Site off-line with correct data in settings.php

Question

I'm trying to set up a development folder for a Drupal6 already existing website.

Under htdocs/sites/<website>/settings.php I have the following line in order to connect to the drupal6 DB:

$db_url = 'mysql://root:<mysql_password>@localhost/<drupal_db_name>';

If I try to enter mysql using the same login data, I can do it without any problems, so I know this data is correct.

But I still keep getting the "Site off-line" message.

I've also tried using settings.php in the "default" folder under htdocs/sites/, but it didn't solve the problem.

Any suggestions of what could I try in order to fix or debug this?

UPDATE: I have not taken the site down through admin. I've taken the folder from a production server (where it's working correctly), and I've placed it into another server. I've also made the same thing with the DB.

Answer 1

You probably haven't installed and/or enabled the PHP MySQL extension (it's a requirement). You can check by creating a phpinfo() page and searching for 'mysql'. If it's not there, you need to install and enable it. You don't say what server you're using, but if it's Ubuntu or a similar Debian-based variant, you can do this:

$ sudo apt-get install php5-mysql
$ sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

If you're on another platform, the steps will be a bit different, but you get the idea.