Could not connect to MySQL - Error after Joomla or system upgrade

[ach15]

Hello,

I seek your help for an error that occured either after upgrading Joomla to 3.8.x or after upgrading php to 7.0. I am not sure when exactly the error occured. Website is www.offshoreengineering.com
The Error is:

Error: Failed to start application: Could not connect to MySQL server.
Warning: session_write_close(): Failed to write session data (user). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (/tmp) in /home/netca6wd/public_html/s004_offshoreengineering/libraries/joomla/session/handler/native.php on line 194

I run FPA see below. Any help to understand the cause of the problem is highly appreciated. Many Thanks

Joomla! Instance :: Joomla! 3.8.10-Stable (Amani) 26-June-2018
Joomla! Platform :: Joomla Platform 13.1.0-Stable (Curiosity) 24-Apr-2013
Joomla! Configured :: Yes | Read-Only (444) | Owner: --protected-- . (uid: 1/gid: 1) | Group: --protected-- (gid: 1) | Valid For: 3.8
Configuration Options :: Offline: 0 | SEF: 1 | SEF Suffix: 0 | SEF ReWrite: 1 | .htaccess/web.config: Yes | GZip: 0 | Cache: 0 | CacheTime: 500 | CacheHandler: file | CachePlatformPrefix: 0 | FTP Layer: 0 | Proxy: 0 | LiveSite: | Session lifetime: 15 | Session handler: database | Shared sessions: N/A | SSL: 0 | Error Reporting: default | Site Debug: 0 | Language Debug: 0 | Default Access: 1 | Unicode Slugs: 0 | dbConnection Type: mysqli | PHP Supports J! 3.8.10: Yes | Database Credentials Present: Yes |

Host Configuration :: OS: Linux | OS Version: 2.6.32-896.16.1.lve1.4.49.el6.x86_64 | Technology: x86_64 | Web Server: LiteSpeed | Encoding: gzip, deflate | Doc Root: --protected-- | System TMP Writable: Yes | Free Disk Space : 545.99 GiB |

PHP Configuration :: Version: 7.0.30 | PHP API: litespeed | Session Path Writable: Yes | Display Errors: | Error Reporting: 32767 | Log Errors To: error_log | Last Known Error: 15th August 2018 23:45:33. | Register Globals: | Magic Quotes: | Safe Mode: | Open Base: | Uploads: 1 | Max. Upload Size: 2M | Max. POST Size: 8M | Max. Input Time: -1 | Max. Execution Time: 30 | Memory Limit: 128M

Database Configuration :: Connection Error: 1275:Server is running in --secure-auth mode, but 'netca6wd_offsh'@'localhost' has a password in the old format; please change the password to the new format : Database Credentials Present? in Configuration...

PHP Extensions :: Core (7.0.30) | date (7.0.30) | libxml (7.0.30) | openssl (7.0.30) | pcre (7.0.30) | sqlite3 (7.0.30) | zlib (7.0.30) | bz2 (7.0.30) | calendar (7.0.30) | ctype (7.0.30) | curl (7.0.30) | hash (1.0) | filter (7.0.30) | ftp (7.0.30) | gettext (7.0.30) | gmp (7.0.30) | SPL (7.0.30) | iconv (7.0.30) | pcntl (7.0.30) | readline (7.0.30) | Reflection (7.0.30) | session (7.0.30) | standard (7.0.30) | shmop (7.0.30) | SimpleXML (7.0.30) | mbstring (7.0.30) | tokenizer (7.0.30) | xml (7.0.30) | litespeed () | i360 (1.0) | mysqlnd (mysqlnd 5.0.12-dev - 20150407 - $Id: b5c5906d452ec590732a93b051f3827e02749b83 $) | Phar (2.0.2) | tidy (7.0.30) | bcmath (7.0.30) | posix (7.0.30) | imap (7.0.30) | dom (20031129) | json (1.4.0) | fileinfo (1.0.5) | PDO (7.0.30) | soap (7.0.30) | xmlreader (7.0.30) | gd (7.0.30) | sockets (7.0.30) | xmlwriter (7.0.30) | pdo_mysql (7.0.30) | exif (7.0.30) | mcrypt (7.0.30) | pdo_sqlite (7.0.30) | zip (1.13.5) | mysqli (7.0.30) | Zend Engine (3.0.0) |
Potential Missing Extensions ::

