[KentZ]

This references amesgoldenk.org

Steve, I applied the update 8.2.10 –> 8.3 tonight and it crashed my site. Could not login admin and could not access the site itself as a regular user. I called tech support for Bluehost and they restored my site to most recent backup. Now site is back up, with Connections 8.2.10, but still problems. Please address. I’ll be happy to send passwords or whatever you need to login and repair. Thanks, Joe. traylor.joe@gmail.com

[Jozefs]

Same here. Error is: Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STATIC in /var/www/diskidee/wp-content/plugins/connections/includes/class.utility.php on line 1866

[Steven Zahm]

@ jgtraylor

Sorry to hear to you trouble with the update. I suspect the issue is the same mentioned by @Jozefs discussed in more detail here.

I’ll be pushing out an update soon which will correct the error mentioned by @Jozefs. If that was the cause of your trouble, this update will fix it.

If I may offer some advice…

If a plugin update fails, Connections or any other… log into your site via FTP and delete the plugins folder from the ../wp-content/plugins/ folder. That will restore your site to running order without having to resort to reverting the entire site to a backup. You should consider that a last resort option especially when dealing with host provided backups because that backup will be of some unknown point in time potentially causing quite a bit of loss.

If there is ever an issue with a Connections update, please contact me first. I can just about always resolve them very quickly because I keep a very close eye on the support forums after every update.

If you are having issues with the backup that Bluehost restored, there’s not anything I can really do about that. If the issues are just with “restored” Connections 8.2.10. I suggest deactivating Connections and deleting it. You can manually install the previous version from here.

There are no persistent changes when updating from 8.2.10 to 8.3 so rolling back to 8.2.10 is very safe.

[KentZ]

Thanks, Steven. Site is now running again, but MEMBERS DIRECTORY will not load or open. I am able to login now and can access all the items under “Members Only” status except the Members Directory. Please check.

Secondly, thanks for the “advice” section above. You are my best teacher. Your concise and clear directions are better than any manual and most how-to pages I’ve found. Genuine appreciation!

[Steven Zahm]

@ jgtraylor

re: I am able to login now and can access all the items under “Members Only” status except the Members Directory. Please check.

Sorry, I cannot check because the page requires a login to view. I’m assuming you mean this page, right:

http://amesgoldenk.org/members/

[KentZ]

This reply has been marked as private.

[KentZ]

This reply has been marked as private.

[Steven Zahm]

@ jgtraylor

Ok, so I looked at this for a good chunk of my evening… The issue was caused by whatever method they used to “restore” the site from backup. You ended up with some sort of frankenstein cross between 8.2.10 and 8.3. In 8.2.10 I had a class named cnLog() this class was pretty simple and it main purpose is used to debug image issues. This logs created by this class are stateless, meaning the logs are only available for a single page load. Well, in 8.3 the cnLog class was changed to a stateful log, meaning the logs are saved in the database so they can be reviewed and managed at any point in time. The old cnLog is still available in 8.3, it was renamed to cnLog_Stateless so it still could be used for image debugging.

Because of this frankenstein hybrid you ended up with the cnLog was the new stateful version. And this was bad, very bad… did I say bad? all those logs were being saved to the db which was basically bringing your server to its knees.

Now you have tens of thousands (hopefully not more, but possible) of orphaned log data cluttering up your db. We’ll come back to this…

I was able to get your directory back up by deleting Connections and reinstalling a good copy of 8.2.10.

No, those logs, all those completely useless/wasteful logs… those can be gotten rid of, in time. There is no way to purge them without bring your server to its knees again. And the only way to start removing them it to get you updated to 8.3.1. So, please update. I believe the issue you had initially is fixed. If you have trouble with the update, please do not contact the host to fix it, please contact me.

After you update, let me know, I’ll add a little code snippet that will purge those logs a little bit at a time once an hour.

[KentZ]

Wow! So we took the server to its knees AND ruined your weekend. Two lousy doings…

I have done both updates: Connections 8.2.10 –> 8.3.1 and cMap Template –> 4.1.
And it appears everything is working.

And yes, if there is any more trouble I will come straight to you! Thanks so much, Steven. Again, I appreciate your excellent care and attentiveness, as well as your outstanding explanations.

Joe

[Steven Zahm]

@ jgtraylor

No problem! I did log in this morning to checkout the potential logging issue, the ones stored in the db. Looks like they are not there which is great. I suppose the queries were occurring but they were not actually being saved. The only way to know for sure though would to check the posts table in the db using phpMyAdmin.

I did encounter another issue though. The new tools admin page was not displaying. I tracked that down and fixed it too. The cause was a way a PHP statement was crafted, it was valid for newer versions of PHP but really older version would fail with a parsing error. I’ll be releasing 8.3.2 in the next day or two. It should be plenty safe for you to update because it’ll only contain a few edge case bug fixes.

If you have a moment, I would truly appreciate a review as they really do make a difference. Many thanks in advance!

https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/connections

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