Cpanel Package creation problem : Attempt to free unreferenced scalar

while creating packages for the reseller via reseller WHM we were getting blank page and it appears that the packages were not getting created. After looking into the CPanel error logs in /usr/local/cpanel/logs/error_log the following error was reported.

(internal warning while parsing [stdin]) Wed Aug 193 13:21:08 2009 [94568] warn: Attempt to free unreferenced scalar.

Solution

WHM -> Server Configuration -> Tweak Settings Choose the setting for:

The maximum memory a cPanel process can use before it is killed off (in megabytes). Values less than 128 megabytes can not be specified. A value of “0″ will disable the memory limits.

The settings had 256M there by default, and increasing the value to 1024 MB helped.  The server Server had 4G RAM, so the value of 1024M was fine here.

WHM locked out – cphulkd

Today we were locked out on one of our server by cphulkd. When trying to access the server from WHM we were getting the following message. Thus not allowing us to login into WHM also we were not able to access shell.

—————————————————————————————
This account is currently locked out because a brute force attempt was detected. Please wait 10 minutes and try again. Attempting to login again will only increase this delay. If you frequently experience this problem, we recommend having your username changed to something less generic.
—————————————————————————————

This is done by ‘cphulkd’ – Cpanel Brute Force Protection service.

cphulkd: Cpanel Brute Force Protection service. This service monitors failed authentication attempts and locks out accounts after the threshold is met.

To re-enable your account, login via ssh and disable cphulkd using the command below.

# /usr/local/cpanel/bin/cphulk_pam_ctl –disable

This should allow you to login to WHM and double check your cphulk settings.

You can view IP addresses that have been blocked via the WHM interface: WHM -> Security -> Security Center -> cPHulk Brute Force Protection in the Brutes table. On that screen, you can also customize brute force protection settings.

Flush DB will remove all blocked IPs:

WHM -> Security Center -> cPHulk Brute Force Protection -> Click on Flush DB

Well the other way to this is given below.

ssh to the server login as root and type the following at the prompt

[root@server:] mysql

mysql> use cphulkd;

mysql>BACKUP TABLE  brutes TO ‘/path/to/backup/directory’;

mysql> SELECT * FROM brutes WHERE `IP`=’xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx’;

mysql> DELETE FROM brutes WHERE `IP`=’xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx’;

mysql>quit

Hopefully this helps you as well. You can contact us anytime if you have any problems. Just click on live chat and we are here to assist you.

pop3d: LOGIN FAILED error on VPS containers

VPS containers running on cpanel sometimes show the following error in /var/log/maillog

pop3d: LOGIN FAILED, user=user@userdomain.net, ip=[::ffff:114.142.142.19]
pop3d: Disconnected, ip=[::ffff:114.142.142.19]
pop3d: Connection, ip=[::ffff:114.142.142.19]
pop3d: LOGIN FAILED, user=user@userdomain.net, ip=[::ffff:114.142.142.19]
pop3d: Disconnected, ip=[::ffff:114.142.142.19]

Trying to login in via webmail, you can login to the first page, where you select between Horde/Squirrelmail but trying to login further to Horde generates this error, Also via Outlook the email account does get authenticated.

Solution.

1.) Possibly you can try to update Cpanel by setting it to release version and doing a /script/upcp –force

2.) nano /etc/xinetd.d/popa3d
change disable = no to
disable = yes

service xinetd restart
service cpanel restart

3.) Check if the domain is present in /etc/localdomains and /etc/userdomains , If not add the domain

4.) /scripts/reseteximtodefaults and /scripts/fixvaliases

Please note the solutions can differ for the problems, In our case we just need to add the domain in  /etc/userdomains file, Maybe it does not work for you so you can try the other solutions given above.

Compress CPanel Domlogs log files

Before setting up compression of your logs you will want to have cpanel run the stats as often as possible. This is so you do not miss any stats that would have been included were your logs not compressed before stats run.

To do this, login to WHM, and click on Tweak Settings under Server Configuration in the left menu. Scroll down to Stats and Logs, and then in the field next to “Number of days between processing log files and bandwidth usage (default 1, decimal values are ok):” enter ‘.5′.

