PHPBB / MySQL

Got a phpBB and MySQL site here… problem I’m having is the cookies aren’t working.

People can create accounts and that works fine… but the next time they visit the site they have to log in again :frowning:

Any thoughts ?

never had a problem with phpbb:confused:

Are they ticking the log me in automatically check box?
if not they will have to re-log in.

Thats nothing to do with cookies mate - when the visitors login they need to tick the login automatically box like Mr. PMM said :wink:

That’s normal for phpBB.

I had this problem (as a user) with a phpBB site. Dunno what caused it though.

tried ticking the box… no effect :frowning:

Do you have a firewall that is restricting cookies on your machine?

If you give us the addy we can check it out?

um I have a firewall yes.

how on earth would I check if it’s blocking cookies ? I’m running IPTABLES on Linux

btw, it doesn’t work accessing it from my home network either (ie not through the firewall)

PS I’m not sure the url is suitable for this forum :wink:

I only suggested if it was from testing from your own machine
but if the others cannot and there not firewalled/zonealarmed etc
the only other thing I know is that the settings for the cookie
in terms of the site are incorrect.

Is this purely a machine accessable from the web i.e. not 2 seperate systems actual web server and a development machine?

I assume your accessing from your network machine/s in the same
way as someone on the net would access it?

Looking at my phpbb admin its set like this
Cookie domain = full site addy
Cookie name = anything you like
Cookie path = /
Cookie secure = disabled as its not over https.
Session length [ seconds ] = 3600

Apart from the above not being in that format its got me stumped.

Originally posted by PMM
Do you have a firewall that is restricting cookies on your machine?

Lol, not being nasty but do you actually know how cookies are transfered?

They are sent as part of the HTTP data stream as text at the top before the Content-type: text\html in transmissions from the server to the client and at the top of every request from the client to server.

AFAIK that the only way a firewall could stop cookies is if it was port80 packet mangling/running transparent web proxy.

Again I appologuise if you knew that and have a better understanding of the matter than me (quite possible) and if so could you explain.

GAteKeeper

There are two types of cookie.

(1.) That die when the browser gets closed
(2.) That live until a certain date.

If for some reason phpBB is using the former then this would cause the problem.

Originally posted by PMM
[B]I only suggested if it was from testing from your own machine
but if the others cannot and there not firewalled/zonealarmed etc
the only other thing I know is that the settings for the cookie
in terms of the site are incorrect.

Is this purely a machine accessable from the web i.e. not 2 seperate systems actual web server and a development machine?

I assume your accessing from your network machine/s in the same
way as someone on the net would access it?

Looking at my phpbb admin its set like this
Cookie domain = full site addy
Cookie name = anything you like
Cookie path = /
Cookie secure = disabled as its not over https.
Session length [ seconds ] = 3600

Apart from the above not being in that format its got me stumped. [/B]

PMM You’re a star! I think I’ve sussed it… had a typo in the cookie domain bit.

Any ideas just what the “Session length” is for ?

Originally posted by GAteKeeper
Lol, not being nasty but do you actually know how cookies are transfered?

Well no cookie gets on some of my machine unless I say yes to accept :wink:

And I keep a very close eye on that windows directory that has those cookie stored in them :wink:

This machine I’m on has no firewall but others do and they do have
cookie filtering as on many occasion its caught me out due to no
cookie being on the machine and its effected my web usage… not
not being able to log on to a site even after asking to kepted
logged in and even some sites I’ve been forced to re-register
due to not excepting cookies.

And using I.e. 6 under Tools / internet options / Privacy / you can alter a nice ickle slider that erm… blocks cookies at different levels :wink: lots of options m8y :slight_smile:

Originally posted by Spaceboy
[B]PMM You’re a star! I think I’ve sussed it… had a typo in the cookie domain bit.

Any ideas just what the “Session length” is for ? [/B]

Session length from what I know is how long a user can stay
browsing your site. After the session length has expired they are
automatically logged out.

That is true PMM, but the term firewall to me and I am sure I am not alone in this, does not immediately bring up the idea of cookie blocking.

As to the cookie options in some internet security programms and IE I totally agree although I dont use either personally. I let my linux firewall and daily Ad-Aware scans keep the skys clear of prying eyes :smiley:

@Spaceboy is session length the number of seconds to add onto the current date/time to set as an expiry for the cookie. Therefore after X seconds of no requests the cookie will expire and the sessionID be lost?

GAteKeeper

Session length is…

Amount of time from logging in to defining when a user is dead(Inactive).

If you do not log out a session it is still considered active
you can go back on and continue surfing as long as auto login
was ticked.

If while your logged in & inactive or failed to log out and the
session goes past xx seconds you will either…
need to log back in when revisting the site

or

If still on the site and attempting to resume surfing that
site you will be logged out and returned to the main page.

That’s the long winded version of what gatekeeper said :smiley:

This is one of the many reasons I LOVE it here at TRP! :slight_smile:

Guys, You are all stars, thanks heaps it’s much appreciated!

:cuddle:s all round :smiley: