PhpNuke 7.9 issues

Regular Joined: Jan 20, 2006 Posts: 84

I may be new to PhpNuke and all but what are these issues that everyone keeps refering too? I've seen speed, security, modules breaking but the ones I've done work just fine. Am I just 'lucky'?

Worker Joined: Dec 22, 2005 Posts: 158

Not sure what your asking about, can you be more specific? Are you refering to the latest versions of php-nuke (like over 7.6) that most everyone agrees are very buggy, and have a lot of security problems? Maybe your site has just not had any attention from the people who seem to like to exploit these problems? Smile

From what I have seen, most good coders for php have pointed out many security flaws, and have provided fixes for them. So if you are using a base distribution of php-nuke over version 7.6, unless you have taken the steps to patch those security flaws, those vulnerabilities still exist in your site. but you wouldn't know it, until someone tried to mess with your site. if that makes sense.
Taz

Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 8:54 am

Yeah I've refering to the 7.9 patched edition. That's the one I use currently. I'm about to install Sentenial onto it (making backups as we speak) to see how things go. I finally saw the NukeSentinel™ 2.4.2pl4 70-79 release so I'm gonna go for it.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:17 pm

Everything I see about any version about 7.6 is that there are too many security issues for most people to consider it stable and or secure. I'm not an expert so I tend to just listen to the majority of people that look like the know a lot more about it than myself Smile

(quiet a lot of people haha!)

I did try installing Sentinel, and to me it was a nightmare. I think that is because I was trying to install it into a php-nuke platnium (sp?) base and I think nukesentinel was more written to be installed on a standard php-nuke platform base. If that makes any sense, the directions I followed looked nothing like the stuff I was finding in the files. So I was not very sucessful with that script.

But good luck!

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:52 pm

But I tried for a solid 8 hours to convert my system to a 7.6 system to no avail. There were too many things that were wrong. So that's why I decided to stick with the 7.9 (what we have) and try to move forward. But even the answers they tell me in the things to change aren't there to change! It's all very confusing to me, it's as easy as that. I'm not a DB expert nor a PHP expert but can take the time to look and understand what things are telling me and going from 7.9 to 7.6 told me it didn't work.

I'd love for everything to be 'great' and all is well. I'd love to be running Sentinel for that added security, but when there isn't a guide for id10t's like myself (and reading 100's of posts for oh here's how you fix this if this happens or this how how you fix that, that's not a guide, that's a well organized community which I really have to say MySQL, PHP AND PhpNuke has one of the better helpful communities out there).

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:58 pm

Hey man I know RIGHT were you are coming from! Been there done that, STILL WEARING THE TEE-Shirt! Smile

How big is your database from the system you were trying to convert to 7.6??? I guess starting over is not an option for you Sad

I have not opened my site yet and will not until I have it the way I need it. It needs to be so user friendly that anyone at my office will be able to change things or look them up. Becaue I don't have the time to spend supporting it Smile

Or at least to support it completley by myself.

I'm telling you, if starting over is a choice, download Raven's distribution here, it is an excellent start, easy install and most of what I liked, not a TON of other features (ok some people like that) that I will never use. his distribution has helped me start my site, and add on to it with little or no extra help on most modules. The only one I am having trouble with right now is a module called Cm2F. . . but that's another 20......

So if I'm hearing you correctly, your not having much luck with the nukesentinel?

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:04 pm

There's one part in Sentinel for the mainfile.php that it says to replace but it doesn't even exist.

In the 3 months we've had our forums we've gone from phpBB2 destroyed it (and threads) to start over with phpNuke (which, totally blew people away in a very VERY positive way) and now hearing all of this stuff about 7.9 security problems and me not being able to get this Sentinel installed cause the instructions say look for something that isn't there so nsts.php or whatever that file is doesn't work cause it says you "haven't finished with the installation". It's nerve racking.

Our DB isn't that big actually it's just I'm not that well experienced enough to say "Hey I can take this and turn it into this". I did want to take a fresh Raven distribution and try to make everything 'happy' but when I integrated the data only about half the database got in for some reason. Still can't figure out what happened there. So after 8 hours I gave up and said I'm sticking to 7.9.

Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:14 pm

So you started out with just phpbb. Destroyed it? What forums are you using with your php-nuke?

