/Enabling_Search_ ... (SEF)_URLs

SEF URL links in the menu or inside articles work with or without index.php, but it is tidier to remove the initial index.php and have a relative URL look like /login, rather than /index.php/login

Did you enable the System - SEF plugin?

[djillusions]

Yep, I have followed that tutorial although there was not much to follow as it was pretty much exactly as the tutorial said aside from turning on the rewriting obviously, but turning on the rewriting causes the 404 error - I followed their solution to prevent the 404 error but it made no difference.

I also reloaded all menu items from the menu manager, purged the cache, restarted apache and still made no difference. Yet again had to turn URL Rewriting off again in Joomla so the website actually works.

I have the SEF System plugin enabled yes.

[djillusions]

FYI this is the error I get when URL Rewriting is enabled from Joomla:

Not Found

The requested URL /membership was not found on this server.
Apache/2.2.22 (Ubuntu) Server at coastguard.com.au Port 80

[toivo]

Not Found
The requested URL /membership was not found on this server.

This error comes from Apache, which means that the URL was not passed to Joomla. Joomla would have displayed the error "404 Article not found".

Did you keep the core SEF section at the bottom of the .htaccess file? The SEF section rewrites and redirects the URL to Joomla, by inserting 'index.php':

Code: Select all

## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section.
#
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
#
# If the requested path and file is not /index.php and the request
# has not already been internally rewritten to the index.php script
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical folder
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# internally rewrite the request to the index.php script
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]
#
## End - Joomla! core SEF Section.

[toivo]

there is a bit of stuff going on in the apache error log

If the Apache error log contains other messages than notifications about Apache starting and stopping, could some of those messages be relevant?

[djillusions]

Not Found
The requested URL /membership was not found on this server.

This error comes from Apache, which means that the URL was not passed to Joomla. Joomla would have displayed the error "404 Article not found".

Did you keep the core SEF section at the bottom of the .htaccess file? The SEF section rewrites and redirects the URL to Joomla, by inserting 'index.php':

Code: Select all

## Begin - Joomla! core SEF Section.
#
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
#
# If the requested path and file is not /index.php and the request
# has not already been internally rewritten to the index.php script
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index\.php
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical file
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
# and the requested path and file doesn't directly match a physical folder
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
# internally rewrite the request to the index.php script
RewriteRule .* index.php [L]
#
## End - Joomla! core SEF Section.

I can confirm that the SEF Section is in my .htaccess file exactly as you have written above, there is no difference at all.

The Apache errors are unrelated, I have fixed most of them now there is only a couple still floating around now.