What is the point of fsockopen()?

Davidc316

I'm having some problems running PHP scripts on a secure socket layer.

I've looked around these forums, the manual, some books and the Internet in general for some help (with no luck so far), but I keep seeing people talking about a function called fsockopen().

I'm not familiar with this function and the manual doesn't really explain it very well.

Could somebody please explain to me in simple terms what fsockopen() is for and do you think that the lack of this peskly little function is what could be causing me to get Internal Servers every time I try to view a PHP page that's hosted on my SSL?

Thanks

PS- please don't direct me to the online PHP manual. I've already looked and I don't understand it.

weekender

fsockopen is for opening a socket connection - you can use this to connect to all sorts of devices (drives, addresses, databases, files etc) that don't have specific functions for handling

as far as i'm aware, the only thing different when opening pages over SSL is the address - it's https not http - the script is just the same, and should work on both secure and normal with no modification

so i'm guessing there's a problem with your server - have you contacted your host?

adam

Davidc316

Thanks.

In answer to your question, I've tried but they're not sure either.

superwormy

Why don't you post some code so we can see what you're doing...?

Davidc316

Certainly, and thank you!

Ok, here is the complete code for one of the PHP files on my SSL server....

<?php 
print "Hello World"; 
?>

The above code gets an Internal Server Error.

Davidc316

Super- your Jujitsu site looks great! Are you interested in martial arts or did you just build the site?

superwormy

Alright... wellll... that script doesn't work on ONLY when viewed over SSL...?

If that's the case, it's definitally not a PHP issue, Apache must be badly misconfigured or something. Try looking at your Apache error logs ( /var/log/httpd-error.log on my BSD machine ) and see if you get any error messages. Try restarting Apache too ( apachectl graceful )

Do scripts work when you view them over HTTP WITHOUT SSL?

It definitally has nothing to do with fsockopen() though, in either case.

For your other question, I've trained in martial arts for about 12 years now, but not in the system that the website is for, that's a website I created for a friend. The styles are similar though. Yourself?

Davidc316

Thanks for that very helpful response Super.

In answer, yes- the SSL server displays normal HTML pages with no problems. It's only when I to view a page with PHP that I'm getting this Internal Server Error thing rearing its ugly head. I have talked to my hosts about it and they seem as baffled as I am. The strange thing about all of this is that PHP works on the rest of the site (the non secure section).

Unfortunately I can't check the error logs or do anything cos I don't have direct access to the server (I'm hiring my webspace from a hosting company).

As for martial arts... it's something that has always interested me. Not so much doing people in.. I'm more intrigued by just the training philosophy and the "Jedi vibe" that sometimes seems to come with it. Anyway, for what it's worth I was once a member of a Jeet Kune Do club. These days I'm no longer at the club, but I happen to run a Jeet Kune Do resource/Bruce Lee site called Bruce Lee Central (www.bruceleecentral.com). If you're into martial arts then it might hold you're interest for a minute or two. But, if you're more interested in PHP, then the site is pretty crap cos the entire site is completely NON dynamic and desperately in need of an update.

superwormy

Hehe, I'm interested in both, I'll take a look. :-)

Do you have shell access to your account? If you have shell access ( I would so never use a host that doesn't allow shell access, see if you can find one that does if you have to switch ) browse around and see if you can find the error logs, you can probably still view them.