Intermittent 403 error on /public_html/

[Frank_Rizzo]

I've moved the site to a new server. In the log files there are intermittent 403 errors:

----------------------------------
Directory index forbidden by rule: /home/mysite/public_html/
----------------------------------

This is happening for web browsers and SE's. It has happened to me too.

I go to the home page [mysite.co.uk...] and I get a 403.

If I refresh, I get the home page. If I refresh again a few minutes later I get a 403 again. (and, no, this is not the browsers cache calling up an old page).

Is this because DNS needs time to settle or some other reason?

It's only happening on the home page when this url is used:

[mysite.co.uk...]

[mysite.co.uk...] works fine.

[jdMorgan]

This error message seems pretty specific. It says you've got a rule that is blocking access.

Directory index forbidden by rule: /home/mysite/public_html/ 

If one of your hosts does indeed have a rule to block these accesses and the other doesn't, then yes, this could be a DNS issue; You may be getting the new site on some requests and the old site on others.

Otherwise, it looks like an error in the coding or concept of one of your rules.

You might also want to check for differences between the two servers with respect to the Options -Indexes and DirectoryIndex directives.

Jim

[Frank_Rizzo]

Hmm, as far as I can tell both are near identical. I had copied over the .conf files from the old to the new server. There was a bit or reorganising required due to old being SuSe, new Centos and thus paths / locations different.

I made a change to allow a directory listing instead of a 403 but what is happening now is that I'm getting intermittent display of the home page and a directory listing.

1. Open up a new Internet Explorer - works fine
2. Open up a new IE - get directory listing
3. Open up a new IE - works fine
4. Open up a new IE - works fine
5. Open up a new IE - get directory listing

It's really weird. IE calls for the default index page for [mysite.co.uk...] and it's a lucky dip as to if the server serves the index.html or the directory listing.

It only happens with IE as firefox is fine.