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Large PDFs result in Internal Server Error

 
 


nigelparry.net
User

Aug 2, 2002, 8:25 AM

Post #1 of 4 (2403 views)
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Large PDFs result in Internal Server Error Can't Post
Despite permitting PDF upload in the options, and having it work without incident on small PDFs, when I tried to upload a 2.6MB PDF today on the test server, it resulted in that familiar message:

[code]
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
[/code]

Is this a known issue? If so, what is the maximum file size of a PDF that can be uploaded?

Nigel Parry
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(This post was edited by nigelparry on Aug 2, 2002, 8:26 AM)


Luke
Staff / Moderator


Aug 2, 2002, 4:28 PM

Post #2 of 4 (2390 views)
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Re: [nigelparry] Large PDFs result in Internal Server Error [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Nigel,

From what I'm reading, this internal server error sounds like it's being caused by a server timeout.

Most web servers are set up to time out if a request takes too long. This is often set to two minutes. As you stated in your post, smaller PDF files upload just fine, so the request to upload the file may be timing out because the file is too large.

You may want to ask your hosting provider if they have a server time out set for CGI processes (and if they do have a time out set, how long does it take before the server times out) or if there are other restrictions for uploading files this large. Additionally, you want to take a look at your error logs to see what the cause of the exact error may be.

I'm here to help, so keep me posted on what you find out. :)
Luke Holzken
Product Development


nigelparry.net
User

Aug 3, 2002, 9:51 AM

Post #3 of 4 (2379 views)
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Re: [Luke] Large PDFs result in Internal Server Error [In reply to] Can't Post
Well, here's what the ISP said:

[blockquote]The default cgi timeout is set to approximately 30 seconds of CPU time. If your script takes longer than this, you will need to modify your script so that it will work under these conditions. Unfortunately, on a shared server, we cannot increase this value, as it will affect server performance.[/blockquote]

I guess what I would need to do is test a variety of increasing PDF files and figure out the largest that will safely upload for the Internet connection of the person maintaining that section, or upload large PDFs manually via FTP and link to them.

This is not particularly frustrating. It's good to know the limitations of software and services as it is the strengths.

PS: Despite having tried to change my settings in the personal profile of this discussion board to HTML and Markup and using both, I can't get the tags of either to work properly and seem to be locked into "Plain Text Only" posts even through that option is NOT selected in my profile preferences.

Nigel
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For more information about Nigel Parry and nigelparry.net 
websites please see http://nigelparry.net

nigelparry.net: award-winning communications 
solutions for clients with something to say

Website & print design
Internet, public relations & media consulting

(This post was edited by nigelparry on Aug 3, 2002, 9:53 AM)


Dave
Staff / Moderator


Aug 5, 2002, 10:08 AM

Post #4 of 4 (2360 views)
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Re: [nigelparry] Large PDFs result in Internal Server Error [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Nigel,

The other possibility is that you might be running out of memory. Some virtual hosting providers can have pretty low memory limits.

You might ask your provider what the memory limit is for perl processes and if there is a "clock time" timeout in additional to the CPU time timeout. "CPU time" is time spent where the server is actually doing a lot of work, where as "clock time" or real time is just actual time elapsed. If your server has a clock time limit of 60 seconds and uploading your file will take longer than that, you won't be able to upload those files through the browser using any sort of upload script, whether it's in Article Manager or something else, because the server will always kill the program before it can finish receiving and saving the file.

Just some more info for you, we've actually run into this issue with some web hosting providers and it can be pretty frustrating.

How long does it take in your browser before you get an error?

Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com