Hello,

We are trying to install Open Atrium 2 on a shared-host LAMP stack, using the web installer in the distribution.
We have taken into account the different system requirements for a fresh installation.
We are using the following:
Linux: Debian
Apaché: 2
MySQL: 5.5.32
PHP: 5.3
Openatrium: 7.x-2.18

Everytime (in the last 7 attempts) the installation runs perfectly until the phase of "Install Profile"
AND then it breaks, and always due to some AJAX request error.

Here is an example of a "typical" error:
An AJAX HTTP request terminated abnormally. Debugging information follows. Path: http://domain.com/install.php?profile=openatrium&locale=en&db_import_filename=/public_html/drupal/profiles/openatrium/db/openatrium.sql&quickstart=standard&id=1&op=do StatusText: ResponseText: ReadyState: 4

After the failure, when we try to continue, we enter the site configuration page. When we fill in the parameters, the configuration breaks because of a DB table, not created & populated during the Install Profile" phase.

We get the following error everytime:

SQLSTATE[42S02]: Base table or view not found: 1146 Table 'domain.search_api_server' doesn't exist 

Can anyone help us to identify the source of our issue ?
Is it related to some constraint / resource on our shared host (iPage) ? (in which case, we are ready to change to different shared host)

More importantly,
Is there a step-by-step process of installing a core Drupal distro and then adding in the modules of OA-2 ?
Or how does it work out, if we try to install block-after-block ?

Thanks in advance for all your advice & help !

Comments

mpotter’s picture

Status: Active » Fixed

Are you using the "Quick Install" or the "Normal install". The "Quick" install should use fewer resources and installs from a DB dump rather than enabling each module individually.

Also, check with your shared host.

a) Shared hosts are typically NOT a good choice for Open Atrium as you will put a higher load on their DB than normal since OA usage is typically from logged in users. You just won't be happy with performance.

b) Shared hosts often ignore your local php memory settings, and OA needs 256M.

See here: https://drupal.org/node/2169701 for more installation instructions (as linked in the main openatrium project page)

nirvanesque’s picture

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Yes, we tried the "normal install" everytime. We assumed that the "quick install" was for an upgrade of an existing OA install (??)
Yes, we followed to the word the instructions. Prior to installation, we upped the "memory_limit" to 256 M. So no errors (or even warnings) before the start of installation.

We were trying OA 2 on a shared-host to try it out.
The idea was to develop a private-PaaS based on Drupal using the OA 2 distribution.
Please see this conversation with one of your colleagues at Phase 2.
One of the original ideas of Drupal, was to have an affordable CMS for SMEs, that could also run on a shared LAMP stack.
The slow performance for users is sufferable in a low-end host, but at least a distro installation needs to successfully reach the end (provided initial criteria are satisfied), wouldn't it? (Or perhaps, you would disagree?).

So would you advise trying the "quick install" on a fresh installation ?
Will keep you posted on our success / failure.

Best!

mpotter’s picture

Yes, "Quick Install" is the recommended default. Upgrades don't run the installer, so both options are only for new installs. Let me know how it goes.

nirvanesque’s picture

Hello Mike !

Thanks for the quick tip. Yes, it worked and the installation ran successfully till the end.

We are currently trying to rea-on your webinars and get started with workbench moderation and related modules. Our goal is to have profile-ised workflows for user-team-spaces.

There are certain minor issues though:

  1. While trying to access the "modules" page from the pull-down menu in admin (http://sub.domain.com/admin/modules), we keep getting a blank-white screen. Is this due to some issue caused at installation.
  2. While trying to access the "People" page from the pull-down menu in admin (http://sub.domain.com/admin/people), we get a normal page (i.e. with top-bar menu) BUT with error message Page not found The requested page "/admin/people" could not be found.

I can vouch that these issues are not due to resources constraints on the shared host.
Other pages take longer, but finally they load on the browser.

Hence, could these be due to some issue caused at installation?
Or are they unrelated?
Will check around in the issues list also for any related answers.

Thanks in advance for all advice & help !

mpotter’s picture

You need to clear the Drupal cache to fix issue #2 with the People page. Might also fix the module page. That page is pretty large, so you might be running into PHP memory limits on that page. Don't have any problem on our test servers here. But check your error logs for more info if getting a blank screen.

nirvanesque’s picture

Thanks again Mike. It worked as you said, for both modules and people.
PHP memory limits are upped to 256M globally. Is that enough?

There is an issue still with the "Create new Space" page.
It keeps on reloading!!! every 5 seconds or so ...
Thus we cannot create any Space altogether.
How to stop this page from refreshing automatically ?

Is this also due to shared hosting ? :-(
Seems like OA 2 is designed for high-end dedicated hosts ONLY ...

Any advice ?

Thanks in advance.

mpotter’s picture

Yes, 256M is the memory needed for OA2 as described in the install instructions.

Not sure about the error about creating spaces. Have you tried clearing cache (both Drupal site and browser cache)? You can try disabling the oa_tour module in case it's something in the popup help tour trying to reload the page.

Keep in mind that OA2 contains more than 180+ Drupal modules. Most shared hosting companies only support minimal Drupal installations and are not set up for higher demands and memory requirements. So you'll need what I call "serious" hosting. Doesn't need to be "high-end" but it needs to be hosting that can work with you on your requirements. OA2 also puts more demands on database servers since you typically use OA2 for collaboration sites where lots of users are logged in. This is very different from cached anonymous traffic sites, which is what many shared hosts are configured for by default.

Status: Fixed » Closed (fixed)

Automatically closed - issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.

Argus’s picture

Tagging for documentation purposes.

cousimo’s picture

I was having issues with installing Open Atrium , it would always seem to time out even after making the changes to the php.ini file.
Problem: I used firefox
solution: try a different browser, i used Internet explorer and it worked for me, hope it helps someone