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Admin Panel: How to Restore Magento ® Access

Sep 22, 2014 2 min read 669 views
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Admin Panel: How to Restore Magento ® Access

Sometimes, after making modifications to your web store, you may notice that some website functions stop working.

Let us review how to restore access to the admin panel of Magento ® after error 503 and transferring your site to a new hosting server.

What should be done after error 503 occurs?

Error 503 is a critical server error. If it happens you will see the following error message:

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Before making any premature conclusions and trying to restart the server or search for the problem, answer a few questions:

1. Have you changed your internet browser?

2. Have you cleaned your cache and browsing history recently?

3. Do you use a different computer?

If the answer to at least one question is ‘yes’ then this may be a reason for the problem. The errors like 500 or 503 etc. often happen if you work with the Mozilla Firefox browser which may not always accept and transfer data correctly. Try to access your admin control panel using another browser, e.g. Google Chrome.

Try to regularly clean cache and cookies in your browser as it may not allow you to view some sites or pages due to their cached copies and even slow down your computer. You can use a free program CoClever, it is very convenient for cleaning unnecessary files from your hard drives.

The problem is a little more difficult to solve if the computer was changed and the old one is already unavailable. You will have to do some work on the databases and root catalogs.

If any of these actions do not resolve the problem and you are still unable to access your admin panel, use the following instruction: on your hosting server, go to the root directory of your web store and find the file called maintenance.flag. This file should only contain one word. In order to restore normal functionality of Magento ® admin, you need to erase the file content and save the changes.

maintenance.flag is a file automatically created by Magento ® eCommerce Platform in order to save and protect the data when some server malfunction happens. Other CMS’s do not usually provide such features although it is very convenient.  This is but one of many reasons Magento eCommerce solutions make the most sense for store owners that are serious about truly making a living from their sites.

Not able to access your admin control panel after hosting server change?

This problem occurs quite often. Each web store owner has at least once changed their hosting provider to a better or a cheaper provider. After having changed the hosting for Magento ®, you need to make sure that your databases do not use cookies and site history from the previous hosting space. In other words, they need to be re-configured.

You will need to access phpMyAdmin and find the database table called core_config_data. The database configuration settings are located there. In order to adjust them to the new hosting space, you need to change the lines

web/cookie/cookie_domain
web/unsecure/base
web/secure/base
web/cookie/cookie_path

to the ones appropriate for the new server. Then save the changes and try to access your admin control panel again.

Please note that all work related to correction of access errors should be performed by the chief administrator.  By proceeding in this process you are able to ensure project stability on all levels.  While others may have the talent to take care of the issues at hand, failing to follow the streamlined approach can lead to unnecessary and undesired future issues.

HOT TOP: Do not forget to backup all data before starting any work.  Even if it seems like an easy task to accomplish, if something goes wrong you may find yourself serving a less than desirable user experience which can inevitably lead to customers abandoning their shopping carts and ultimately lost sales as a result.

After all, changes are done always clean var/cache to prevent your store from looking for the old pages and paths.  Not only will this help you to stay organized but when search engine spiders arrive on your site, they will be able to understand where key and core information is and as a result rank your project better on their search engines.

If you have any issues with restoring access to your admin panel of Magento ®, you may use the service of GoMage specialists. Please also share your thoughts and experience on resolving these types of problems in the comments below.

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