GoDaddy, cURL, HTTP, and 403 Errors

By  on  

I was recently coding PHP cURL functionality for a GoDaddy-hosted website and I kept running into an annoying 403 error. Essentially, GoDaddy's proxy server (which they force you to use for cURL) was giving me a "Forbidden" error and wasn't trying to hit the necessary server. Here's the code that GoDaddy tells you to use for cURL transactions:

$URL='https://www.paypal.com';
$ch = curl_init();
echo 'URL = $URL <br>n';
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_VERBOSE, 1);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPPROXYTUNNEL, TRUE);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_PROXYTYPE, CURLPROXY_HTTP);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_PROXY,'http://proxy.shr.secureserver.net:3128');
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, FALSE);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $URL);
curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 120);
$result = curl_exec ($ch);
echo '<hr><br>n';
echo 'Errors: ' . curl_errno($ch) . ' ' . curl_error($ch) . '<br><br>';
echo '<hr><br>n';
curl_close ($ch);
print 'result - $result';
echo '<hr><br>n';

The problem is that since I'm not using SSL in this instance, I don't need to use the following cURL option:

curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_HTTPPROXYTUNNEL, true);

Remember that if you receive this error from GoDaddy's server. Hopefully I save someone a bunch of time with this.

Recent Features

  • By
    fetch API

    One of the worst kept secrets about AJAX on the web is that the underlying API for it, XMLHttpRequest, wasn't really made for what we've been using it for.  We've done well to create elegant APIs around XHR but we know we can do better.  Our effort to...

  • By
    5 Awesome New Mozilla Technologies You&#8217;ve Never Heard Of

    My trip to Mozilla Summit 2013 was incredible.  I've spent so much time focusing on my project that I had lost sight of all of the great work Mozillians were putting out.  MozSummit provided the perfect reminder of how brilliant my colleagues are and how much...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    CSS Filters

    CSS filter support recently landed within WebKit nightlies. CSS filters provide a method for modifying the rendering of a basic DOM element, image, or video. CSS filters allow for blurring, warping, and modifying the color intensity of elements. Let's have...

  • By
    Custom Scrollbars in WebKit

    Before each of the browser vendors we like was providing unique CSS controls, Internet Explorer was setting the tone.  One such example is IE's early implementation of CSS filters. Internet Explorer was also the first browser that allowed developers to, for better or worse, customize...

Discussion

  1. Yea Godaddy has some strange settings like this. Plus it seems to be hit or miss when dealing with their support. :(

  2. cURL and GoDaddy

    Searching the GoDaddy FAQ/Help pages, it appears that as of September 10, 2008. GoDaddy is not longer requiring proxy connections to connect with CURL.

    Proxy servers are not required for
    outbound shared hosting connections as
    of September 10, 2008. Although it
    will continue to function after this
    date, we recommend code utilizing
    proxy servers be updated to reflect
    this change.

    http://help.godaddy.com/article/4764

  3. I wouldn’t trust the GoDaddy FAQ.

    It’s horribly outdated.

    I am switching to a VPS from a provider that I’ve known to be reliable, from GoDaddy.

  4. My problem with SSL and POST through CURL alsted 2 days, i am not on GoDaddy but your advice gave me the answers I needed, thankyou so much for bothering to post this!

  5. Hi,

    We are trying to retrieve XML from other server using CURL. But not happening. I have tried the above code. But no result. I am using Godaddy Linux Shared Hosting plan for my website.

    Please give me your suggestions on this.

    Thanks in advance…

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!