Resolved Site suddenly displaying "403 Forbidden"

[jkarakiz]

I tried to view my website today and I'm suddenly getting this error.

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access this resource.Server unable to read htaccess file, denying access to be safe

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

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My website has been working perfectly for over 5 years. I've never had any issues nor have I messed around with the htaccess file. This error has popped up out of nowhere. Any solutions?

 

[Anna]

You have read that we been moving from cPanel to DirectAdmin, right? They do work a bit differently so in some cases that has come up.

Do you have an index file (ie index.html, index.php)? If you have a designated landing page with a different name you'll have to tell the server you want that to load by default, or change its name (and any links going to that file). To tell the server that your landing page should be the one called home.php (as an example) you would need to edit/create .htaccess and add the following (without quotes): "DirectoryIndex home.php". Change home.php to match your file.

Were you previously having the domain show a directory listing?
If you did you will now need to edit/create .htaccess and add the following line (without quotes): "Options +Indexes". This is due to the directorly listing being turned of by default for security.

If none of the above works, let me know and I'll investigate further.

ADDED: I notice you use cloudflare for your personal domain, did you update the A record at their end to reflect the new server, and IP, your account is on? The IP for your server is: 198.91.81.15

 

[jkarakiz]

You have read that we been moving from cPanel to DirectAdmin, right? They do work a bit differently so in some cases that has come up.

Do you have an index file (ie index.html, index.php)? If you have a designated landing page with a different name you'll have to tell the server you want that to load by default, or change its name (and any links going to that file). To tell the server that your landing page should be the one called home.php (as an example) you would need to edit/create .htaccess and add the following (without quotes): "DirectoryIndex home.php". Change home.php to match your file.

Were you previously having the domain show a directory listing?
If you did you will now need to edit/create .htaccess and add the following line (without quotes): "Options +Indexes". This is due to the directorly listing being turned of by default for security.

If none of the above works, let me know and I'll investigate further.

ADDED: I notice you use cloudflare for your personal domain, did you update the A record at their end to reflect the new server, and IP, your account is on? The IP for your server is: 198.91.81.15

Hi thanks for taking the time to reply.

In regards to me having an index landing page on the server, I actually had a Wordpress installation setup. Like I said its been working perfectly fine right up until yesterday.

Yes I have updated all my cloudflare information.

 

[Anna]

Why I ask about cloudflare is because on your personal domain (which is the pointer) it gives the error, but the default domain (that should show the same) does not give the error.

Those two domains should by all logical show the same content. Could you temporarily take the proxy off from cloudflare just to investigate further?

 

[jkarakiz]

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Why I ask about cloudflare is because on your personal domain (which is the pointer) it gives the error, but the default domain (that should show the same) does not give the error.

Those two domains should by all logical show the same content. Could you temporarily take the proxy off from cloudflare just to investigate further?

Ohhh you're 100% right. I tried to view the website using the X10 domain and it loaded.

I have no idea how to fix it though. I'm not used to this new cPanel layout.

If I login to my domain provider, can I remove the CloudFlare DNS and re-add the X10 DNS temporarily ??

 

[Anna]

The better option would be to login to Cloudflare, and disable the proxy that way, but still keeping the DNS, as that way we can see in what end the problem lies and what information they have on their name servers, should be a simple switch in their dns manager.

 

[jkarakiz]

The better option would be to login to Cloudflare, and disable the proxy that way, but still keeping the DNS, as that way we can see in what end the problem lies and what information they have on their name servers, should be a simple switch in their dns manager.

I actually just fixed it!

I took your advice. I logged into the CloudFlare account and edited the A entry with the IP you provided above.

Now it all seems to be working!!

Thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it!