Apache IonCube Problem

I use WHMCS to manage billing for hosting accounts on my Webmin/Virtualmin server. Occasionally, after updating the server, a few things go awry, including the ionCube PHP Loader.

Intermittent problems that don't happen often are often hard to fix because I forget how to do it. So this is an account of how to fix this problem.

First, the problem. When I access the root of WHMCS on my web server, I get the following:

Error

Site error: the ionCube PHP Loader needs to be installed. This is a widely used PHP extension for running ionCube protected PHP code, website security and malware blocking. Please visit get-loader.ioncube.com for install assistance.

How to Solve

Download the most recent ioncube loader that matches the PHP version on the server php -v. Extract the download to the /usr/local folder. Find the pertinent PHP file for the PHP version running on the server, most likely /etc/php/version/apache2/php.ini

Ensure that the following line is in the php.ini file:

zend_extension = /usr/local/ioncube/ioncube_loader_lin_x.so

Save and restart apache.