[ic] Admin UI session problem; mysterious source?

Sun Nov 25 21:07:01 2001

On Sun, Nov 25, 2001 at 04:47:16PM -0800, JT Justman wrote:
> Hi, everyone!
> 
> Using IC 4.8.1. The catalog is run through a hosting company. I think I am
> the only customer they have who uses IC, but it's all I can afford for
> development phase.
> 
> Everything worked fine until two things were updated.
> 
> 1) The document root changed. I asked them to setup a URL rewrite, but I
> think they might have simply changed my DocumentRoot to the link program,
> i.e. /cgi-bin/cart.cgi/, so that all requested files pass through IC.
> 
> 2) I was changed to a static IP.
> 
> I'm not sure which of the two (if it was) caused the problem.
> 
> First, and most apparent, the UI images were broken. This happens any time
> they do anything for me, because their update scripts are broken I think. In
> any case, I changed the UI Images variable, but the fix wouldn't be final
> till I restarted (which I don't have access to do) or did "apply changes".
> Then I noticed a problem. I was getting lots of "maybe you need to log in"
> and "no permission for page".
> 
> When I first opened the UI login, it would first send a cookie for the
> session ID, then re-assign it immediately (different number). When I would
> log in, it would re-assign the cookie over and over. As it turns out,
> more-or-less one time for each of the missing images! So the final cookie
> was not the same one I had logged in under.

There is nothing wrong with running every through IC.  We run a couple
of catalogs like that.

It's not the static IP per se.

You are getting a new session with every request.  That **might** happen if 
you are getting a re-written url.  There can be other causes too, make
sure you shut down your browser(s), blow away the session database/files and
see if it still happens.

> 
> So after several hours of searching and trying different things (checking
> sessions settings, file perms, etc) and experimenting with cookies I
> realized that I could simply accept the first cookie, then refuse all
> others, and the site would function, more-or-less.
> 
> So, before I went to ask the oh-knowledgeable IC list, I did the
> long-delayed apply changes. When I did so, the images came back. Then as I
> started to compose my message, I cleared cookies, set it to prompt, and
> logged in again. To my surprise, the problem had disappeared, the cookie was
> assigned properly, and the site functioned perfectly.
> 
> So, is this just a coincidence (the "apply changes" fixed whatever was
> causing the problem) or did the missing images actually cause the UI to
> resend the cookie? Or am I nuts?

Check your web logs.  Maybe you had two IC cookies.  I'd bet it was
your browser and mangled cookie/session(s).

> 
> Thanks for any thoughts.
> 
> JT
> 
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Christopher F. Miller, Publisher                               cfm@maine.com
MaineStreet Communications, Inc           208 Portland Road, Gray, ME  04039
1.207.657.5078                                         http://www.maine.com/
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