Avatar uploaded to Amazon S3 although selected to be saved on local server
By Phivos on Tuesday, 08 September 2015
Posted in General Issues
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Hi there,

We recently enabled remote storage to Amazon S3 for EasySocial. The same time we have cometchat and smart shoutbox extensions installed on our joomla website. These two extensions were using the users' avatars taken from EasySocial. Once we have set up the cron to store remotely the EasySocial files to Amazon S3, these two extensions stopped displaying the users' avatars because the avatars' storage path has changed from the local server to the remote server. In order to correct the issue we selected the avatars to be stored on our local server from the path:
joomla backend/components/easysocial/settings/remote storages

But the avatars are still remotely stored to Amazon S3 despite the fact that we selected these to be saved to the local server. To reproduce the issue just upload one avatar. The avatar will be displayed on the cometchat extension for around 5 minutes only (the time that the cron is set to run and transfer the avatars to Amazon S3, although this is not selected as explained above). We also checked Amazon S3 and we found the new avatars stored there meaning that they have been transferred indeed.

In addition, if we store the avatars on our local server this means that if a user uploads 50 avatars during the time he/she uses our site, this means that all 50 photos will be saved to out local server, is this correct? We are just trying to understand the extend of the memory needed in case we finally store the avatars to our local server, as we do not see any other solution at the moment.

Regards,
Hey Phivos,

Currently if you have switched from Amazon back to Joomla, it isn't possible to pull the images back to Joomla This is something that will be addressed in version 1.5
Mark
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Tuesday, 08 September 2015 03:56
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Dear Mark,

Thanks for the prompt reply. So you mean that the option with which we selected the avatars to be stored on our local server from the path:
joomla backend/components/easysocial/settings/remote storages
is not working?

How we can resolve the issue? Which path we should give to CometChat support team in order to trace the avatars i.e. what is the path to Amazon S3 in their terms?
[Amazon S3 bucket?]/media/com_easysocial/avatars

Regards,
Phivos
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Tuesday, 08 September 2015 04:09
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Dear Mark,

No perhaps there has been a misunderstanding. We do not care about the images already transferred to Amazon S3. From now onwards we mean, even if we select the avatars to be saved to our local server as explained above, these are not saved to the local server but they are transferred to Amazon S3. Always speaking about new avatars uploaded after we selected the avatars to be saved to our local server.

Regards,
Phivos
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Tuesday, 08 September 2015 04:12
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This is a bit urgent as we have open tickets with the other two extension providers and just now we found out the problem. We need to store the avatars to our local server. When we select only the avatars to be saved to our local server these are still stored to Amazon S3 along with the rest EasySocial material. Thank you in advance.
Phivos
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Tuesday, 08 September 2015 14:54
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This is just an update to the above. The issue on the avatars integration has been fixed by cometchat. So in case we revert back to local server then the avatars will be lost again. Please note that the selected option in the joomla backend/components/easysocial/settings/remote storages is right now set to local server for the avatars but still the avatars are saved to Amazon S3 and so they fixed it based on this path. In case you fix it please let us know.
Phivos
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Tuesday, 08 September 2015 18:25
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Hey Phivos,

I am really sorry that delay of this reply,

Can you provide us with your FTP access again? Because I've tried to connect but hitting this : 
Command:	MLSD

Error:	Connection timed out

Error:	Failed to retrieve directory listing
Arlex Wong
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Tuesday, 08 September 2015 18:58
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Yes please see the details in the secure area.

In addition, if we store the avatars on our local server this means that if a user uploads 50 avatars during the time he/she uses our site, this means that all 50 photos will be saved to out local server, is this correct? We are just trying to understand the extend of the memory needed in case we finally store the avatars to our local server, as we do not see any other solution at the moment.

Thank you for the prompt response. Sorry for the troubles caused.
Phivos
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Tuesday, 08 September 2015 19:41
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Hey Phivos,

I've tried to connect again, but still hitting the same warning : 
Error:	Connection timed out

Error:	Failed to retrieve directory listing


By the way, can you try download my file and replace into JoomlaFolder\administrator\components\com_easysocial\includes\cron\hooks\storage.php and see how it goes?

Yes, regarding with your question at above, when you upload 50 photo, these 50 photos also will store in local server if you set backend > components > easysocial > settings > remote storages > avatar - local server .

Can you give it a try and see how it goes?
Arlex Wong
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Tuesday, 08 September 2015 20:21
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Dear Arlex,

Thank you very much for the prompt reply. We uploaded the file and it is working properly. But if we select the avatars to be stored to Amazon S3 these continue to be saved to the local server i.e. exactly the opposite that was happening before. It is like the selection in the path:
backend > components > easysocial > settings > remote storages > avatar
does not function.

There is no need to fix the button for us. In case we need to store the avatars in Amazon S3 we will upload the original storage.php file that we kept and use it. Thank you very much.

Regards,
Phivos
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Wednesday, 09 September 2015 03:25
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You're welcome. by the way this fix will be included in Easysocial 1.4
Arlex Wong
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Wednesday, 09 September 2015 16:06
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Dear Arlex,

We upgraded to EasySocial 1.4.2 but the avatars now are stored on the local server although the selected option in the "joomla backend/components/easysocial/settings/remote storages" was set to "Amazon S3" for the avatars i.e. upon upgrade the selected option was lost/not working.

Following the above discussion, in order to solve the issue we uploaded in the path:
JoomlaFolder\administrator\components\com_easysocial\includes\cron\hooks\storage.php

the "old" storage.php file (from version 1.3.30) and the avatars are now correctly saved to Amazon S3.

Please let us know if the treatment followed by us is correct, in order not to face any other issues by uploading the "old" storage.php file.

Regards,
Phivos
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Saturday, 17 October 2015 19:59
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Hey Phivos,

I am really sorry for the delay of this reply as it is a weekend for us here. Arlex isn't around currently but I will check back with him again what was the issue as soon as the week starts
Mark
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Sunday, 18 October 2015 00:12
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Dear Mark,

Of course. I was not expecting a reply during the weekend. Thanks for the reply.

Regards,
Phivos
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Sunday, 18 October 2015 00:27
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Thanks for understanding Phivos
Mark
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Sunday, 18 October 2015 01:11
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Hey Phivos,

I am really sorry for the delay of this reply,

It seems like we have updated that sync avatar function get storage default type path from this file JoomlaFolder\administrator\components\com_easysocial\includes\cron\hooks\storage.php

Can you download my attached file and replace into same file location and see how it goes?

If the issue still persists, can you re-setup a FTP access so I can able to troubleshoot on this issue again?
Arlex Wong
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Monday, 19 October 2015 11:33
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Dear Arlex,

We uploaded the attached storage.php to the specified location and it works. This means that the issue was not corrected with the upgrade and that we have to have it in mind every time there is an EasySocial update, is our understanding correct? Thank you.

Please see the credentials in the site details tab.

Regards,
Phivos
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Monday, 19 October 2015 12:52
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Hey Phivos,

Thanks for getting back to us that attached file is work now, I already applied this fix in next release version, so you no need to re-apply above attached file into your site for every update.
Arlex Wong
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Monday, 19 October 2015 13:11
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Ok Arlex, thank you.
Phivos
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Monday, 19 October 2015 13:31
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You're welcome.

I will mark this thread as resolved and lock it to avoid any confusions in the future, but if you need any help please feel free to start a new thread in our forums.
Arlex Wong
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Monday, 19 October 2015 14:09
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