Install Imagick for WordPress on CPanel WHM Server

A quick how-to Install Imagick for WordPress on CPanel WHM Server.

Running Site Health check within and updated wordpress site shows:

One or more recommended modules are missing

PHP modules perform most of the tasks on the server that make your site run. Any changes to these must be made by your server administrator.
The WordPress Hosting Team maintains a list of those modules, both recommended and required, in the team handbook (opens in a new tab).

Warning The optional module, imagick, is not installed, or has been disabled.

Following many of the search links to resolve this leads to using the Module Installer PECL via the WHM console, but for me I got this error:

WARNING: channel “pecl.php.net” has updated its protocols, use “pecl channel-update pecl.php.net” to update Warning: popen() has been disabled for security reasons in OS/Guess.php on line 241 Warning: fgets() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in OS/Guess.php on line 242 Warning: pclose() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in OS/Guess.php on line 251 downloading imagick-3.4.4.tgz … Starting to download imagick-3.4.4.tgz (253,434 bytes) ……………………………………………..done: 253,434 bytes 19 source files, building running: phpize Warning: popen() has been disabled for security reasons in PEAR/Builder.php on line 465 ERROR: failed to run `phpize’

Continuing my search ended up at the CPanel forums and a resolution for installing imagick from cPanelMichael and a command line option – noting that I modified my command line to use ea-php73 which is the target version of php for this WordPress site.

/opt/cpanel/ea-php70/root/usr/bin/pecl install imagick

Reviewing my own setup, I had already used the following script.

/scripts/installimagemagick”
before proceeding with the “imagick” PECL installation

Running the Site Health check again showed the same issue. So I restarted Apache and the PHP-FPM services and tested again. Issue resolved.

Bigpond Telstra Foxtel Cable Modem Outages

This is my blog of Bigpond Telstra Foxtel Cable Modem Outages.

It has become a constant and I need to document to support a claim.

Another 20 minute outage in Croydon Vic 3136 at 1345 to 1405 Thursday 1st Nov 2018.

Powered modem down and up, no change. Disconnected fully and reconnected, powered up again. Still no Internet green light at 1455. Started to configure my alternative notebook via iPhone to get connectivity and at 1405 Internet ‘magically’ appears.

That is not modem or cable fault. It is a technician changing stuff and power down / power up of kit at the exchange. I am certain of it and it has been happening ever since the NBN roll-out started in my area.

Time wasting.

How to change iTunes backup location Windows 10

My C: drive  (SSD) was short on space and one of the culprits is iTunes Backups. So this article is how to change iTunes backup location on Windows 10.

Obviously using an SSD for performance on a desktop is great, but not so great when you find that it is almost full. 

Using WinDirStat, a long time favourite utility, I confirmed that aside from the ever disk hungry Windows 10 install, the next highest consumer of my precious SSD disk space was iTunes Backups directory. 

So I could rid myself of some of the older iPhone and iPad backups on my drive, but I thought I would simply relocate it to my slower, but much larger D: drive where the capacity is not an issue. 

This article from CopyTrans was relating to Windows 7 and selling their products, but it gave me the pointers on what to do. 

The key points are:

  1. create a new location on the alternative drive, D: in my case
  2. copy your existing backups to the new location
  3. rename the old backup directory
  4. create a symbolic link to the new location from the old
  5. remove the old backup directory after testing

The main pain points were mklink not being recognised as a command and the need to use case sensitive path names.

Covering the process in detail:

  1. Create a new location on D:
    • I was already using a path copy from c: for my music copy and I just needed to create the  
    • d:\Users\thowden\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup
  2. Copy existing backup files to the new directory – straight forward 
  3. Rename the old backups directory as backup-old just in case of accidents
  4. Create a symbolic link
  5. This is where it went pear-shaped as the mklink command in powershell gave me an error
    • mklink : The term ‘mklink’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.
    • This is easily fixed by prefixing the mklink command with cmd /c
    • so the command syntax is:  
      cmd /c mklink /J <linked path> <target path> 
    • Which gave me a new symbolic link but an error when I tried to use it:
          “Location is not available”
    • Which I confirmed was an issue with the command because I used all lower case characters and not the case-sensitive version. 
    • Making those two changes the corrected syntax for Windows 10 powershell is:
        cmd /c mklink /J “%APPDATA%\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup2” “D:\Users\thowden\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup”
    • (Swap the target path for whatever you want to use)
  6. Next I tested by running a backup from iTunes and checking that it was stored in the D: drive.
  7. Finally I deleted the old backups directory from the C: drive.

Side note:  The symbolic link directory is created in the standard path and redirects to the alternative path. The directory (or folder) is created with a Windows shortcut symbol. If you get it wrong, just delete the shortcut, it will not delete the target folder.

So my how to change iTunes backup location on Windows 10 was successful.

Ebay turning off ‘Active Content’

eBay has been nagging about turning off ‘Active Content’ for about a year now.

“From June 2017, you’ll no longer be able to use active content when creating your listings. Find out how it affects your listings.”

During that time I have had a ‘look’ at and they quote:

“Examples of active content include JavaScript, Flash, plug-ins and form actions.”

BUT…. and it is a big BUT for me, when you get into the ‘fine print’ this also includes a number of standard HTML4 tags like center and table… 

AND THEN….  (yes I am shouting) we are “Mobile Non-Compatible”… GASP, SHOCK, HORROR….

Ok, I have had a Valium and calmed myself from apoplexy… (Exaggeration level = 2.6)

I do a lot with eBay for various reasons, including my redundant household items that I need to dispose of and I have been using eBay since 2000 to vend my reproduction toy boxes, ephemera, and toy car spare parts. It is a hobby but has been a major aspect of my life for almost 30 years. 

So if you have read this far, you are probably looking at trying to fix your eBay listings for the first time in a decade. While you were ‘warned’ ages ago, the eBay communications have been sadly lacking in being explicit, resulting in it now being June 2017 and your listings will be changed even though you never had any ‘active content’ in the first place. BUT… you did, ‘wo is me’, use HTML4 and it is now time to use HTML5….  Argghhh… 

OK, so now that my rant is ended. What to do ?

Perhaps the easy way is to get someone else to help, the old ‘phone  friend’ technique. 

There are a number of sites that appear reputable and offer themes or designs for ebay templates. 

http://www.i-ways.net offer (and is linked from ebay) a mobile-friendly testing service. 

Try http://www.i-ways.net/mobile-friendly/en-au/ to test one of your listings…  mine failed miserably. 

The following links are to the posts that I have created as I step through the minefield that is ‘creating compliant listings for ebay’.

First up this is the eBay seller information page on Active Content. http://sellercentre.ebay.com.au/activecontent

Which details lots of stuff about Java, hit counters, etc. and buried down towards the end of the page is the, oh yeah, stop using these HTML4 Elements as well and a list of the dozen tags that will no longer be supported. 

Among these are the common ones for centering your ad and setting font styles, etc. There are some that I would not have used anyway., like ‘<applet>’

So eBay then recommend the i-ways.net “Free eBay Template Service” but be warned that they want to know everything about you in exchange for the service, so the “price” is your information and a direct connection to your eBay account. I opted to register but did not connect my ebay store at this stage. 

If you are doing the same, have some images ready! (png or jpg formats)

Store Logo 400 x 140px (3Mbyte max file size) and Store Banner 1200x550px (5Mbyte max file size).  

 

[links coming soon…]