500 Internal Server Error on extension upload. FastCGI issue

[xamine]

We had been experiencing 500 - Internal Server Errors on some of our Joomla 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7 sites while uploading extensions.

We had recently updated our hosting environment from Plesk 10.2 ->10.3.1. In addition to the 10.3.1 updates run with the Plesk Panel, we also ran updates for our VPS container via the Power Panel.

After the updates we had issues with extension uploading. All our sites are run with the FastCGI module by default with our hosting plans.

The updates included an update for the psa-mod_fcgid (Alternative FastCGI Module for Apache 2). The psa-mod-fcgid update is now version 2.3.6.

Apache Error log showed an error of -> mod_fcgid: HTTP request length 203991 (so far) exceeds MaxRequestLen (200000), referer: %yourdomain%/index.php?option=com_installer.

Changes in 2.3.6 FCGI change the FcgidMaxRequestLen directive from the previous 1GB to 131072 bytes. Thus, any uploads larger than 131072 bytes will return the 500 error.

An edit of /etc/httpd/conf.d/fcgid.conf is required to return the original default value.

Add or change the FcgidMaxRequestLen value.

From:

Code: Select all

FcgidMaxRequestLen 131072

To (for 1GB):

Code: Select all

FcgidMaxRequestLen 1073741824 

Restart Apache
service httpd restart

Fixed

This issue will be applicable for any hosting environment or website backend using FastCGI 2.3.6
More info here http://httpd.apache.org/mod_fcgid/mod/mod_fcgid.html

[nycreate]

Thanks SO MUCH!! for this.. this has been doing my head in for days trying to find a solution. was baffled why I couldn't install and 'larger' components without the internal 500 error.

Now fixed

Best Regards.

[fraggertje]

Xamine, thank you SOOOOO much for this solution.

I'll tell you I just registered to this forum, only to thank you.
This issue irritated me to the point I was smashing my keyboard. At first I thought all extension uploads were failing but after a while I noticed the smaller ones would get through up until like 130KB.

This pointed me into the right direction, your post on this forum.

FYI, I am running Centos 5.6, Plesk 10.3.1, PHP 5.3.3 and FastCGI (don't know what version). Problems started after upgrading Plesk 10.2 and PHP 5.1.6.

THANKS AGAIN!

[RCheesley]

This link might help :

http://pivica.me/blog/500-internal-serv ... id-problem

Much easier than faffing about with config files.

Worked fine on our CentOS dedicated server.

Ruth

[igolfniray]

I have this porblem too, but when I go to the 'etc' directory all that's in the is my php.ini file.

Where would "/etc/httpd/conf.d/fcgid.conf" be?

I'm using "Parallels Plesk Panel v10.4.4 os_Ubuntu 10.04"

and

"Linux 2.6.32-40-generic"

I'm also using FastCGI.

Please Help!

[fraggertje]

Igolfniray, if you are hiring just the webhosting account and not managing the entire Linux server then you should probably contact your webhoster to make the required changes.

[igolfniray]

I'm running my own Plesk server, (It's a VPs server) but I've set up a webspace on it for my website.

I am quite new to Plesk I just can't find the files I need!

Ray.