A must know before installing a data folder

[devashraf]

Hello,

I`m just sharing some knowledge to help people avoiding much troubles (re-installation of two sites).

 

In HelioHost, the websites under the same account share the same folder as the main site.

You may notice that each site has approx. 1 MB of data while the main site has hundreds, because, in fact, they are subsites of the main site.

 

If you open the file manager or check Softaculoud records, you`ll notice that the second site is installed in a path that makes it a sub-site. (This was mentined in this thread)

 

Example: /home/main site/second site/   

 

Some scripts, such as Moodle and Elgg, use a data folder.. they usually specify a location for you.. "/moodledata/" or "elgg data", for example.

Don`t let the script specify the location, You must change it and specify it yourself.. or you`ll have it installed under the main site, not even in the subsite folder.
 

See the below-mentioed example, where I mistakenly accepted the default location specified by Elgg:

  

/home/ashraf.helioho.st/award-sci.helioho.st/sch

Data Directory:

/home/ashraf.helioho.st/private/elggdata

 

In the above-mentioned example, the data folder is automatically created inside the main site, which causes conflict or even site corruption, resulting in re-installation of both sites!

 

You`ll have to change the location from "/moodledata/" to "home/moodledata/".

(You know, "data folder" should not be installed either in data root or in subfolder that exists outside of data root (In plain words, you must specify a folder under "home")

This way, you`ll force the script to set the data folder path to: "/home/main site/private/home/moodle data"

 

Well, this is not a true way to prevent installing the script under the main site, but this may prevent any problems. (It is supposed that the main site shall not detect or recognize "main site/private/home/subfolder/" as a part of it)

 

If you ask me, the true way is to isolate every site, not being a "sub-site" of the main one. However, this requires a fix by the administration, if they choose to implement it.

 

Note: I installed "Elgg" and it uses "elggdata". However, I prefered to use the case of "moodle" and "moodle data" for Moodle being more popular.

Edited December 24, 2024 by devashraf

[wolstech]

This isn't actually something we can fix. It's how Plesk and Softaculous are designed.

Your home folder is always named after your main domain (though with the document root at httpdocs). Addon domains always appear as a folder at /home/<main domain>/<addon domain>. Softaculous doesn't understand the concept of addon domains very well, so it always treats /home/<main domain>/ as the root, resulting in data folders and the like ending up in the wrong place if you're installing software for an addon domain and don't change them.

Space calculations are equally weird on Plesk because of this. Everything in your home folder is counted as space used by your main domain unless it's inside an addon domain's folder, in which case it shows under the addon domain. The total is still 1000MB for the entire account though, it's just a difference in which domain it shows under in Plesk. I believe databases credit to the main domain unless you associate them with the addon domain. Keep in mind that disk space is only recalculated periodically, so you won't see a change instantly in the numbers shown in Plesk when you add/edit files.

[devashraf]

16 hours ago, wolstech said:

This isn't actually something we can fix. It's how Plesk and Softaculous are designed.

Your home folder is always named after your main domain (though with the document root at httpdocs). Addon domains always appear as a folder at /home/<main domain>/<addon domain>. Softaculous doesn't understand the concept of addon domains very well, so it always treats /home/<main domain>/ as the root, resulting in data folders and the like ending up in the wrong place if you're installing software for an addon domain and don't change them.

Space calculations are equally weird on Plesk because of this. Everything in your home folder is counted as space used by your main domain unless it's inside an addon domain's folder, in which case it shows under the addon domain. The total is still 1000MB for the entire account though, it's just a difference in which domain it shows under in Plesk. I believe databases credit to the main domain unless you associate them with the addon domain. Keep in mind that disk space is only recalculated periodically, so you won't see a change instantly in the numbers shown in Plesk when you add/edit files.

Thank you for the clarification.

Seems to be Plesk`s problem with Softaculous. Previously, I used CPanel with no problems.

[KazVee]

HelioHost used to use cPanel, but then they were suddenly given over 17000 reasons to stop using it. This all happened before I joined, but I think it makes for some interesting reading so thought I'd pass it along: https://helionet.org/index/topic/44324-so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-fish/

 

[oileh]

Hey, thanks for the Heads Up. I recall some behavior like this, in the past, on some other server. In that case the result was something like /htdocs.01/home and /htdocs.02/home and in the case of php/css you need to set the database for each first as well, and dont accidently pick the wrong one on install.

New here, so I will try a couple configs to see what is working well together, before committing to full site dev. Do remember you can always do a full backup before making changes(recommended). Also if it is too buggy, one can bypass Softaculous.

Edited Monday at 01:07 AM by oileh
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