Firewall Optimization Stuck on ‘The changes have not yet taken effect’

Hey @neiljordan1,

Can you try checking for a plugin conflict? Deactivate all other plugins to see if that helps. If it does help, then reactivate the plugins one at a time to find the culprit(s), if any.

Can you also check for a theme conflict by switching to a default WordPress theme?

Thanks,

Gerald

Hey @neiljordan1,

Also, can you please check with your host to see if they’re blocking outbound cURL requests?

Thanks,

Gerald

Hi @wfgerald,

Unfortunately, turning off plugins & themes did not resolve the issue. The only other plugin running was the ‘Limit Login Attempts Reloaded’ plugin that comes by default, but even after deactivating that and switching back to the default ‘Twenty Nineteen’ theme, the problem remained the same.

I will contact my host about cURL blocks, as you requested.

Thank you.

Hi @wfgerald,

I have confirmed with Fasthosts that they are not blocking outbound cURL requests. They said that the issue must be something else.

Please advise.

Thank you.

Hey @neiljordan1,

Thanks for the update. Can you please email me your Diagnostics report so we can take a closer look at what the issue might be? From the WordPress Dashboard navigate to Wordfence > Tools > Diagnostics then click SEND REPORT BY EMAIL to send it to [email protected]. Please also add your www.remarpro.com username and update this post so we’ll know what it’s in reference to.

Thanks,

Gerald

Hi @wfgerald,

Thank you for the follow-up. I have emailed the diagnostics as requested (@neiljordan1 (Post # 11423400)).

Thank you.

Hey @neiljordan1,

Firstly, my apologies for the delayed response with this.

We took a look at the Diagnostics you sent (thanks) and it seems the user_ini.filename directive has a value of no value, it should be a value of .user.ini. Can you please reach out to Fasthosts and ask why it’s set to no value?

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Gerald

Thanks for the update, Gerald. I will reach out to the right away to confirm. Please let me know if you find anything else from the diagonostics in the meantime.

Thank you.

Hi Gerald,

Below is the response from FastHosts. Please advise how you wish to proceed.

Thank you.

“Checking in our shared server, the user ini file is set to no value I’m afraid …
To ensure platform stability and avoid excessive usage of the shared server resources, a limitation is set and one of those is the user.ini file. This server configuration is fixed and unmodifiable.
Apologies for the inconvenience caused.”

Hi Gerald,

FastHosts are also asking for the following information. I would appreciate if you can confirm it, so they can help analyse the issue further:

“Also, i would need you to check as well the system requirements of your WP Wordfence (e.g php memory limit, post max size and upload max size)”

Thank you.
Neil

Hey @neiljordan1 (Neil),

After discussing this with a colleague I’ve found that this is a known issue with Fasthosts due to their configuration and I don’t believe it’s going to work.

Just to be certain, can you ask Fasthosts to see if the auto_prepend_file PHP directive can be set via php.ini or .htaccess instead in your account. Note that this isn’t due to a resource requirement but rather a server configuration.

It’s worth noting that all other features should work just fine. But this is preventing the Firewall from working.

Please let me know what they find.

Thanks,

Gerald

Hi Gerald,

The input I got from Fast Hosts on this was as follows:

“I do apologise that we cannot edit the php.ini since you’re using a shared using platform. If you want to wordfence to be work, you need to have your own sever such as Cloud server or Dedicated server in order for you to change the php.ini.”

So does this mean that the firewall will not work whatsoever?

Thank you.

Hey @kinisth,

Unfortunately, you aren’t going to be able to use the Firewall with your current setup. It needs the auto_prepend_file set in the php.ini to function. However, the other features should work just fine.

Please let us know if anything else comes up.

Thanks,

Gerroald