Switch User Environment (Experimental) :: PHP CGI: No | Server SU: No | PHP SU: No | Custom SU (LiteSpeed/Cloud/Grid): Yes
Potential Ownership Issues: No

Core Folders :: images/ (755) | components/ (755) | modules/ (755) | plugins/ (755) | language/ (755) | templates/ (755) | cache/ (755) | logs/ (755) | tmp/ (755) | administrator/components/ (755) | administrator/modules/ (755) | administrator/language/ (755) | administrator/templates/ (755) | administrator/logs/ (---) |

Elevated Permissions (First 10) ::

Components :: SITE ::
Core :: com_mailto (3.0.0) | com_wrapper (3.0.0) |
3rd Party::

Components :: ADMIN ::
Core :: com_search (3.0.0) | com_checkin (3.0.0) | com_login (3.0.0) | com_languages (3.0.0) | com_joomlaupdate (3.6.2) | com_config (3.0.0) | com_installer (3.0.0) | com_admin (3.0.0) | com_categories (3.0.0) | com_postinstall (3.2.0) | com_modules (3.0.0) | com_plugins (3.0.0) | com_associations (3.7.0) | com_contenthistory (3.2.0) | com_banners (3.0.0) | com_fields (3.7.0) | com_newsfeeds (3.0.0) | com_redirect (3.0.0) | com_menus (3.0.0) | com_finder (3.0.0) | com_templates (3.0.0) | com_media (3.0.0) | com_cpanel (3.0.0) | com_tags (3.1.0) | com_users (3.0.0) | com_messages (3.0.0) | com_cache (3.0.0) | com_ajax (3.2.0) | com_content (3.0.0) |
3rd Party::

Modules :: SITE ::
Core :: mod_articles_category (3.0.0) | mod_syndicate (3.0.0) | mod_tags_similar (3.1.0) | mod_finder (3.0.0) | mod_stats (3.0.0) | mod_footer (3.0.0) | mod_articles_news (3.0.0) | mod_custom (3.0.0) | mod_banners (3.0.0) | mod_tags_popular (3.1.0) | mod_related_items (3.0.0) | mod_whosonline (3.0.0) | mod_search (3.0.0) | mod_articles_latest (3.0.0) | mod_users_latest (3.0.0) | mod_languages (3.5.0) | mod_wrapper (3.0.0) | mod_articles_categories (3.0.0) | mod_login (3.0.0) | mod_menu (3.0.0) | mod_articles_archive (3.0.0) | mod_feed (3.0.0) | mod_articles_popular (3.0.0) | mod_breadcrumbs (3.0.0) | mod_random_image (3.0.0) |
3rd Party::

Modules :: ADMIN ::
Core :: mod_latest (3.0.0) | mod_sampledata (3.8.0) | mod_custom (3.0.0) | mod_logged (3.0.0) | mod_status (3.0.0) | mod_multilangstatus (3.0.0) | mod_stats_admin (3.0.0) | mod_submenu (3.0.0) | mod_login (3.0.0) | mod_title (3.0.0) | mod_menu (3.0.0) | mod_popular (3.0.0) | mod_feed (3.0.0) | mod_toolbar (3.0.0) | mod_version (3.0.0) | mod_quickicon (3.0.0) |
3rd Party::

