Established store. Suddenly: Unable to connect to database server!

[kru]

Our store has been up and running for years but all of a sudden you get this error when trying to go to the site:

 

Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Access denied for user 'DB_USERNAME'@'cgi1401.int.bizland.net' (using password: YES) in /hermes/web09/............/includes/functions/database.php on line 19

Unable to connect to database server!

 

We haven't changed anything. And the Admin side works fine. It's just the store that isn't working. This is really weird. I don't know if we've been hacked or if something happened at our web host: powweb.

 

I have no idea what the heck DB_USERNAME'@'cgi1401.int.bizland.net is. I've never seen it before and it has nothing to do with us. And that's the same value that shows up when I try to access our site from multiple computers at multiple locations. Could it be that something got corrupted by our host?

 

For what it's worth, line 19 of database.php says:

$$link = mysql_connect($server, $username, $password);

 

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Thanks.

 

-Kevin

[Guest]

Kevin,

 

It could be a temporary disruption of service from your database server, but if your admin side works that would be unlikely. Check with your hosting provider or wait to see if it rectifies itself. If it does not, then check your configure.php files to see if they have been changed.

 

 

Chris

[kru]

Has been a problem for a little over 3 hours and the host is supposedly looking at it. I will look at the configure.php files, as you suggest. Thanks.

[kru]

Well, make it 4 hours. The configure file was changed but I put an old copy back in place and it still does not work. It appears to have been changed by the admin team at my web host today. They said they are working on it. I guess that entails modifying my code....??

[kru]

Well, I fixed it. Evidently they switched the server our database was on but didn't notify us. (How nice of them.) I called in when the error message first appeared and they managed to fix it on the Admin side but they hosed the database.php and configure.php code all up on the store side. I do not recommend Powweb....

[kru]

If they would have just told me the database name had changed, I could have made the code changes. Instead they tried to 'fix' it themselves. That's when they messed one of the files up. Then they had the nerve to send us a message that they had run some test and it came back fine so the problem must be on our side. Only thing is... unknown to them, I was monitoring the database.php file with an ftp program after I reported the problem and I could see they were making changes. After looking at the configure.php file, I could see that they had made changes there too. I compared it to a back-up copy I keep and the server name had clearly been changed.

 

So let me summarize how Powweb handled this...

 

1) They realized what was causing the problem: the server name change they forgot to inform us about. (Evidently AFTER fumbling around with other code changes.)

2) They attempted to fix it and hosed the configure.php file up.

3) They couldn't figure out why it still wasn't working after their server name change. (Because they didn't know they had messed some other code up.)

4) They decided just to wash their hands of it and blame us.

 

Why they were even trying to work on it themselves is beyond me. They should have been able to identify the value we were sending that wasn't right and then tell us to change the server name. Clearly they were trying to cover for the fact they had made a server change without notifying us. It would have been interesting to hear what they said the problem was if they had actually managed to fix it themselves. I'm sure they would have just said it was a temporary server problem.

 

Man, if it was easy to switch hosts, we'd be gone in a heartbeat...

[♥geoffreywalton]

Another one to watchout for is the host running anti-virus software which deletes files but they dont tell you they are doing this.

 

So you have files mysteriously disappearing host claiming othing to do with them, no cron jobs running and no ftp / web access when they gt deleted.

 

You can waste hourshere as well

 

HTH

 

G