The HTTP method received is not valid. Only POST is accepted - php

Question

OK, I have this php file for my HSBC bank processing using the API, I have this working fine on 2 of my other websites, however the SAME file is failing on the other two sites, I have no idea why. My web developer is stumped and decided to create a test file, Here is the code from the test file:
<?php
echo "payment processing...";
$amount = 100;// round($_POST["realamount"], 2) * 100;
$fullName = "test";//$_POST['name'];
$Address1 = "test";//$_POST['address1'];
$Address2 = "test";//$_POST['address2'];
$city ="test";// $_POST['city'];
$county = $city;
$postcode = "test";//$_POST['zipcode'];
$country = "GRB";//$_POST['country'];
$phone = "test";//$_POST['telephone'];
$email = "a#a.com";//$_POST['emailaddress'];
$cardNumber = "337877666233434";//$_POST['cardNumber'];
$cardExp = "03/2011";//$_POST['ccmonth'] . "/" . substr($_POST["ccyear"],2,2);
$cvdIndicator = "111";//$_POST['cvdIndicator'];
$cvdValue = "111";//$_POST['cvdValue'];
$issueNumber = "111";//$_POST['issueNumber'];
$cardType = "VI";//$_POST['cardType'];
$testRead = "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<EngineDocList>
<DocVersion>1.0</DocVersion>
<EngineDoc>
<ContentType>OrderFormDoc</ContentType>
<User>
<Name>xxx</Name>
<Password>xxx</Password>
<ClientId>xxx</ClientId>
</User>
<Instructions>
<Pipeline>PaymentNoFraud</Pipeline>
</Instructions>
<OrderFormDoc>
<Mode>P</Mode>
<Comments/>
<Consumer>
<Email/>
<PaymentMech>
<CreditCard>
<Number>".$cardNumber."</Number>
<Expires DataType='ExpirationDate' Locale='840'>".$cardExp."</Expires>
<Cvv2Val>".$cvdValue."</Cvv2Val>
<Cvv2Indicator>".$cvdIndicator."</Cvv2Indicator>
<IssueNum>".$issueNumber."</IssueNum>
</CreditCard>
</PaymentMech>
</Consumer>
<Transaction>
<Type>Auth</Type>
<CurrentTotals>
<Totals>
<Total DataType='Money' Currency='826'>".$amount."</Total>
</Totals>
</CurrentTotals>
</Transaction>
</OrderFormDoc>
</EngineDoc>
</EngineDocList>";
?>
<?php
//$url = "https://www.uat.apixml.netq.hsbc.com";
$url = "https://www.secure-epayments.apixml.hsbc.com/";
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST,1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS,$testRead);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL,$url);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, 2);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER,1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE);
$result_tmp = curl_exec ($ch);
curl_close ($ch);
///////////////////////////////////////
// use XML Parser result
$xml_parser = xml_parser_create();
xml_parser_set_option($xml_parser,XML_OPTION_CASE_FOLDING,0);
xml_parser_set_option($xml_parser,XML_OPTION_SKIP_WHITE,1);
xml_parse_into_struct($xml_parser, $result_tmp, $vals, $index);
xml_parser_free($xml_parser);
//print_r($vals); // print all the arrays.
//print_r($vals[29]); // print only the selected array.
$val1 = $vals[21];
// ProcReturnMsg
$paymentResult = $val1[value];
$result_tmp = "";
$k=0;
$findthis = false;
$findthis2 = false;
foreach ($vals as $val) {
$result_tmp.= $k."{";
foreach($val as $d => $a) {
$result_tmp.="[".$d."]".$a;
if($d=="tag" && $a=="TransactionStatus"){
$findthis = true;
}
if($d=="value" && $findthis){
$tResult = $a;
$findthis = false;
}
if($d=="tag" && $a=="Text"){
$findthis2 = true;
}
if($d=="value" && $findthis2){
$tResult2 = $a;
$findthis2 = false;
}
}
$result_tmp.= "}";
$k++;
}
echo $tResult2.$tResult;
?>
Here is an example of one of the sites not working gs.net
The output is:
payment processing... The HTTP method received is not valid. Only POST is accepted.
Whereas when I upload this exact same file to some of my other web hosts such as:
HGL working example
The output here is payment processing... Unable to determine card type. ('length' is '15')E
This sounds like an error message, but basically that error is not important, so the latter is what we are trying to achieve in the first link.
I have even uploaded this file to some really basic hosting accounts of mine, sometimes it will work sometimes it won't, so I'm guessing it's something to do with what the hosting company are allowing or have switched On/Off.
Any ideas please?
Thank you

Answer 1

This seems to have been caused by a PHP upgrade applied to the server and it was driving me crazy.
The solution is to set the following SSL options when specifying the CURL connection.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSLVERSION, 3);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_CIPHER_LIST, 'RC4-MD5');

Answer 2

check if curl is enabled on those servers that don't work for starters. use phiinfo() function to check.