Well listen, I know where you are at, I have been there. Even after installing almost every cms package out there, I still think php-nuke and the community support is the best. I'm willing to help you start over if you want to do that. Because I can tell you right now, that nukesentinel is probably one of the hardest scripts to install, BUT i wouldn't even attempt to run a php-nuke site without it !

Let me know what you want to do, you can msn me cvetter@cfl.rr.com anytime.

Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2006 7:44 am

Well we actually started with vBulletin. Then the guy who owned that software quit the group and took his software with him so we converted to phpBB2. Then I dropped from the group and joined another group who wanted to do something bigger/better than the 1st group. So I suggested PhpNuke. Told them to give me a day or so and let me show them what I could do.

Next thing I know I'm webmaster for the group. Smile

All the stuff I've done for them they've been amazed at and have been quite kind to me considering I'm doing this for fun/therapy.

But to answer you questions about the phpBB thing, our site that ran phpBB2 got hacked and tracks erased. Still don't know how they did it or anything but it happened. Next thing I know I'm in this php 7.9 world and I'm hearing about major problems with anything above 7.6. So you see where my concerns are at.

We've got a few projects I'm working on that are taking a side step to do this 7.9 to 7.6 to RN76. So I'm willing to give it another day or so.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 7:53 am

I'm hearing a lot of people getting hacked. I keep wondering how many of them would have been repaired easily if they had been doing backups? I had another friend get hacked, and sure enough, he had not done a backup in a month.

Well, one thing I have learned through all of my trials and tribulations, there is no cms that is free of hacking. I do think that some of the distributions are more secure than others, but not being an expert either I'm not one to say. I know that these guys here seem to be some of the brightest people I have come across and very helpful.

I'm travelling this week, but the offer is still good. Smile

Let me know how you are fairing!
Taz

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:27 am

I've sent you an E-mail a couple of days ago and never heard back from you so I figured you were with family (weekend and all). Here's where I'm at.

I've got 3 databases on my virtual machine.

PN79 = /html
PN76 = /html76
RN76 = /raven

Now I've made the group changes to the 3 tables that were 'different' between PN76 and RN76 so that should be all good and dandy as they say.

But I have a program called WinMerge (SourceForge App, very VERY nice) that shows me a lot of discrepency's between the data structure between PN76 and RN76 that put a halt to the whole thing.

Do I make these corrects in the Raven distribution or leave it alone before I think about doing the data or is it just export the data in small 'chunks' (starting with users, then authors (basically the common tables beteen a RAW PhpNuke76 system and move on from there?

I have a number of modules (Gallery2, Leagues and a few others that use the same database so obviously they're not going to be in the raven distro but I just want to be sure before I screwed everything up.

As a procaution I've done two things. I have a snapshot of my Virtual Machine BEFORE I started it all (So only PN79) and one where I'm at now. So I'm safe in that reguard. Just a little blind.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:48 am

I think you have the right idea in going in small chunks.

It sounds very time consuming though to do it this way. Is going about it this way going to create more work and spend more time than just having a new site with your modules in it and having the users re-enter the data? You said your database was not large, that's why I ask. What data is it that you really don't want to loose, forums or something else? Maybe pick and choose what tables are just necessary to export and import?

If I had to do it the way you are describing, I would take a base raven distro and analyze what modules Raven's does not have that you need. Add these modules to get the table names in both databases to match. My guess is the names will match, but the fields inside the ph79 may be different. So your really going to have to edit the sql to make sure you are only adding fields and tables that exist in the raven php 7.6. The only other concern I think would be that there may be some longer field lengths in ph79, than ph76, so some of your field values may get shortened.

I hope I am making sense, I understand it, but I don't know how well I am explaining it.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:57 am

I kinda understand it but the information that we have are our forums, topics, posts, downloads, things like that. The extra modules are starting to get big as well (Gallery, League and so forth). I don't mind doing it one step at a time (as time consuming as it may be) as long as the darn thing works. I'll even take it module by module if I have to just to make sure it's all good. But I can't stress enough about our forums and logon's because our "leader" persay is on vacation and has no idea we're doing this. We want him to come back and see what we've accomplished (there's another guy that helps me with it, although on the testing end, I do the coding end of it all, my boss just has the money, you know how that goes).

