Trouble in using file_get_contents()

Question

I have two computers. I have configured web server on both computers and both are working. Now I want to access 1st URL from 2nd using file_get_contents().

1st URL:

http://46.7.234.111:8080/server/test_curl.php

2nd URL:

http://spicegururathgar.ie/client/test_curl.php

Code for accessing 1st URL:

$url = "http://46.7.234.111:8080/server/test_curl.php"; $url = 'http://' . str_replace('http://', '', $url); // Avoid accessing the file system $opts = array('http' => array('header' => "User-Agent:MyAgent/1.0\r\n")); $context = stream_context_create($opts); $header = file_get_contents('$url', false, $context); // Not working //$header = file_get_contents('http://wordpress.org/plugins/about/readme.txt', false, $context); // Working Fine

Apache Error Log:

[27-Dec-2013 08:31:12 UTC] PHP Warning: file_get_contents(http://46.7.234.111:8080/server/test_curl.php) [<a href='function.file-get-contents'>function.file-get-contents</a>]: failed to open stream: Connection timed out in /home/spicegur/public_html/client/test_curl.php on line 6

As I can access other files using file_get_contents() but not this one which I want. So please help me to solve this problem.

I have checked all PHP configuration on both servers but if anybody wants to check, use the following URLs:

http://46.7.234.111:8080/phpinfo.php
http://spicegururathgar.ie/phpinfo.php

Please ignore the file names ;)

I’m facing this problem only when I’m trying to run code from spicegururathgar.ie server, does any one know why this is happening?

Alternate try

I have also tried using PHP CURL but still I’m getting the same error. Here is my PHP CURL code. This code is working on my localhost but not on my server. Please help me with this.

$runfile = "http://46.7.234.111:8080/server/test_curl.php"; $ch = curl_init(); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $runfile); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$runfile); $content = curl_exec($ch); curl_close($ch); echo $content;

Please provide more information about the error you receive. — The Humble Rat
– The Humble Rat, Commented Dec 27, 2013 at 8:08
Put error_reporting(E_ALL) on top of the page and see if that outputs something — asprin
– asprin, Commented Dec 27, 2013 at 8:11
Can you run a browser on the first machine, and access the send URL with it? If you can't run a browser, can you get shell access? What happens if you execute telnet 46.7.234.111 8080 from the shell on the first machine? — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Jan 1, 2014 at 0:34

klugerama · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-31 21:38:07Z

$header = file_get_contents('$url',false,$context);//Not working

should be

$header = file_get_contents($url,false,$context);//Not working

There is no need for the quotes. Besides, variables aren't expanded within single quotes. If this is indeed the code you have, I can't explain how it would work ever, with any file, on either server.

Sam Dark · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-07 01:08:45Z

Your PHP code is correct except single quotes around $url but since Apache log contains real URL I guess it's just a typo in the question text.

The problem is that it takes too much time for spicegururathgar.ie server to load test_curl.php so basically you're getting a timeout. I've tried it with a browser waiting for a couple of minutes and test_curl.php wasn't served so it seems there's a problem with spicegururathgar.ie server.

If it is expected that it will take minutes for it to respond you can make request timout value higher:

$opts = array('http' => array( 'header' => "User-Agent:MyAgent/1.0\r\n", 'timeout' => 60*5 // 5 minutes ));

revo · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-31 21:47:09Z

The $url variable on the line 6, should be wrapped within double quotes or nothing at all:

$header = file_get_contents("$url", false, $context);

OR

$header = file_get_contents($url, false, $context);

Life of Madness · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-07 12:01:20Z

I would advice cUrl, I was having the same problem with file_get_contents until someone adviced me cUrl. Here is a basic but working function.

function curl_get_contents($url) { $ch = curl_init($url); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, 1); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 0); curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 0); $data = curl_exec($ch); curl_close($ch); return $data; }

you must also enable cUrl in the php.ini file of your server.

Sinisa Valentic · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-03 23:53:02Z

You should try wget http://46.7.234.111:8080/phpinfo.php on the spicegururathgar.ie server from shell. It is possible, the firewall on the server is preventing the communication on port 8080, or ports other than 80, 433 and similar.

Even simpler test is to try and load the file on port 80.

To me this looks like a firewall issue.

Mark Leighton Fisher · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-06 00:54:12Z

I would also fire up Fiddler to verify exactly what your web browser is sending to the server. Some servers are configured to ignore requests from non-standard web browsers, as they customize their output greatly for each type of browser (which may reduce their potential pot of users too much).

mehmatrix · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-07 10:59:43Z

I just tried your code on my local server and it works fine. That means server (46.7.234.111:8080/server/test_curl.php) have no problem. So let's focus on client (spicegururathgar.ie/client/test_curl.php).

(I have to mention first) Make sure there is no any url redicects on server. Because if there is, file_get_contents cannot follow redirection. (see: CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION for curl)
As far as i see, your php configuration is correct. If you can connect to 'http://wordpress.org/plugins/about/readme.txt' page, the problem may be from :8080 part. I thik you may try fsockopen.
If all of them fails, it is most probably a firewall issue.

dkellner · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-27 08:09:26Z

-2

See allow_url_fopen here:

http://php.net/manual/en/filesystem.configuration.php

It's for server protection. In your case there is no security issue so it can be allowed.

answered Dec 27, 2013 at 8:09

dkellner

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2 Comments

user3138552 Over a year ago

Yes, "allow_url_fopen" is open but then still why i'm not able to access my file?

dkellner Over a year ago

At this point you should look at the Apache log to see what your script is trying to access.

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