I’ve just had yet another Aplus.net customer service problem. I’ll keep sharing these so that folks who are thinking of using Aplus.net for their website hosting will consider other companies like DreamHost.com. If you are shopping for a website hosting company, please read this article on how to select a GOOD website hosting company.

In this case, my client received a security warning message from Web Yep, our content management tool. Here’s what he saw:

Scary right? So he contacted me and I verified that indeed this variable “register_globals” was turned “ON”, which is not good.

I got online with Aplus.net technical support via chat. What follows is another example of how their support people speak English so poorly that it takes several attempts to get them to understand what you are asking for. This is not only frustrating, but it wastes time, and if you’re paying your web designer by the hour, I strongly suggest avoiding companies like Aplus.net who outsource their technical centers to save money, but also lower the quality of their support in the process. Note that this took 27 minutes, nearly 1/2 an hour!

Here’s the transcript, the only things changed are to protect the identity of my client and my comments are in (bold).

2007-12-31 15:56:18: Visitor76452: Hello Maria
2007-12-31 15:56:25: mariat: hello
2007-12-31 15:56:53: Visitor76452: I need to change the “register_globals” setting on myclientswebsite.com
2007-12-31 15:57:58: mariat: this is the whois info
2007-12-31 15:57:58: mariat: Domain Name: MYCLIENTSWEBSITE.COM
2007-12-31 15:57:59: mariat: Registrar: ABACUS AMERICA, INC. DBA NAMES4EVER
2007-12-31 15:57:59: mariat: Whois Server: whois.names4ever.com
2007-12-31 15:57:59: mariat: Referral URL: http://www.names4ever.com
2007-12-31 15:57:59: mariat: Name Server: NS1.ABAC.COM
2007-12-31 15:58:01: mariat: Name Server: NS2.ABAC.COM
2007-12-31 15:58:03: mariat: Status: ok
2007-12-31 15:58:05: mariat: Updated Date: 07-aug-2007
2007-12-31 15:58:08: mariat: Creation Date: 06-aug-2003
2007-12-31 15:58:09: mariat: Expiration Date: 06-aug-2008
(APLUS.NET reads “register” and thinks I’ve written “registration” as in “domain registration”)
2007-12-31 15:58:21: Visitor76452: You have misunderstood me.
2007-12-31 15:58:31: mariat: do you like to transfer the domain ?
2007-12-31 15:58:35: Visitor76452: I am NOT talking about “domain registration”. NO!
2007-12-31 15:58:58: Visitor76452: “register_globals” it’s a PHP configuration. Can you transfer me to someone who knows about how to change this?
2007-12-31 15:59:17: mariat: please login to http://cp,names4ever.com
2007-12-31 15:59:40: Visitor76452: why? that link you sent is bad by the way.
2007-12-31 16:00:16: mariat: http://cp.names4ever.com
(names4ever.com? I thought the company name was Aplus.net, apparently not)
2007-12-31 16:00:50: Visitor76452: I’m sorry, but why do I need to login there? I’m already logged into the Aplus.net control panel.
2007-12-31 16:01:32: Visitor76452: I need to set “register_globals” to OFF.
2007-12-31 16:01:44: Visitor76452: They are currently “ON” , and this is a security issue.
2007-12-31 16:02:06: mariat: this is not possible - you can change it but not remove it
(here the Aplus.net person now tells me that what I’m asking for is impossible, even though later in the conversation you’ll clearly see that their control panel actually has a way to configure this and recommends it’s “OFF”.)
2007-12-31 16:02:25: Visitor76452: I never asked to “remove” it, I asked to change it from “ON” to “OFF”
2007-12-31 16:03:11: mariat: may i have your reg number please
2007-12-31 16:03:30: Visitor76452: REGISTRATIONNUMBER
2007-12-31 16:06:32: Visitor76452: (you can see the variable setting here: http://www.MYCLIENTSWEBSITE.com/phpinfo.php)
2007-12-31 16:06:50: Visitor76452: Again, it’s called “REGISTER_GLOBALS” it needs to be OFF
2007-12-31 16:08:13: mariat: i am sorry but i do not understand what you like to do - do you like to manage the domain name or simething in your files?
(again, she still doesn’t understand what I’m asking for at all)
2007-12-31 16:08:40: Visitor76452: Please go here: http://www.MYCLIENTSWEBSITE.com/phpinfo.php
2007-12-31 16:08:50: Visitor76452: Look at the setting for REGISTER_GLOBALS.
2007-12-31 16:08:59: Visitor76452: If you don’t understand me, can I speak to someone who does?
2007-12-31 16:09:42: Visitor76452: If you don’t understand what PHP Configuration Setting are, I need to chat with someone who does understand this.
(I should probably start off all Aplus.net online chats this way)
2007-12-31 16:09:59: mariat: ok
2007-12-31 16:10:32: mariat: then you need to go to PHP config tool in the control panel
(finally some progress)
2007-12-31 16:10:43: mariat: there you will be able to disable it
2007-12-31 16:10:58: Visitor76452: I don’t see it there.
2007-12-31 16:11:08: Visitor76452: What do I click on?
2007-12-31 16:11:46: mariat: php ini
2007-12-31 16:12:20: Visitor76452: Thank you.
2007-12-31 16:12:34: mariat: welcome
(I find the setting and change it to “OFF”, but when I check the website, it’s still showing as “ON”. An image of the control panel is below. Notice the security warning listed - why was this client’s default setting to “ON” ? )

