Dear itthinx Support,
I have been using Groups File Access for several years on my password-protected site, [https://volunteer.encinitastemple.org/](https://volunteer.encinitastemple.org/), and it has been very useful. I have hundreds of PDF files whose access is controlled by member group.
My current setup is:
* Groups File Access version: 4.0.0
* WordPress version: 6.9.4
* Divi theme version: 4.27.6
* PHP version: 8.3
I am now seeing a puzzling issue. Some files continue to be served correctly through Groups File Access, while others return a 404 error even though they worked fine for years.
Example failing URL:
https://volunteer.encinitastemple.org/?gfid=57
Error shown:
“This page can’t be found”
HTTP ERROR 404
I have confirmed that the file exists in the server uploads directory and that its file permissions appear to be correct.
Because some files work and others fail, this does not appear to be a simple global configuration issue. Our users are being affected, so I would appreciate your help in identifying the cause and resolving this as soon as possible.
Thank you,
Suresh
Comments
10 responses to “Urgent: Intermittent 404 errors”
Hi Suresh,
After reviewing the Groups File Access setup, it appeared that the issue with files not being accessible related to a change in the path of the files’ storage location, possibly due to a recent site migration to a new hosting server.
Such cases can be resolved using the update process which is described in Groups File Access documentation found here, https://docs.itthinx.com/document/groups-file-access/file-access/, under Moving to another Server section.
Kind regards,
George
This was precisely the issue. After making the database changes to reflect the files’ new location, all is well.
Your responsiveness and excellent diagnosis are greatly appreciated!
Suresh
Thanks again for your feedback and kind words, greatly appreciated!
Cheers
Forgot to add…
We are using the latest version of the Groups plugin.
Perfect, thanks!
Thanks for your response.
To answer your questions…
1. We are not using any caching plugins. Godaddy hosting has some built-in caching and also there is CDN. Both of these cannot be turned off through the dashboard. Also, they have both been used for some years now and have been reliable. I tried appending /?nocache=1 to turn off the cache for a URL request and I still see the 404 error.
2. I can provide you with credentials to access the site, but I don’t wish to post them here. Can you email me directly, and I can share the credentials.
Thanks again!
Hi Suresh,
Many thanks for the additional info, we will follow up regarding the credentials directly to your email.
Regarding cache, although you have already tried the nocache URL parameter, this might not affect their object cache. If you could follow the steps to Flush your cache we could see if that makes a difference.
There is also a way to set up Cache exceptions, excluding a page where you place links to files handled by Groups File Access can make sense, too.
Cheers!
I have tried flushing the cache numerous times. Has not made a difference.
The ability to make Cache exceptions is not accessible to me. It requires an upgrade to the hosting package I have with GoDaddy.
Looking out for your email to share credentials.
Thanks!
Dear Suresh,
We are following up regarding temporary access credentials which can be sent to george at itthinx dot com. If possible, access to a staging version is preferred. If that is not possible, you can provide credentials to the live site.
Please make sure to make a full backup of your site and database. Of course our team will avoid to take any steps that would require to revert to a backup, but a full backup is highly recommended in any case.
Kind regards,
George
Hi Suresh,
Welcome to our support channel and thanks for using our tools!
The issue that you describe could be related to caching, but we would need to look into this in more detail to be sure.
Could you please provide the following information:
– What caching plugin is being used on the site? Particularly, is object caching enabled?
– Are you using the latest version of the Groups plugin?
– Please create a temporary account (or the access in the next point) for us that has access to the file you mentioned. We are going to use the credentials to check the server’s response when trying to access it and the related pages.
– Please create a temporary admin access to a staging version of your site if that is possible. If you do not have a staging version available, admin access to the site would be ok, this is to run additional tests and check the configuration.
Once we have the above, we will try to pinpoint any potential issues.
Cheers!