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:06 am

All right I understand completley now Smile

Well, it may be rather arduous, but no better way to learn, trial by fire lol. You know I said edit the sql, I don't think it will hurt anything to run insert scripts for tables or fields that do not exist, you'll probably just get errors saying they don't exist and everything else should import. I think your going to have to just do it like you said, one table at a time. At least the modules that don't exist in raven should be pretty clean.

And I know if you run into some trouble, if I can't help, I'm sure one of the guys around here would lend a hand.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:55 am

Yeah I've always been a learn by trial and error. That's why my boss allows me to "play" like I do. He knows I'm going to gain more than I d before I started.

Should I start with Authors and Users first then work my way forward?

Also, what about the discrepencies in the tables (like number sizes) and such? Should I keep Raven's alone or modify it to match it?

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:36 am

I'm pretty new to mysql and php (very samiliar with Sybase Sql v9) , and there may be a better way to do this. But, I would just have both sites up in a browser, and have a phpmyadmin open for each site. Export a table, copy the insert script lines from the exported text, go to my import phpmyadmin window and run the insert statements on the same table in the new database. Review any errors, go to the next table. This way you can also review the modifications in the portal. I'd be wary trying to work with just the databases, but that's only because I am a visual person, I like to see the results of what I have done.

I don't think you really have to do the authors table, UNLEss you are working with the databases outside of the portal, then yes, work from the top down.

When you refere to discrepenices in the tables, (like number sizes) and such, can you be more specidif, I am not sure what your asking here.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:47 am

Let me give you an example:

This is the table structure for 'nuke_authors' on phpnuke76

Quote:

--
-- Table structure for table `nuke_authors`
--

CREATE TABLE nuke_authors (
aid varchar(25) NOT NULL default '',
name varchar(50) default NULL,
url varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
email varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
pwd varchar(40) default NULL,
counter int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
radminsuper tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '1',
admlanguage varchar(30) NOT NULL default '',
PRIMARY KEY (aid),
KEY aid (aid)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

This is the table structure for 'muke_authors' on raven

Quote:

-- Table structure for table `nuke_authors`
--

CREATE TABLE nuke_authors (
aid varchar(25) NOT NULL default '',
name varchar(50) default NULL,
url varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
email varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
pwd varchar(40) default NULL,
counter int(11) NOT NULL default '0',
radminsuper tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '1',
admlanguage varchar(30) NOT NULL default '',
PRIMARY KEY (aid)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

The line I bolded in the phonuke76 database is the line that is different than the one for raven. I'm asking do I need to worry about it or do I just ignore it cause there are a number of these (QUITE a number) of discrepencies like this all throughout the two databases. I just need to know do I need to modify the raven database 'nuke_authors' and add that KEY aid (aid) line to it before I go adding the data to it?

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:50 am

Oh, and I'm not really worried about the new tables on the raven side. I imaging those were added for a reason (like 'nuke_bbconfirm') so I'm not sweatin' about that.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:52 am

Oh I see. . . I wouldn't even use these lines, these are the structure of the databases. If you run these statements on the new database your going to get all kinds of errors because the tables already exist. I would skip down past these and just use the insert statements, as all of the structure already exists in the database you are building.

Make sense?

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:53 am

You just want to insert the values of the old table to the new table, and then review the statement after it is run to make sure there were no critical errors.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:58 am

So I can change the information (minor as they are) in the raven database to match what the phpnuke76's database has so there are as few errors as I can possibly have?

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:11 am

If you are going from nuke 7.9 to RN7.6 you will need to run the downgrade script that has been posted many times in the RN76 forums first to make your tables the closest possible match.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:22 am

I've already done all that yesterday. I'm now at the point where I'm verifying which was highly recommended earlier on a base phpnuke76 install vs a raven 76 install, compare its tables and then move forward with my data.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:15 pm

Hey, that's pretty awesome, I didn't even know there was a downgrade script. I think if you have done that you should be just ready to import the tables and just review any errors. I think guardian answered your question, and you said you have already done that downgrade script. Just make a backup of your database and try and few of the table imports.

Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:20 pm

Well the downgrade script does help somewhat, but it isn't 'perfect'. I'm having to manually modify each table one by one to verify the structure before I can bring the phpnuke76 data over.

I just had to start over (only about an hour 1/2 loss tho) cause I forgot about the data that was already contained within the raven database already.

This time I'm only going after the structure that is common between PN76 and RN76.