Connection Problems

[TopCatToo]

Hi,
My SMF forum is showing:

Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.

The forum is/was running v2.0.15, and was fully patched.

I have checked the SMF files on the server and nothing appears to have changed - other that the 'cache' where all the files in the folder are dated around the time the issue first was reported.

Following research here, I have downloaded 'repair settings.php', this tool seems to indicate that all the settings, urls, paths etc are correct.

Accessing the database with PhpMyAdmin shows data in the tables where I would expect it to be, also the current backup is about the same size as previous ones.

I have not at this stage contacted my hosting company as other websites (without SMF forums) are not affected.

I have made no alterations to anything at this stage, should I delete the files in the  SMF 'cache'?

What should I do next?

Regards.

Steve

[br360]

Check your settings.php file and make sure that the password and user info is correct- make sure it matches the database info that is connected with your forum.

If all that looks correct then you should contact your host as it is possible they changed something.

[drewactual]

get a look at the server's error logs and see what's up with it..

it could be a request is consuming too much memory and the server is issuing a block- which could be either your hosts reducing memory on you, or, a poorly a change in php version which rendered the some calls obsolete or laborsome.  it could be that you've ran into a bandwidth issue, too....

if it were me i'd start at the server error log, and then ask your host what's going on.

[TopCatToo]

I've checked the Settings.php file and its the same as the backup which is about a year old.

I've looked at the server error log and that just has one entry:

[Thu Apr 19 16:39:49.657522 2018] [access_compat:error] [pid 28034] [client 93.115.95.204:40645] AH01797: client denied by server configuration:

I've been in contact with the Hosting company but at the moment not making much progress, probably because I don't know the right questions to ask.

Has the site been hacked or something?

[Doug Heffernan]

I've checked the Settings.php file and its the same as the backup which is about a year old.

I've looked at the server error log and that just has one entry:

[Thu Apr 19 16:39:49.657522 2018] [access_compat:error] [pid 28034] [client 93.115.95.204:40645] AH01797: client denied by server configuration:

I've been in contact with the Hosting company but at the moment not making much progress, probably because I don't know the right questions to ask.

Has the site been hacked or something?

It does not loook like a hack. It looks more like a permission issue on the server side.

[drewactual]

was your server recently updated? as in apache upgrade? 

how about your htaccess?  has it been altered and just prior to your crash? 

ask your host what upgrades they've made... some items in Apache2.2 were optional, but required in 2.4- and need to be specified at some individual point from httpd.conf all the way to your virtualhost's and htaccess.  i don't expect you to understand this (i hardly understand it either), but the takeaway is this:  something server side changed and your site no longer functions- 'they' need to determine what that was and recover it for you.  from the error you posted there is a compatibility error and the server with the db is denying access.  without server root access, you aren't going to be able to fix it- you can try to fix it by following this rec (which is a shot in the dark and assuming a LOT)...

check out this URL and specifically the section about access control...    http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/upgrading.html 

i've seen your error before- and the only reason i offer this is because this happened to me when flipping from apache2.2 to apache2.4- and it's the ONLY time i've ever seen that error.

[TopCatToo]

Many thanks for your advice drewactual, the hosting support team have actually come back, they suggested that as I can see Settings.php, that I change the database access password in cPanel and update Settings.php to suit.

This did indeed work and everything is now working - which is good.

But I still don't know what caused this, I did ask the hosting company if they had made any changes, but they didn't answer.

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

Steve