file_get_contents fails on debian (lenny) server - php

Question

Not sure if it's because it's out of life, but it has been running a website and working until very recently (1 week) - the server hasn't been updated, so am not sure what happened to break the script.
Here's a test script that I've been running (and fails) on the debian server:
<?php
$url = "http://www.andyloughran.co.uk/test.html";
echo $url."\n";
$test = file_get_contents($url);
echo $test;
That should normally return 'ndy test' or something similar.
However, on the debian box it's just timing out.
I've checked and I can wget the file:
<?php
exec('wget http://www.andyloughran.co.uk/test.html');
so am not sure what is it in file_get_contents that isn't working.
I've checked and allow_fopen_url is set to On.
I could do with advice not just on fixing this problem, but working out how to debug the php in order to be able to identify the problem myself in the future.
Curl is not really an option at the moment, as I'm more interested in working out why it's stopped working, rather than an alternative.
Thanks!
Here's the strace error:
open("/dev/urandom", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\202\231\320\206"..., 4) = 4
close(3) = 0
open("/dev/urandom", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "cdO\37"..., 4) = 4
close(3) = 0
brk(0x9133000) = 0x9133000
open("http_test.php", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=187, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7837000
read(3, "<?php\n\nini_set('display_errors', "..., 4096) = 187
_llseek(3, 0, [0], SEEK_SET) = 0
time(NULL) = 1348748612
fstat64(0, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0600, st_rdev=makedev(136, 0), ...}) = 0
fstat64(0, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0600, st_rdev=makedev(136, 0), ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7836000
_llseek(0, 0, 0xbfae579c, SEEK_CUR) = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0600, st_rdev=makedev(136, 0), ...}) = 0
fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0600, st_rdev=makedev(136, 0), ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7835000
_llseek(1, 0, 0xbfae579c, SEEK_CUR) = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
fstat64(2, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0600, st_rdev=makedev(136, 0), ...}) = 0
_llseek(2, 0, 0xbfae579c, SEEK_CUR) = -1 ESPIPE (Illegal seek)
getcwd("/root"..., 4096) = 6
time(NULL) = 1348748612
lstat64("/root", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
lstat64("/root/http_test.php", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=187, ...}) = 0
ioctl(3, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, 0xbfae3798) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
read(3, "<?php\n\nini_set('display_errors', "..., 8192) = 187
read(3, ""..., 4096) = 0
read(3, ""..., 8192) = 0
close(3) = 0
munmap(0xb7837000, 4096) = 0
write(1, "http://www.andyloughran.co.uk/tes"..., 40http://www.andyloughran.co.uk/test.html
) = 40
socket(PF_INET6, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 3
close(3) = 0
socket(PF_NETLINK, SOCK_RAW, 0) = 3
bind(3, {sa_family=AF_NETLINK, pid=0, groups=00000000}, 12) = 0
getsockname(3, {sa_family=AF_NETLINK, pid=28901, groups=00000000}, [12]) = 0
time(NULL) = 1348748612
sendto(3, "\24\0\0\0\26\0\1\3DEdP\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 20, 0, {sa_family=AF_NETLINK, pid=0, groups=00000000}, 12) = 20
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(12)={sa_family=AF_NETLINK, pid=0, groups=00000000}, msg_iov(1)=[{"0\0\0\0\24\0\2\0DEdP\345p\0\0\2\10\200\376\1\0\0\0\10\0\1\0\177\0\0\1\10"..., 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 156
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(12)={sa_family=AF_NETLINK, pid=0, groups=00000000}, msg_iov(1)=[{"#\0\0\0\24\0\2\0DEdP\345p\0\0\n\200\200\376\1\0\0\0\24\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 64
recvmsg(3, {msg_name(12)={sa_family=AF_NETLINK, pid=0, groups=00000000}, msg_iov(1)=[{"\24\0\0\0\3\0\2\0DEdP\345p\0\0\0\0\0\0\1\0\0\0\24\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0"..., 4096}], msg_controllen=0, msg_flags=0}, 0) = 20
close(3) = 0
stat64("/etc/resolv.conf", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=95, ...}) = 0
open("/etc/hosts", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=141, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7837000
read(3, "127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain l"..., 4096) = 141
read(3, ""..., 4096) = 0
close(3) = 0
munmap(0xb7837000, 4096) = 0
open("/etc/hosts", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=141, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7837000
read(3, "127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain l"..., 4096) = 141
read(3, ""..., 4096) = 0
close(3) = 0
munmap(0xb7837000, 4096) = 0
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=32850, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 32850, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7820000