This will cause your logs to be run twice a day, and should allow you to have up to date stats.

After doing this, we can begin to setup your domlogs compression. You will need to open an ssh shell to your server to complete this.

Change directories to /etc/logrotate.d/ and find the file named httpd. You will need to copy this file to a new file in the same directory:

root@cpdemo [/etc/logrotate.d]# cp httpd domlogs
root@cpdemo [/etc/logrotate.d]# ls -la domlogs
-rw-r–r– 1 root root 390 Nov 8 21:26 domlogs
root@cpdemo [/etc/logrotate.d]#

Now you will want to edit your new file to contain the following:

/usr/local/apache/logs/*.com /usr/local/apache/logs/*.org /usr/local/apache/logs/*.net {
missingok
notifempty
size=200M
rotate 2
compress
sharedscripts
postrotate
/bin/kill -HUP `cat /usr/local/apache/logs/httpd.pid 2>/dev/null` 2> /dev/null || true
endscript
}

Just save your new file and you are done. Most linux distributions come default with a logrotate cronjob running nightly that will work with this configuration.

htaccess password protection

htaccess was originally created as a default name of the Apache server directory configuration file.  Its purpose is to provide the power to customize directories of a server’s primary configuration file.  These directives are all required to be in .htaccess context and can only be used with the correct command lines.  The .htaccess file controls not only the directories it was created in, but all subdirectories within it as well.
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Cpanel Webalizer

Webalizer is an efficient feature found within the cPanel control panel. This application is very capable and provides a GUI (Graphical User Interface) to analyze the statistics of your website. Not only does it detail the traffic generated, but it also displays them in comprehensive charts and graphs. This program alone makes cPanel one of the most efficient control panels available today.

Accessing Webalizer

To access the Webalizer program, you must first log into cPanel. From there you need to look for the icon labeled “Statistics”. Once you click on this icon, you will be directed to a page that includes the following choices:

• Analog

• Webalizer

• Subdomain Stats

• Latest Visitors

• Bandwidth

• Error Log

Of course you want to click on the “Webalizer” link. When the page loads, you will see a double-column table that says “Select A Domain”. This table contains the following categories:

- Domain - this area is composed of the domains that are currently associated to your web hosting account.

- View - when clicking on the “magnifying glass” icon of this category you will then be able to see the web statistics associated with your primary domain.

After selecting the domain you would like to view statistics for, a new page loads displaying a “Usage Summary”. Here you will find a graphical chart with the amount of activity for your web pages and files viewed, hits, visits and visiting web sites over the last twelve months. If your domain and website have not been active for a full year, Webalizer will only display activity for the appropriate months.

A second chart displays a “Summary by Month” log for the past twelve months. Similar to the first chart, this one will only display the appropriate months if your domain and website has not been active for a full year. It does differ from the fist chart by only displaying the actual number of hits, files, pages and files viewed, visits and visiting sites opposed to a graphical representation. To view statistics, simply click on any month listed in the appropriate column. Once the page loads, it will display the following links:

- Daily Statistics – displays both a bar and numbers chart that represents the number of hits, files and pages viewed, visits and more.

- Hourly Statistics - displays both a bar and numbers chart that represents the number of hits, files and pages viewed, visits and more

- URLs - displays a table with top links accessed on your website which includes hits and kilobytes associated with the URL

- Entry - displays a table with the top entry pages accessed on your website which includes hits and kilobytes associated with the URL

- Exit - displays a table with the top entry pages accessed on your website which includes hits and kilobytes associated with the URL

- Sites – displays a table with the top visitors or web hosting servers used to access your site which includes hits and kilobytes associated with their server

- Referrers – displays a table of referrers or URLs used when accessing your website which includes hits related to the referrer or URL

- Search – displays a table of top keywords visitors used to access your website through a search engine

- Agents – displays a table of top browsers such as Internet Explorer or FireFox along with the type of operating system used when accessing your website. This also includes hit associated with those entities

- Countries – displays a table of a specific country’s top visitors that accessed your website which includes hits and kilobytes associated with that country

Webalizer is without a doubt one of cPanel’s most effective features. It allows you to analyze the status of your website and make improvements where ever needed to enhance marketing efforts and it’s overall success.