A Back Office that will not load blocks every operational task. This guide covers the common causes on a SmartXHosting PrestaShop store, the commands to try via SSH, and when to raise a support ticket.
Triage by symptom • Clearing Smarty and Symfony caches • Session and Redis issues • IP allow-lists • HTTPS and base URL mismatch • When to contact SmartXHosting • FAQ
var/logs/prod.log.SSH into the server:
cd /var/www/vhosts/yourdomain.co.uk/httpdocsrm -rf var/cache/*rm -rf var/sessions/*rm -rf cache/smarty/*PrestaShop 9’s Symfony cache is granular — most changes clear only the relevant entries. If the Back Office is broken entirely, a full rm -rf var/cache/* is the safe option.
PrestaShop 9 sessions on SmartXHosting default to filesystem. Some merchants opt into Redis via config. Diagnose:
redis-cli pingconfig/parameters.php for session configurationvar/logs/prod.logTemporary fallback: force filesystem sessions by commenting out Redis session config and clearing var/cache.
Plesk firewall may restrict admin URL to known IPs. If your IP changed, add it via Plesk or contact SmartXHosting support.
Also check your browser cookies/extensions — try incognito to rule those out.
config/parameters.php contains the base URL. Symptom: redirect loops or broken assets. Fix:
config/parameters.phpPS_SSL_ENABLED = 1 and base URL matches Plesk SSL configOpen a priority ticket when:
PrestaShop hosting with responsive UK support
SmartXHosting monitors PrestaShop admin and responds to admin-down tickets with priority. UK-based engineers, UK business hours.
See PrestaShop plansQ: I see a Symfony exception with stack trace in the browser.
A: Production mode is set to dev — developer mode shows verbose exceptions. Set PS_MODE_DEV = false in config/defines.inc.php for production.
Q: Admin login shows but credentials fail silently.
A: Form token mismatch. Clear browser cookies for the admin domain; clear Smarty cache; retry.
Q: Admin loads but menus are empty.
A: JavaScript assets missing. Check browser console for 404s on JS files. Rebuild assets via npm run build (if theme customised) or re-deploy theme via admin.
Q: Does PrestaShop have a password-reset CLI?
A: Via direct database SQL. SmartXHosting support can reset via safe server-side update — faster than debugging forgot-password email flow.
Q: Can I process orders if admin is down?
A: Customer-side order placement continues normally. Admin-driven tasks (shipping, refunds) pause until admin is restored. SmartXHosting priority response ensures usually less than 30 minutes on P1 tickets.
Q: What are the log files to check?
A: var/logs/prod.log (Symfony exceptions), var/logs/prod_deprecations.log, Plesk PHP error log. Imunify360 events under Plesk › Imunify360 › Events.
Q: How do I know if Imunify360 blocked my IP?
A: Plesk › Imunify360 › Events shows active blocks. Unblock an IP directly from there.