errpostbackkeyinvalid?

nesium

hi. i'm using vanilla 1.1.2 with a custom theme. when trying to post a comment, i get this error message very often. any ideas if i'm missing something here? and i'm able to post, even if i don't check "remember me" when logging in, if that matters. edit: this happens on a gridserver from mediatemple

Dinoboff

Does it always happen or just some time?

nesium

unfortunately not always. i have no clue under which circumstances it happens :-/

Dinoboff

Did you set a folder for your session?

nesium

&tis this a vanilla setting, or do you mean some php settings?

session

Session Support	enabled
Registered save handlers	files user
Registered serializer handlers	php php_binary wddx

Directive	Local Value	Master Value
session.auto_start	Off	Off
session.bug_compat_42	On	On
session.bug_compat_warn	On	On
session.cache_expire	180	180
session.cache_limiternocache	nocache
session.cookie_domain	no value	no value
session.cookie_lifetime	0	0
session.cookie_path	/	/
session.cookie_secure	Off	Off
session.entropy_file	no value	no value
session.entropy_length	0	0
session.gc_divisor	100	100
session.gc_maxlifetime	1440	1440
session.gc_probability	1	1
session.hash_bits_per_character	4	4
session.hash_function	0	0
session.name	PHPSESSID	PHPSESSID
session.referer_check	no value	no value
session.save_handler	files	files
session.save_path	no value	no value
session.serialize_handler	php	php
session.use_cookies	On	On
session.use_only_cookies	Off	Off
session.use_trans_sid	0	0

the webroot in conf/settings.php is set to "/", as the forum resides in the root dir of the domain


edit: sorry for that mess, i have no idea what is causing that many linebreaks between those two tables

Dinoboff

The problem might be that you use the default session path. You should set one for your domains or one for each domain.

To set a session folder for each domain do as follow. You need to connect the server using ssh with your server admin account (see Obtaining and using SSH; you also need to enable the ssh connection for the Admin account in "WebControl > Server Administrator ").
Once connected to the server do:echo $PWD
you get something like that /home/xxxx/users/.home . Now do (replacing xxxx, and forum.domain.com with your own)mkdir /home/xxxx/domains/forum.domain.com/data chmod 710 /home/xxxx/domains/forum.domain.com/data mkdir /home/xxxx/domains/forum.domain.com/data/session chmod 770 /xxxx/domains/forum.domain.com/data/session
then edit /home/xxxx/domains/forum.domain.com/html/.htaccess. it should look like something like that: AddHandler php5-script .php #path to the session folder php_value session.save_path "/home/####/domains/forum.domain.com/data/session" #Set the time in minute the session will be valid php_value session.cache_expire 180 #Here, it's in second php_value session.gc_maxlifetime 10800 #turn it off when you are done debugging your forum php_flag display_errors On

nesium

wow, thanks a lot! :D i'm trying this

nesium

one more thing: just out of interest, what's causing the problem respectively what happens exactly if more domains than one share the same session path? are sessions overwritten then?

Dinoboff

I am not sure if it is related, but from php.net:

session.gc_maxlifetime integer

session.gc_maxlifetime specifies the number of seconds after which data will be seen as 'garbage' and cleaned up. Garbage collection occurs during session start.

Note: If different scripts have different values of session.gc_maxlifetime but share the same place for storing the session data then the script with the minimum value will be cleaning the data. In this case, use this directive together with session.save_path.

nesium

ah, ok. just changed it according to your instructions and i'm curious if it works :) at least it looks good after some testing

Dinoboff

Maybe, you also wanted to know what mean the error message.

In each vanilla form there is a hidden key, unique to each user and to its session. Before proceeding anything, vanilla compare the key it received with the one in the user session. If they are not the same, Vanilla don't proceed anything and give you the error message. You just need to post again with a valid postbackkey to have you message posted.

That's why you need to have your php session working properly.

IanTearle

Hi Dinoboff,

Hope you can help, I followed your instructions to the word, am also on a grid and MT servers, but am still getting the popup message "There was a problem authenticating your post information"

Im gutted as this only happened after i changed the themes and installed some extensions, and in particular updated to Vanilla 3. Am tempted to roll back, what do you think? is it worth it?

Dinoboff

I don't see how a theme could be the problem. An extension could, but it' is unlikely. What is the address of the forum?