Plugins :: SITE ::
Core :: plg_editors-xtd_readmore (3.0.0) | plg_editors-xtd_module (3.5.0) | plg_editors-xtd_fields (3.7.0) | plg_editors-xtd_pagebreak (3.0.0) | plg_editors-xtd_image (3.0.0) | plg_editors-xtd_article (3.0.0) | plg_editors-xtd_menu (3.7.0) | plg_extension_joomla (3.0.0) | plg_installer_packageinstaller (3.6.0) | PLG_INSTALLER_FOLDERINSTALLER (3.6.0) | PLG_INSTALLER_URLINSTALLER (3.6.0) | plg_finder_categories (3.0.0) | plg_finder_newsfeeds (3.0.0) | plg_finder_tags (3.0.0) | plg_finder_contacts (3.0.0) | plg_finder_content (3.0.0) | plg_system_redirect (3.0.0) | plg_system_stats (3.5.0) | plg_system_sef (3.0.0) | plg_system_sessiongc (3.8.6) | plg_system_cache (3.0.0) | plg_system_debug (3.0.0) | plg_system_languagecode (3.0.0) | plg_system_languagefilter (3.0.0) | plg_system_logout (3.0.0) | plg_system_log (3.0.0) | plg_system_fields (3.7.0) | plg_system_p3p (3.0.0) | plg_system_highlight (3.0.0) | plg_system_updatenotification (3.5.0) | plg_system_remember (3.0.0) | plg_quickicon_phpversioncheck (3.7.0) | plg_quickicon_joomlaupdate (3.0.0) | plg_quickicon_extensionupdate (3.0.0) | plg_fields_sql (3.7.0) | plg_fields_text (3.7.0) | plg_fields_url (3.7.0) | plg_fields_checkboxes (3.7.0) | plg_fields_media (3.7.0) | plg_fields_usergrouplist (3.7.0) | plg_fields_imagelist (3.7.0) | plg_fields_color (3.7.0) | plg_fields_editor (3.7.0) | plg_fields_radio (3.7.0) | plg_fields_list (3.7.0) | plg_fields_integer (3.7.0) | plg_fields_textarea (3.7.0) | plg_fields_user (3.7.0) | plg_fields_calendar (3.7.0) | plg_content_pagenavigation (3.0.0) | plg_content_finder (3.0.0) | plg_content_fields (3.7.0) | plg_content_pagebreak (3.0.0) | plg_content_joomla (3.0.0) | plg_content_emailcloak (3.0.0) | plg_content_loadmodule (3.0.0) | plg_content_vote (3.0.0) | plg_search_categories (3.0.0) | plg_search_newsfeeds (3.0.0) | plg_search_tags (3.0.0) | plg_search_contacts (3.0.0) | plg_search_content (3.0.0) | plg_user_contactcreator (3.0.0) | plg_user_profile (3.0.0) | plg_user_joomla (3.0.0) | plg_captcha_recaptcha (3.4.0) | plg_authentication_cookie (3.0.0) | plg_authentication_gmail (3.0.0) | plg_authentication_joomla (3.0.0) | plg_authentication_ldap (3.0.0) | plg_twofactorauth_totp (3.2.0) | plg_twofactorauth_yubikey (3.2.0) |
3rd Party:: plg_editors_tinymce (4.5. | plg_editors_codemirror (5.38.0) |

Templates :: SITE :: protostar (1.0) | J51_Vitality (1.0) | beez3 (3.1.0) |
Templates :: ADMIN :: hathor (3.0.0) | isis (1.0) |

[leolam]

Well the solution is given

1275:Server is running in --secure-auth mode, but 'netca6wd_offsh'@'localhost' has a password in the old format; please change the password to the new format

Change and you should be good to go

Leo

[AMurray]

confirming, I see the site, not the error as originally described.

[ach15]

Hello Leo and AMurray,

Thank you for looking into that. Does the error message means that the password for the MySQL database user has to change to the new format. So, from the CPanel, I should go to MySQL Databases and change the password for the user netca6wd_offsh. Also, is there a link with a guidance of what is the diference between the new password format and the old format.

Thank you

[AMurray]

Just to reiterate, I don't actually see this MySQL error when viewing the site.....

I don't actually know what the "new format" for the password means compared to old format (no doubt it's a "technical" thing that only db admins or coders would understand), but there's no harm in trying to simply change it through the normal MySQL Databases section in cPanel as you mentioned.

However you could also ask your hosting service support about it (and provide them the thread link on the forum with the FPA report, showing the error). They might give you the same advice as already stated here.

If you do simply change it in cPanel, don't forget to update to the new password in your configuration.php file for your joomla installation.