Troubleshooting

The PostNuke install process can be tricky, especially for new developers with little or no previous website experience. The following sections provide examples and answers to some of the more common problems, and places where you can get additional help, if needed.

The Directory Name is Invalid

For some users of Windows XP Professional and IIS 5.1, running PHP scripts produces only the error "The Directory Name is invalid." This problem is fixed through a setting in IIS. Bring up the properties of the virtual directory where the problem occurs. Select the Virtual Directory tab and click the Configuration button in the dialog box.

You now see a list of Application Mappings. Find the entry for .php, select the row, and then click the Edit button. On the bottom left, check the Check That File Exists check box to turn that option on. Then exit the dialog boxes saving the change.

All I See is PHP Code

If you find that when you try to preview your PostNuke site's root after moving the files into the web directory, all you see is raw PHP script, the problem is most likely that PHP is not properly installed on your web server. The server needs the PHP service installed and running to understand PHP when you browse a page. This problem also causes code to display for the install.php and every other PHP file. You need to go back over your PHP server settings and confirm that you have it running properly.

I Installed PostNuke to the Wrong Place

If you find you've placed your PostNuke files in the wrong directory, your browser URL might be different than you planned. For example, instead of having http://www.yournukesite.com/, you might have to use http://www.yournukesite.com/html/. This is not as bad a problem as it might seem. PostNuke is not dependent on the directory location, and references have been programmed to be relative, so you can just move all those files up one directory (or to wherever you want them), and PostNuke works.

The Install Says my Config Files are not World-Writable

If your permissions settings are not correct, the install process cannot make the changes necessary to complete the install. Read/Write access should be enough for most systems. On Linux, this is accomplished with the chmod 666 command. If you find that you have set your config file permissions but still see this error, increase the access to include Execute permissionschmod 777 on Linux.

The Install has Problems Creating/Populating the Database

Most likely, this problem is caused by a problem with your user's MySQL privileges. If your user was set up by your external host, you might need them to increase your user's access. If you have direct shell access to your server, you can also try to log in and create table data.

I Know I've Created My User Perfectly, but the Account Does not Work

If you know you have created the database user correctly, but the user does not seem to be accessible, stop and restart your MySQL server. Though this happens rarely, some systems seem to need a server restart for MySQL to properly initialize changes that have been made.

My Install Worked but now I Can't Log In

First, did you change the Admin password? If not, your password is "Password" if you used the automated install or "God" if you did the manual install from the SQL file.

Your problem might be that you are not using a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) consisting of a hostname, domain, and top-level domain. These site names are good:

• www.mynukesite.com

• www.clubfun.org

• nuke.mydomain.com

These examples are not fully qualified:

• mynukesite.com

• localhost

Documentation for setting up your server's hostname can be found at the pnDocs site (docs.postnuke.com).

If you need to run PostNuke without an FQDN, you need to use the Intranet option during your install. After the install, you can use the PostNuke Swiss Army Knife tool (http://download.postnuke.com/pafiledb.php?action=category&id=47) to change to Intranet Mode and regain access to your site. Place the psak.php file in your site's root directory and browse to it. The PostNuke Swiss Army Knife is covered in greater detail later in this book.

Getting More Help

The absolute first place you should go to get more help with PostNuke is the online forum community (forums.postnuke.com). Thousands of forum members are out there, and anything and everything related to PostNuke is discussed.

The forums are also searchable, and it's a good idea to look for your question in previous posts before creating a new one. Odds are your questions have already been asked and answered, dozens of times. Please be courteous when asking questions.

You can also find information in the official PostNuke documentation area (docs.postnuke.com). The site contains a large and growing repository of information on both current and future releases of PostNuke. The pnDocs site is also where you can find the main PostNuke frequently asked questions (FAQs; http://docs.postnuke.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index).

Live help can be obtained on Internet Relay Chat (IRC). The PostNuke IRC server is irc.postnuke.com, and you might want to try one of the following channels:

• #postnuke-support

• #postnuke-chat

• #postnuke