Was my forum hacked? It's completely screwed!

[Muzza]

My forum is completey caput! Yesterday users complained of extreme slowness and numerous displays of "database error". Today, the forum has completely collapsed and it says there are 0 subforums and 0 posts! There were about 40 subforums, 5000 threads and 45,000 posts!!! Now, NO subforums appear. I had a stats list at the bottom (which still appears) and it contains the titles of the top 10 threads etc but clicking on those leads to:

"mysql error: 127 from storage engine"
"error number: 1030"

I went into cpadmin and in the forum manager, there are NO forums - completely empty.

I went into moderation log and get "database error".

The mysql part seems completely screwed.

The user listing remains and I can access all of the member details.

I contacted the host server (damn useless they are!) 3 times but there response time for an engineer to investigate is 3-5 days.

CAN ANYBODY OFFER ANY POSSIBLE EXPLANATION?

Is this a host server problem with their database? I am guessing if someone had accessed to delete everything the database error would not appear. So it must be a database error...

[Steve Machol]

This error means:

MySQL error: 127 = Record-file is crashed

To fix this run Repair/Optimize in the Admin CP. You may need to run it more than once to fix all errors:

Admin CP -> Maintenance -> Repair/Optimize Tables -> Check All -> Continue

If you cannot open your Admin CP then you can repair tables with phpMyAdmin.

[Muzza]

OK, thanks.

I have tried this a couple of times and the page keeps timing out - "internet explorer cannot display the page" appears after a minute or so of the repair/optimization being started - have a fast connection and everything else is working ok online. How long should the repair/optimization be taking? There are about 45,000 posts.

[Muzza]

Ok, I have now done this and for every table it says "Ok" or "table is already up to date"....but still NO subforums appear - completely empty.

I go to the forum manager and it is 100% empty, as though no subforums have ever been setup.

[Muzza]

Ok, have gone through again.

Now 33,000/45,000 posts have returned. But one entire subforum containing 12,000 posts is missing. How could this be?

[Steve Machol]

It's possible the database was so damaged that those posts could not be saved. It's rare but it does happen.

Did you check the database? How many posts are in the post table?

[Muzza]

It's possible the database was so damaged that those posts could not be saved. It's rare but it does happen.

Did you check the database? How many posts are in the post table?

How could that happen? How could it be "so damaged"? The forum was only 7 weeks old. What could have caused such "damage". I am so not happy at present...

[Steve Machol]

I don't know exactly how it happened. However database corruption is almost always the fault of the server - either bad configuration or a glitch that sometimes happens.

Before getting too upset let's take this one step at a time. How many posts are in the post table?

[Muzza]

I don't know exactly how it happened. However database corruption is almost always the fault of the server - either bad configuration or a glitch that sometimes happens.

Before getting too upset let's take this one step at a time. How many posts are in the post table?

Ok, but it would seem odd that the entire contents of one subforum would disappear. And yet the contents of the remaining subforums remain completely intact?

I will try find the post table..

[Muzza]

OK, in the "post" table in the database it has the correct number - 43,500 - and the correct number of thread (4,800) also. The stats add-on counter I have also contains the correct number of threads and posts. But the standard threads/posts counter has the total minus that of the missing forum.

So I am hoping being able to see the missing threads in the database is a good sign...??

And when I go into the threads (in the database) it contains all the threads from the subforum which is missing (as well as all the others which have returned.). I was even able to change the forum-id associated with one of the missing threads and gave it an id of one of the existing subforums and then it appeared. So how come the threads are in the database but not showing up in the forum? And then if i move these threads (from the missing forum) into a forum which is showing up, the threads don't add to the thread total or post total in that subforum. I am confused!

I have a stats add-on at the bottom of the forum with top threads etc and when I click on the ones that were from the missing forum I get this mesage:

you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

[Steve Machol]

It looks like you may have just lost or damaged that forum entry. If so, this can be easily fixed and your posts restored.

Fill out a support ticket at:

http://members.vbulletin.com/membersupport_contactform.php

Please include a complete description of the problem and be sure to include the login info to your Admin CP, phpMyAdmin and FTP in the 'Sensitive Data' field.

[MistyPotato]

Muzza.....


Backing up your data is also a pretty good idea.

I do it every single night.

Just a thought.