2007-12-31 16:13:22: Visitor76452: How long does this take? I am not seeing a change.
2007-12-31 16:14:19: mariat: well it takes a while until the change is processed
2007-12-31 16:14:31: mariat: soon you should be able to see it
2007-12-31 16:15:07: Visitor76452: can you give me some idea of time? an hour a day a week?
(she ignores my question)
2007-12-31 16:16:48: mariat: are you sure you deactivate it
2007-12-31 16:16:59: Visitor76452: yes, you can verify.
2007-12-31 16:17:03: Visitor76452: I set to “off”.
2007-12-31 16:17:48: mariat: hold on please
2007-12-31 16:20:22: Visitor76452: I am holding. I’ve looked three times, and the control panel says it’s “off” but I’m not seeing that result.
2007-12-31 16:21:53: mariat: ok - i check it as well
2007-12-31 16:22:21: mariat: the change shoul be reflected within the next 2 hrs
2007-12-31 16:22:43: mariat: if it is not please contact us back again
2007-12-31 16:23:10: Visitor76452: thanks
2007-12-31 16:23:28: mariat: welcome

I’ll have to update you on whether or not his settings ever got changed. As of the writing of this article, they’re still “ON”. Sigh.

UPDATE:
I checked again this morning, and the register_globals setting was still “ON”. Since it was New Year’s Day, I had to call phone support because online chat was down.

I had to wait 6 minutes on hold before someone picked up. I explained the issue again. I was then put on hold for another 16 minutes.

When the Aplus.net support person came back on, he said that it was now fixed. I refreshed my browser and indeed saw that this was true. But then he went on to say that the issue was not with Aplus.net, but rather with the file I had uploaded to view the PHP settings.

Now this file, contains a very simple, standard PHP function that is only one line. It is designed to show you a long list of PHP configuration settings. I use it all the time. The function simply says phpinfo() that’s it.

The Aplus.net support person said that because the file was uploaded using a secondary FTP user, that it didn’t work properly. Now, I’d done all of this client’s website development, which was substantial, using this secondary FTP user. This explanation makes no sense to me at all. I questioned him again, and he remained steadfast in this explanation.

So, being an engineer, I tested it. I simply re-uploaded the same file, with the same FTP user info…and if he was right, it should show register_globals as “ON”. But, of course, it didn’t. It still showed it as “OFF”. Therefore, this explanation, which makes no sense to me at all, was proven to be not true.

If any of you PHP experts out there read this and can explain to me why this explanation makes sense…please do leave me a comment. Because I think that Aplus.net just didn’t want to admit that their control panel PHP settings is simply broken.

UPDATE:
And the saga continues. The security warning from WebYep continues, and after asking the WebYep support person how this could possibly be, he said he suspected that the register_globals was not site-wide. He suggested I move my phpinfo.php file into the sub-directories of WebYep to verify.

And he was right! The Aplus.net control panel has failed to change the PHP settings site-wide. The register_globals is still “ON” inside the WebYep folders. Another contact to Aplus.net is now in my future…groan.

UPDATE:

Here’s the final solution. I had to switch to the originally created FTP user and delete all the PHP files, and reupload them. This switched the ini file that they were using (you could see the different ini files via phpinfo() depending on which user you were). So I don’t know why this worked, but this was how we permanently fixed.

Please do avoid using Aplus.net in the future for your website hosting. Much more trouble than they’re worth, and if you’re paying a website designer to interface with them, save yourself money and switch hosting companies ASAP.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 31st, 2007 at 5:58 pm and is filed under the Rants category. Read other Aldebaran Website Design Blog articles by returning to main blog page. Need a blog added to your website? Click here to read about blog installation services or click here to contact Aldebaran Web Design.