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My foruum is broken

Got a question I wanted to ask this before I contact my web host. 
I went to visit one of my Elk forums and found it was missing some important files.  Its not down, but not sure whats missing.    Can you have a look and tell me what may have happened?

My site:    abstractartforum (dot) com

Now this is a sub website and addon domain to the main site.  I have two other forums (with separate addon domains) under the main website that are working fine, including the main website.

When I logged into the host to send them a support ticket, here was a notice they had up:

Code: [Select]
Just a quick notice to let you know that there has recently been a new exploit detected in the OpenVZ kernel (kernel ID removed), and an update to the latest kernel version should patch the issue. We are proceeding to update all of our nodes immediately.
 
Not sure what the above means, but  could that have caused this and should I wait a day or so to see if they fix it?  Or, is there something I can do right now to correct it to get my site back up.    Thanks....
Last Edit: June 30, 2016, 09:13:35 am by elk_is_cool

Re: My foruum is broken

Reply #1 –

The domain you gave has no connection to MySQL and is simply listing files in a folder. Since I can see a favicon.ico, I am assuming that it is the root folder and yet there are no other folders in it ( unlikely if you are using Elk ).

Someone / something has messed up your installation. From which end, I don't know.

Re: My foruum is broken

Reply #2 –

but also index.php is missing, and maybe other files, so clearly something went wrong on server

Re: My foruum is broken

Reply #3 –

Absolutely no idea what could have happened there.
I would save Settings.php (and Settings_bak.php), delete everything else and upload again the files.
This way you should get the forum back as it was (except for addons and themes installed that you should re-upload and install again, since they are gone with the files, I suspect there is no way to restore them).

As to why a lot of stuff was wiped out, you should ask your host for details.
Bugs creator.
Features destroyer.
Template killer.

Re: My foruum is broken

Reply #4 –

Thanks everyone.  I will do as you say Emanuele and see what happens.  @meetdilip ... I have my main sites folder, (a WP blog), then several Elk folders (all with there own domain outside  the WP folder) all inside of public_html root folder. 
I didn't know if it was the "exploit" the web host was talking about may have caused this, or if I may have done something to cause it  Anyway, off to follow Emanulele's suggestions.
Last Edit: June 30, 2016, 11:37:43 am by elk_is_cool

Re: My foruum is broken

Reply #5 –

Would I lose everyones posts and images or does the DB hold all that?  Basically delete the old forum files re-upload a fresh copy and replace settings.php and settings_bak.php ?  I hope its that simple...  :-)

Re: My foruum is broken

Reply #6 –

You would need your DB for posts. If you have cPanel or similar, get the backup. I wouldn't trust a DB on compromised server though. But if it is ok, it can give you all your posts. Once you install Elk again, you would be needing to import data from backed up DB ( at least, that's my way of doing recovery).

Normally, it will be in forum root where you will find the forum favicon. What is the status of public_html folder ? Did you check via FTP ? Is it affected ?

Re: My foruum is broken

Reply #7 –

I feel we are not talking about the same thing. :P
And of course, before take action, if you have any doubt, ask first.

First off: are you using 1.0 or 1.1? (I don't remember which one you were using...)

From your current (broken) installation, you keep Settings.php and Settings_bak.php.
From your current (broken) installation, you delete everything else.

From the install package you pick anything except Settings.php and Settings_bak.php and the install files (install.php,   install_1-0_mysql.sql and install_1-0_postgresql.sql), and upload it back in its place.

If the "attachments" folder was still present on the server the attachments would still be there (because I would have said "delete anything except the attachments directory"), but by the look of it, the attachments directory was one of those removed, so unless you have a back up you are out of luck for the attachments.
For the posts, hoping your host didn't delete the database as well, you should find them again.
Bugs creator.
Features destroyer.
Template killer.

Re: My foruum is broken (SOLVED)

Reply #8 –

Wow!  Wanted to say thanks Emanuele and Meetdilip.  I just reinstalled a fresh copy after wiping out all files and folders, and replaced the two "settings" files, and BINGO BANGO it worked!  Forum is back up as if nothing happened!

I cant get over how "cool" Elkarte forum software is....(hence my member name)....thanks again.  If there is a way to show this thread as SOLVED let me know.
Last Edit: June 30, 2016, 12:05:21 pm by elk_is_cool
 

Re: My foruum is broken

Reply #9 –

You are welcome :)