close(3) = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/lib/libnss_dns.so.2", O_RDONLY) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\220\v\0\0004\0\0\0x"..., 512) = 512
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=17880, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 20616, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xca5000
mmap2(0xca9000, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x3) = 0xca9000
close(3) = 0
munmap(0xb7820000, 32850) = 0
stat64("/etc/resolv.conf", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=95, ...}) = 0
gettimeofday({1348748612, 441933}, NULL) = 0
socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 3
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(53), sin_addr=inet_addr("8.8.8.8")}, 28) = 0
fcntl64(3, F_GETFL) = 0x2 (flags O_RDWR)
fcntl64(3, F_SETFL, O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) = 0
gettimeofday({1348748612, 442194}, NULL) = 0
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLOUT}], 1, 0) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
send(3, "2k\1\0\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\3www\fandyloughran\2co\2"..., 40, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 40
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, 5000) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [102]) = 0
recvfrom(3, "2k\201\200\0\1\0\0\0\1\0\0\3www\fandyloughran\2co\2"..., 1024, 0, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(53), sin_addr=inet_addr("8.8.8.8")}, [16]) = 102
close(3) = 0
gettimeofday({1348748612, 755352}, NULL) = 0
socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 3
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(53), sin_addr=inet_addr("8.8.8.8")}, 28) = 0
fcntl64(3, F_GETFL) = 0x2 (flags O_RDWR)
fcntl64(3, F_SETFL, O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) = 0
gettimeofday({1348748612, 755589}, NULL) = 0
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLOUT}], 1, 0) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
send(3, "\312-\1\0\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\3www\fandyloughran\2co\2"..., 56, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 56
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, 5000) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [121]) = 0
recvfrom(3, "\312-\201\203\0\1\0\0\0\1\0\0\3www\fandyloughran\2co\2"..., 1024, 0, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(53), sin_addr=inet_addr("8.8.8.8")}, [16]) = 121
close(3) = 0
stat64("/etc/resolv.conf", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=95, ...}) = 0
gettimeofday({1348748613, 222946}, NULL) = 0
socket(PF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 3
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(53), sin_addr=inet_addr("8.8.8.8")}, 28) = 0
fcntl64(3, F_GETFL) = 0x2 (flags O_RDWR)
fcntl64(3, F_SETFL, O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) = 0
gettimeofday({1348748613, 223253}, NULL) = 0
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLOUT}], 1, 0) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
send(3, "\254Q\1\0\0\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\3www\fandyloughran\2co\2"..., 40, MSG_NOSIGNAL) = 40
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN}], 1, 5000) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN}])
ioctl(3, FIONREAD, [56]) = 0
recvfrom(3, "\254Q\201\200\0\1\0\1\0\0\0\0\3www\fandyloughran\2co\2"..., 1024, 0, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(53), sin_addr=inet_addr("8.8.8.8")}, [16]) = 56
close(3) = 0
gettimeofday({1348748613, 400717}, NULL) = 0
socket(PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 3
fcntl64(3, F_GETFL) = 0x2 (flags O_RDWR)
fcntl64(3, F_SETFL, O_RDWR|O_NONBLOCK) = 0
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(80), sin_addr=inet_addr("85.119.82.243")}, 16) = -1 EINPROGRESS (Operation now in progress)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLOUT|POLLERR|POLLHUP}], 1, 60000) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLOUT}])
getsockopt(3, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ERROR, [0], [4]) = 0
fcntl64(3, F_SETFL, O_RDWR) = 0
send(3, "GET /test.html HTTP/1.0\r\n"..., 25, MSG_DONTWAIT) = 25
send(3, "Host: www.andyloughran.co.uk\r\n"..., 30, MSG_DONTWAIT) = 30
send(3, "User-Agent: PHP\r\n"..., 17, MSG_DONTWAIT) = 17
send(3, "\r\n"..., 2, MSG_DONTWAIT) = 2
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI|POLLERR|POLLHUP}], 1, 0) = 0 (Timeout)
poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLERR|POLLHUP}], 1, 60000^C <unfinished ...>

Answer 1

allow_url_fopen = On in php.ini
Check your DNS, ping www.andyloughran.co.uk
Throw the server out of the nearest window.

Answer 2

I had the same problemn a while ago. It was a DNS problem. Restarting the Webserver helped.

Answer 3

file_get_contents won't work with a URI.
Just try this:
$Stuff = file_get_contents($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT']."path/filename");
file_get_contents will be happy to "see" a local and accessible path. It will present you the file contents as a kind of "function-thank-you" ;)