Magnetic One Xcart Banner - Host has banned use of php.ini - how to load ioncube?

zebu · #1 02-05-2012, 02:09 PM

Hi - We are using your Xcart Banner Module on our 4.4.4 store. Our host Justxcart Australia has advised they have banned the use of the php.ini file because of ongoing issues on there servers with modifications in the file causing resource issues. (not us in particular - but in general across the sites they host.)

Hence they require the removal our php.ini file.

Our ini file just has a path to the ionloader extension

Is there a way we can keep using the Xcart Banner module - without a call in the php.ini file.

Or do we need to a module that doesnt use a php.inin file - if so any suggestions for a banner module??

Below is what's in our php.ini file.

; Directory in which the loadable extensions (modules) reside.
extension_dir = "/usr/local/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20060613"
zend_extension="/usr/local/IonCube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.2.so"
zend_extension_ts="/usr/local/IonCube/ioncube_loader_lin_5.2_ts.so"

rogue · #2 02-06-2012, 06:03 AM

Couldn't you just add the path at the beginning of the xcart code?

cflsystems · #3 02-06-2012, 10:27 AM

Ask your host to enable this in your global php.ini if they don't allow custom php.ini. If they don't want to turn on ioncube you should look for another host

zebu · #4 02-06-2012, 01:35 PM

Great - thanks for that will follow up with host.

Emerson · #5 02-06-2012, 01:51 PM

Yes just ask them to enable IonCube loaders on the server itself. Not sure why they would not have that already in place.

bigredseo · #6 02-06-2012, 09:18 PM

I'll throw my hat in the ring too and say that the IonCube should be loaded as part of the system and not necessary to call directly in your own custom php.ini file. It's also possible that they've swapped to a system that no longer recognizes the php.ini file but does allow settings to be set from within an .htaccess file (they'd have more details on that if they did).

If they prohibit it alltogether, and they don't want to add IonCube to their main system configuration, you can maybe ask them to manually create a php.ini for you with the settings. The file could be set as a ROOT user, or a setting to prevent editing so that you can't make edits, but the system will still recognize the file. This way they can review the content of the file themselves and approve it.

Aside from that, there shouldn't be a reason that they're preventing the creation of a php.ini file. If the system is secured correctly there's nothing wrong with using a custom php.ini and locking down sections that users can't overwrite.

zebu · #7 02-06-2012, 09:28 PM

Great advice - problem solved. It seems host has ioncube loaded. However many moons ago they must not have and we put an entry in the php.ini file to put to a local copy of ioncube in our home directory.

When we were advised that php.ini files were to be removed, I simply deleted the contents and left it blank. This caused the site to fall over.

However once the file was deleted , problem resolved and server level ion cube is being used. It seems that having an empty php.ini file was the issue. (Plus the fact the host couldnt advise that ion cube was loaded at a higher level - which then created panic stations!!)

bigredseo · #8 02-06-2012, 09:33 PM

Yeah, if you have a custom php.ini, even with NOTHING in it, that pretty much blows out all references for Zend & IonCube unless you re-state them.

Removing the file 100% would default back to the system settings. Hopefully your host has allowed ample file upload sizes, timeout delays, and memory allocation, as since you can't control that from your own php.ini, you're now back at the mercy of the host and they default settings for everyone.

Fingers crossed, but happy to hear you're at least back online and operational!