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Abandoned by my PHP Developer

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 4:55 am
by Bernsey
Hi everyone, i have just joined this site in an attempt to try and get information and help from you experienced people.

I have just had a site created by a friend of a friend who did the site for me quite cheap and he seemed to be a very fast effective developer. The site was tested on his server and has now been uploaded to the domain space. The trouble is that i paid him for the site as it was completed and he said he would pick up the snag list later, since then i found out that he never had any intention of picking up any snag list or making any further changes i was asking him to make to the site.

So. I logged into the site with my hosting provider and changed the passwords on the databases, yes i know i am stupid. I didnt keep the original passwords on the two DB's and now the site doesnt work at all. What i need is some information about where to edit the site and get the site back online, i presume there are pointers within the site to the db's where there must be a password store. Any advice or help at this point would be much appreciated.

Re: Abandoned by my PHP Developer

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:08 am
by adroit
Hi Friend,

Search the database connection file of your site and replace new database username/password in that.
Regards

Re: Abandoned by my PHP Developer

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:10 am
by Bernsey
Thanks for the information, can you tell me where i should look and what the extension of the file will be? Is it just another .php file or something different?

Your help is much appreciated.

Re: Abandoned by my PHP Developer

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:12 am
by adroit
Yes it will be .php file. Try to search mysql_connect(...) PHP function in all your site.

Re: Abandoned by my PHP Developer

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:30 am
by jayshields
Might not be a PHP file. Some developers use .inc or could even use .info, .txt or leave the extension out completely. Just look for files which sounds like it might hold it. Probably be config, mysql_conn, or something like that, and then as said previously, search for the mysql_connect() function call.

Re: Abandoned by my PHP Developer

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 5:40 am
by Bernsey
Thanks for your help everyone, i managed to find what you suggested and changed the password in the file, i have uploaded the new php file and the site is back online.

My next problem is how to get the admin password from the my.sql database

But i am half way there, thanks again

Re: Abandoned by my PHP Developer

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:02 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
Most providers offer PHPMyAdmin access to the databases - a quick look through that easy to use interface should uncover tables for users/admins/roles or similar. If any noted password looks like a 32 character mash of letters and numbers you might need to read up on the practice of hashing passwords so they are not stored in plain text - hopefully the hashing algorithm is identified somewhere. Usually it's MD5 or SHA1 - and both are easy to work with, there are even websites where you can hash a new password, and insert the new hash into the database (which is the simplest procedure in these cases).

Re: Abandoned by my PHP Developer

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 7:10 am
by Bernsey
Hey, thanks very much for that, i simply went to http://www.zappersoftware.com/Help/md5.php and generated a new hash code from the password i wanted. I pasted this into the DB through the online untility and it works a treat.

Thanks very much to everyone who contributed to my dilema, - all done - sorted!

Thanks again

:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o