vBulletin vs Apache permissions + Addon Domain / CPanel = wtf?!

[zzSQL]

Hi,
- Bought domain name, pointed their DNS servers to my web hoster.
- Created in cPanel an add-on domain pointing to my forum directory
- Bought a vb5 license, downloaded the files.
- Created the database in cpanel with random username and very complex password
- I followed these instructions to the letter and re-checked the work:
- https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/entr...etin-5-connect
- Uploaded files
- Tried to run http://domain.com/install.php
- Permission denied
- Tried applying 755 perms recursively to the forum dir
- Even tried (for a sec) 777 on install.php, same 'permission denied' message
- My buddy said it's probably an apache issue but it JUST worked with an install of SMF I tried out.

Any clue what's going on here?

- - - Updated - - -

Wait, update. Deleted/recreated the addon domain and was able to view the old forum.

Nope, fail.
Recreated add on domain which created the folder. Dragged old forum into it which worked (after complaining about a path. ez fix)
Removed old forum , dragged new vB5 into it, 403 Forbidden.

awesome.

[AliMadkour]

You should access install with /core/ like

http://www.domain.com/forum/core/install/install.php

if got forbidden error check your error_log file and paste it here!

[zzSQL]

The forum dir is the domain name root.

Domain.com is configured to resolve to the forum dir at /public_html/forum
See?

[AliMadkour]

Yes, You should access the install script from

http://www.yourforum.com/core/install/install.php

[zzSQL]

Yes, You should access the install script from

http://www.yourforum.com/core/install/install.php

Yes, I got the URL right, it's not the file location issue, it's Apache permissions or .htaccess or something.
Had to restore my old SMF forum to bring the site back up because vBulletin isn't working.

When I copy my old forum into the web files directory the site works.
When I copy vBulletin board forum into the same directory I get permission denied

The umask set the files to the appropriate permissions so what's going on here?


I did everything your site told me to do and it doesn't work.
I'm taking it that this has worked for people in the past, why not now?

[AliMadkour]

What is in your error_logs ? when you've a forbidden or permission denied error in should recorded in error_logs file

[zzSQL]

Apache error logs?
I don't even see error logs under cpanel. I see access logs but those aren't error logs.

I'm FTP-ed into the server, no sign of error logs though.

Only see the access logs looking for install.php

71.236.XX.XXX - - [31/Jan/2013:13:00:04 -0800] "GET /core/install/install.php HTTP/1.1" 403 - "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:18.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0"
71.236.XX.XXX - - [31/Jan/2013:13:00:06 -0800] "GET /core/install/install.php HTTP/1.1" 403 - "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:18.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/18.0"

[AliMadkour]

Ask your host to enable it, I can't troubleshot the error without know why its happen.

[zzSQL]

is this anything?
[Thu Jan 31 13:54:20 2013] [error] [client 71.236.XX.XXX] Options FollowSymLinks or SymLinksIfOwnerMatch is off which implies that RewriteRule directive is forbidden: /home/networ2/public_html/forum/core/install/install.php

and

[Thu Jan 31 15:06:28 2013] [error] [client 71.236.XX.XXX] Options FollowSymLinks or SymLinksIfOwnerMatch is off which implies that RewriteRule directive is forbidden: /home/networ2/public_html/forum/403.shtml
[Thu Jan 31 15:06:28 2013] [error] [client 71.236.XX.XXX] Options FollowSymLinks or SymLinksIfOwnerMatch is off which implies that RewriteRule directive is forbidden: /home/networ2/public_html/forum/core/install/install.php
[Thu Jan 31 15:06:23 2013] [error] [client 71.236.XX.XXX] Options FollowSymLinks or SymLinksIfOwnerMatch is off which implies that RewriteRule directive is forbidden: /home/networ2/public_html/forum/403.shtml, referer: http://www.domain.com/index.php?action=recent
[Thu Jan 31 15:06:23 2013] [error] [client 71.236.XX.XXX] Options FollowSymLinks or SymLinksIfOwnerMatch is off which implies that RewriteRule directive is forbidden: /home/networ2/public_html/forum/index.php, referer: http://www.domain.com/index.php?action=recent

[Zachery]

Your webhost looks like they might have disabled mod_rewrite.

[zzSQL]

Q: Is mod_rewrite enabled on your servers?
A: Yes, our servers have mod_rewrite enabled by default, enabling you to add URL-rewriting rules and conditions. In order to use mod_rewrite, you only need to include your rewrite rules and conditions in a .htaccess file on your account.

Is there a standard .htaccess file that works?
The default one fails.


<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On

# Redirect old install path to core.
RewriteRule ^install/ core/install/ [NC,L]

# Main Redirect
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?routestring=$1 [L,QSA]

# Because admincp is an actual directory.
RewriteRule ^(admincp/)$ index.php?routestring=$1 [L,QSA]

</IfModule>

[Zachery]

Your error messages say otherwise:

Options FollowSymLinks or SymLinksIfOwnerMatch is off which implies that RewriteRule directive is forbidden

[zzSQL]

ok, thanks for your time.

[sukagwe]

try to change all your directories permission to 755 & files permission to 644

[zzSQL]

try to change all your directories permission to 755 & files permission to 644

Thanks, did that.
Even tried 777 perms, no luck.