Invision Community 4: SEO, prepare for v5 and dormant account notifications By Matt Monday at 02:04 PM
Todd R Posted August 31, 2022 Posted August 31, 2022 So I'm setting up a new self-hosted installation of an Invision Community forum module (my last one was a number of years ago). However, I’m running into a few issues that I can’t figure out / remember how to solve. Before I get into it, I want to make clear that I did change the URL to the admin CP (via a newly created constants.php file). However, since I’ve done that, several of the basic links are no longer working. For instance, if I arrive at the sign and click on the link for “Existing User > Sign In” link, then enter my login information in the drop down, I get an error message that the requested URL was not found. The requested URL was https://xxxxx.com/login. Besides that (which is important to fix)…. 1) This forum is only for members (no guests). So if someone arrives at the forum and isn’t logged in, I don’t want to show a blank “Forums” title, but instead show the login page. I have this set up on my other forum but can’t remember how to do that here. 2) There are a few other links that are broken, even after you are logged in. For instance, the main menu shows a link for “Calendar”, and that comes up with a “URL was not found” message. 3) Is there a way to remove the “Powered by Invision Community” text at the bottom of the pages? Personally I feel like this is a bit of a security issue. Thanks in advance for any assistance!
Daniel F Posted August 31, 2022 Posted August 31, 2022 Did you just change the URL of an existing instance? Did you truncate the data store? Have you also also changed the base url in the confit file? Todd R 1
Todd R Posted August 31, 2022 Author Posted August 31, 2022 (edited) 10 hours ago, Daniel F said: Did you just change the URL of an existing instance? Did you truncate the data store? Have you also also changed the base url in the confit file? This was a new installation. So I believe the URL was set for me in conf_global.php (the value for "base_url" is correct anyway). I only changed the CP URL ("CP_DIRECTORY") in the constant.php file. Nothing else is in there. I did not do anything to the data store. Is there some place i can go to purge that? Edited August 31, 2022 by Todd Richards1
Randy Calvert Posted August 31, 2022 Posted August 31, 2022 Is your htaccess file properly setup and correct for this host?
Jim M Posted August 31, 2022 Posted August 31, 2022 As Randy mentioned, it sounds like you may have enabled Rewritten URLs but did not properly setup the .htaccess. You can find this file in ACP -> System -> Search Engine Optimization. To answer your other questions: 11 hours ago, Todd Richards1 said: 1) This forum is only for members (no guests). So if someone arrives at the forum and isn’t logged in, I don’t want to show a blank “Forums” title, but instead show the login page. I have this set up on my other forum but can’t remember how to do that here. You would simply disable guest access by going to ACP -> Members -> Groups -> edit guest group -> disable "Can access site?" This will force login or registration. 11 hours ago, Todd Richards1 said: 3) Is there a way to remove the “Powered by Invision Community” text at the bottom of the pages? Personally I feel like this is a bit of a security issue. This is not a security issue necessarily by itself as it does not disclose a version number or anything of that nature that is specific. Most competent attackers will also just know you're running our software by the outputted information on the page. They won't need a banner stating it. However, should you wish to remove this for any reason, you would need to purchase our Branding Remove license by going to the Client Area -> Manage Purchases -> click your license -> Manage Your Community. It is a $500 USD one time fee at the time of writing this.
Todd R Posted August 31, 2022 Author Posted August 31, 2022 So I had Friendly URLs enabled. When I upload the .htaccess file, I get a 500 error and can't get see the home page or the CP. When I rename the .htaccess file (so it doesn't exist), then I can get into the CP. Strange. Also, when clicking around the CP, a lot of links aren't working. For instance, I get an error message trying to access the log files. I feel like there is something simple that is missing.
Jim M Posted August 31, 2022 Posted August 31, 2022 Just now, Todd Richards1 said: So I had Friendly URLs enabled. When I upload the .htaccess file, I get a 500 error and can't get see the home page or the CP. When I rename the .htaccess file (so it doesn't exist), then I can get into the CP. Strange. Please ensure that if you have an existing .htaccess file, you rename that. Please also ensure you have mod_rewrite installed (that really shouldn't cause a 500 error though). If you're still having issues, a 500 Internal Server Error is very much like a check engine light. It says something is wrong but not exactly what or where. You would need to contact your hosting provider or server administrator to obtain the server error log entry for that issue. You will want to have them review for any server errors and pass any software errors to us. 2 minutes ago, Todd Richards1 said: Also, when clicking around the CP, a lot of links aren't working. For instance, I get an error message trying to access the log files. What is the error message? Is it a page not found? If so, you may wish to see if you have mod_security or another security module enabled on your server. If so, this may be blocking you from performing certain things and you will need to either disable it or work with your provider/server administrator so that these actions are allowed.
Solution Todd R Posted August 31, 2022 Author Solution Posted August 31, 2022 OK, turns out that the "Options -MultiViews" line in the .htaccess file was the culprit. Once I removed this, the login on the front-end started working, and no more error messages in the CP! Thanks!
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