Failed to open stream error : Http request failed - php

Question

I have looked through all the threads on this forum, before posting this one. None of the solutions were able to solve my issues so I am forced to open a new thread.
I have the below include in my code but it errors out with "failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! " error. I already have this set in php.ini:
allow_url_include = On and
allow_url_fopen = On
but it still fails.
1.Below is the include defined in /test/foo.php which includes the file on the same server under /test/bar.php
<div class="tab-content" style=''>
<div class="tab-pane active" id="my1"><?php include('http://'. $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . ':' .
$_SERVER['SERVER_PORT'] . "/bar.php?env=test1&days=3&start=$start&end=$end");?></div>
</div>
2.Here is the dir structure:
a) /test/foo.php --> this has include to my own server.
b) /test/bar.php
3.Apache document root is pointing to /test like
/var/www/html --> /test
4.echo __DIR__ shows me "/test" so its definitely pointing to the right directory.
5.I have given full permission to this directory in case that's the issue, but no luck.
6.Exact error in apache error log for one of the above includes. It doesn't for any of the above includes. Server Name and port are intentionally removed from below log.
[Sun Jul 07 15:01:47 2013] [error] [client ] PHP Warning: include(http://:/bar.php?env=my1&days=3&start=2013-06-07&end=2013-07-07): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! in /test/foo.php on line 36
[Sun Jul 07 15:01:47 2013] [error] [client ] PHP Warning: include(): Failed opening 'http://:/bar.php?env=my1&days=3&start=2013-06-07&end=2013-07-07' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear:/usr/share/php') in /test/foo.php on line 36

Answer 1

if
include('http://'. $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] . ':'
. $_SERVER['SERVER_PORT']
. "/bar.php?env=test1&days=3&start=$start&end=$end");
is trying to fetch from
http://:/bar.php?env=my1&days=3&start=2013-06-07&end=2013-07-07
It implies that $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] and $_SERVER['SERVER_PORT'] are blank. Are you running this from the command line?
(I assume you know that even with literal values you have created a big security hole in your system, that the resulting script will run massively slower than including the file directly, and that even if the variables were populated it doesn't mean that the routing / DNS on many hosts would allow you to access the code in this way)