MySQL Connection on IPower
I just started setup on a client web site hosted on iPower.com, and being a new site it’s on one of their new servers. None of my existing sites have been moved, so this was my first experience with it. If you aren’t an iPower customer and don’t know what I’m talking about, this post isn’t for you. (Rejoice and be glad!)
Oddly, the DB_HOST “localhost” worked on a WordPress installation in the root directory, but did not in subdirectories. You have to go to the MySQL management page (accessed form the new vDeck) and use that host. This would have been fairly easy to notice except that ‘localhost’ worked in the root directory for reasons I don’t know. Perhaps someone smarter than I am will read this and point out the reason that might happen.
In any case, with the correct host it does work. I’ve seen some notes around the internet about problems even with the correct host name, but I had no such difficulties.
Also, for anyone like me who is waiting for the transfer to the new servers, you can expect your MySQL connection statements to break when the system is transferred. If you haven’t centralized your configuration information, you’ll wish you had!
I just tranistioned my website to vDeck 3.0. I wish I hadn’t because everything broke. IpowerWeb has a window where you can preview your site before and after the transition. Everything looked fine, so clicked the transition button. Then all my datbase connections broke.
I discovered that some of my databases were not transitioned at all. So I figured out that you can no longer use ‘localhost’ you have to go into the control panel, click on the mySQL icon, then grab the name of the mySQL server from the bottom of the database box, typically “myDomainPrefixName.ipowermysql.com “. This got me an SQL connection, so popped up all the wordpress 2.5 files and ran the install only to see that the include files for the install were being treated as text and displayed on the screen. This happened to me on GoDaddy.com a few years back with postnuke, so I have seen it before. It is a security lockdown on PHP itself. I was unable to get GoDaddy to fix the problem so I switched to IpowerWeb. I am not even going to bother calling ipower, I am simply going to chose another hosting company.
My advice to the hosting companies of the world is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
My observation is that when I am ready to transition my sites I will have to change all directory references and also the host for all my SQL database connections.
It's annoying, but with the number of sites I have I think it will be easier than changing hosts. Obviously individual mileage may vary.
I experienced no problem with WordPress 2.3.3, but I haven't upgraded that client to 2.5 yet, though I will be soon. I'll probably report here how it goes.