• Registered: 2013-02-11
  • Posts: 13

Topic: Temp Home Page sometimes shows

I set up Showkase on GoDaddy Windows hosting.  I created a site, and it usually works fine.  However, once in a while, the temp home page shows.  Any idea why?  I can assure you it's not due to the browser cache.  It almost seems like your code has a timeout somewhere and GoDaddy isn't responding quickly enough.  The site is www.LJ3.com if you wish to try it.

Regards, Jim

  • Registered: 2012-12-17
  • Posts: 20

Re: Temp Home Page sometimes shows

Yes, I see what you mean. I always seem to get the temporary home page when I browse to http://www.LJ3.com/  but I get the real home page when I go to http://www.LJ3.com/index.php.

It might take a while to work out what's happening here. In the meantime please try this workaround. Most of the complexity in the original index.php file is there to work out which page is your home page. Since we know that yours is called 'Home', we should be able to replace the original index.php with something much simpler.

Rename the www.LJ3.com/index.php file to (say) index.bak.

Create a new index.php file in a text editor with the following content.

<?php
include 'Home/index.html';

jack

  • Registered: 2013-02-11
  • Posts: 13

Re: Temp Home Page sometimes shows

Thanks very much, Jack.  I made the change to the php file about 3 hours ago, and I'm not getting the temp page anymore.  If the site is idle for a while, it does take time for GoDaddy to reload it on their servers.  That typically takes 5 - 10 seconds.

You noted that including index.php made the correct home page show up.  I don't think that was the difference.  Index.php is getting processed regardless of whether you include it in the URL or not because it's the default page.  You probably went to the URL that included index.php on your second try.  When you got the temp page, GoDaddy's server had finally loaded the LJ3.com website into IIS.  If you had simply refreshed your browser, you would have gotten the correct web site even if you didn't include index.php in the URL.

You probably already know this, but IIS is notorious for dumping idle processes and reloading them as needed.  Lots of people complain about this, but MSFT hasn't really done anything to improve it.  GoDaddy makes it a little worse with their shared hosting, but it would still be a problem even with a dedicated server.

FYI - I'm a recently retired software engineer.  Therefore it's also time to retire the server I've had running in the garage for the past 15 years.  GoDaddy's hosting fee ($3/month) is cheaper than the electricity needed for the server, so I'm moving my stuff.  Later today I'll be adding a web service to LJ3.com.  That service will get hit about 10 times/minute, so it will probably keep LJ3.com alive all the time.  Once I get that running, I'll go back to the original index.php file and see if the possible time-out issue goes away.

One more thing - I'm not a php guy, but I do have quite a bit of HTML and JavaScript experience (although I was primarily a C++/C# programmer).  If there's anything you would like me to try in pursuit of this issue, feel free to ask.

Regards, Jim

  • Registered: 2012-12-17
  • Posts: 20

Re: Temp Home Page sometimes shows

I would like to understand what's happening here but I'm on the move for a couple of days. Maybe we could take a look later in the week.

jack

  • Registered: 2013-02-11
  • Posts: 13

Re: Temp Home Page sometimes shows

I did move my web service to LJ3.com, and the Showkase home page does seem more responsive (typically 2-3 seconds rather than 5-10).  I put your default index.php file back, and I'll monitor to see if I still get the temp home page once in a while.

If you would like to run other tests, I'd be happy to do so whenever it's convenient for you.

Regards, Jim

  • Registered: 2013-02-11
  • Posts: 13

Re: Temp Home Page sometimes shows

Right after I finished the above post, I did get the temporary home page.  :(

I'll put the work-around php file back.

Regards, Jim