Hi All,

I'm receiving alot of e-mails from customers/members who can't login to their accounts. The're forwarded to my restricted access page which is where I send vistors trying to access restricted pages without logging in first.

I use the standard Macromedia login behavior with access restricted based on username, password and access level.

Everytime I receive these e-mails I use their login information to see if I could replicate the problem, but I am always able to login without problems. There's something causing a problem but I can't figure it out since it can't be replicated.

I believe as many as 10% of my members are having problems logging in. Has anyone experienced this problem before? What could be causing it. My host - Members computers - firewalls - What????

Please respond with any info

Thanks, Rob

My first reaction to the problem is that it is something amiss on your customers/ members computers. If their account details are correct and you can login with those details then that implies that the login process is working correctly. Where are you getting their login information from? There is a possibility that the users have got their login details wrong, but if you're picking it up directly from the database you wouldn't get the problem.

Having said its their problem... its not really as you've gotta do something about it.
Have you tried logging in as a customer then logging out and logging in again - to be honest I dont think you'll fail on a repeat attempt if you got in previously but its worth testing to make sure. Have you tested the process in different browsers - again I don't think this is the problem, as teh MM login behaviour is quite robust, but its worth eliminating it at this stage.

You are not doing anything 'fancy' like having your login page open up in a new window using javascript are you? That could cause problems for people who've disabled it.
On the same subject have you asked what software your customers are using? i.e. are they using Norton Internet Security or a firewall that might be blocking them. I think you have to ask them to see if there is a common link that you can identify.

You could post a link to your site up here and invite other forum members to test the login process for you.

Live the life you love
Love the life you live

Simon

[DWMX 2004]|[SQL]|[ASP/VBScript]|[XP-Pro]

Thanks for the reply Simon,

The problem doesn't seem to be that they are entering their login info incorrectly. If they did they would always be returned to the login page with the "wrong username or password" error message.

I do retrieve their login information from the database when testing.

I run a command right after the login page which increases the number of times a member logins in the database so I can keep track of who uses the site. But this command is only for my parent members and it doesn't seem to cause a problem because my babysitter members are having the same problems logging in and I don't run the command for them. Besides that i just have a remember me function from tom Muck on the login page.

The problem has to lie in the fact my members are not being authenticated when logging in.

Here's a link to a restricted page. www.phoneababysitter.com/Parents/Parents_control_panel.asp If you copy and paste it into your browser, you will end up seeing the page my members who can't login end up at. This is the page which i created to receive members trying to access restricted pages without logging in first.

It almost seems like the server doesn't authenticate the member quick enough and then they get booted to my error message page.

I'm on shared hosting "Readyhosting.com" in fact. If someone tries to login and the database server is to busy to take the request. What error message would it send back?

If any of you would be gracious enough to test my login process to see if you have problems logging in, I would appreciate it greatly.

The address is www.phoneababysitter.com Signing up as a parent only takes about a minute. After testing it a few times you can easily delete your record/account by clicking on the "discontinue your membership" which is found in the control panel.

I look forward to any help I can get!

Thanks, Rob

Hi Rob,

Just been on your site to test it using Firefox 1.0 and I'm running NIS - didn't get any problems. Tried getting my details wrong and was taken back to the login page with the error.
Couldn't get to the restricted link without logging in first.
So that whole side of things seems to be absolutely fine.

I think you might be onto something questioning the hosting, but I have sites hosted on shared servers that handle with no problems.
What database are you using for the back end? Access has trouble with more than 10 or so concurrent connections - I know they say 25, but in practice it slows right down when you go above 10.

Can you get any site statistics from your hosts, it might hold the answer?
I'll sleep on this and see if my brain works better in the morning

Live the life you love
Love the life you live

Simon

[DWMX 2004]|[SQL]|[ASP/VBScript]|[XP-Pro]

Hi Rob

Might also be a cookie issue as DW using a session variable to maintain the access level for the user. Sessions need cookies to be enabled on the client browser.

Digga

Sharing Knowledge Saves Valuable Time!!!

Thanks for the replies,

Simon I using Microsofts SQL2000 server which can handle alot, but my host also places up to 230 database on each server and I have no idea how many requests the other 229 databases serve up.

Any idea's on which error message is given if a request can't be handled by the the database server, or hows it handled?

Lee, I didn't realize DW user a cookie to maintain a session. While writing this message, I just change my browser settings to prompt me for cookies and tried to login again. After persistantly refusing to accept a cookie from my site I was sent to my restricted access page. I think you might of hit upon the problem Lee.

I'll start advising members who can't login and see is that solves this problem.

Thanks Guys - Anything else to add I'll look forward to hearing form you!

Even with the other DB's on the shared server I don't think SQL 2k would be so stressed as to cause the problems you're having. But at least that possibility can be crossed out.

Looks like its the cookies!
Good thinking Lee

Live the life you love
Love the life you live

Simon

[DWMX 2004]|[SQL]|[ASP/VBScript]|[XP-Pro]

Hi

Meant to say that the web server uses cookies (not the normal ones) when using session variables, not DW.

Digga

Sharing Knowledge Saves Valuable Time!!!

Hi Lee

So where does that place the problem?
Common sense tells me that its got to be the users computers / set ups that is causing the trouble...
Think there's anything in the timeout explanation???

Live the life you love
Love the life you live

Simon

[DWMX 2004]|[SQL]|[ASP/VBScript]|[XP-Pro]

Hi Simon

On the client machine, they need to make sure cookies are enabled for the website.

No I don't, you would have a script time-out error returned, well you should do.

Digga

Sharing Knowledge Saves Valuable Time!!!

Well I put up a new page explaining the possible login problems and hopefully this will cut down on the number of "I CAN'T LOGIN" e-mails I receive. I looked at my weblogs and it appears approx. 6% of my users can't get in.

www.phoneababysitter.com/Answers/login_help_babysitter_remedy.htm

Thanks again for the help and i'll try to update this post at later date indicating whether the number of failed logins has been reduced.

Cheers!