Different errors in ConnectionFactory.php on line 245 - Laravel 5.4

Question

I've updated the question a couple of times but left the original question mostly intact so my thought process is easier to follow. I've added a short summary for everyone to decide if they might be able to help with this. Any help is much appreciated.

Summary

• An error rarely (once every 2-4 weeks) occurs.
• After the error occurs once every further request that accesses the database also crashes with the same error
• Error seems to happen in the creation of MySqlConnector in laravel/framework
• Error has so far only occurred on our live server of this application, so we couldn't leave the error and start debugging but had to hot-fix it to maintain up-time.
• We did have some issues with connections breaking up randomly (rarely). This started around the same moment. Maybe the issue is a connection breaking up while building the PDO connection?

Stack

• Apache 2.4.32
• PHP 7.1.15
• MariaDB 10.2.6

Detailed question

We've encountered the following error on one of our laravel projects:

[2018-05-29 11:02:05] production.ERROR:
Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalThrowableError: Illegal offset type in C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory.php:245
Stack trace:
#0 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory.php(183): Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory->createConnector(Array)
#1 [internal function]: Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory->Illuminate\Database\Connectors\{closure}()
#2 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(883): call_user_func(Object(Closure))
#3 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(445): Illuminate\Database\Connection->getPdo()
#4 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(640): Illuminate\Database\Connection->Illuminate\Database\{closure}('insert into `lo...', Array)
#5 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(607): Illuminate\Database\Connection->runQueryCallback('insert into `lo...', Array, Object(Closure))
#6 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(450): Illuminate\Database\Connection->run('insert into `lo...', Array, Object(Closure))
#7 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(404): Illuminate\Database\Connection->statement('insert into `lo...', Array)
#8 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Query\Processors\Processor.php(32): Illuminate\Database\Connection->insert('insert into `lo...', Array)
#9 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder.php(2138): Illuminate\Database\Query\Processors\Processor->processInsertGetId(Object(Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder), 'insert into `lo...', Array, 'id')
#10 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder.php(1251): Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder->insertGetId(Array, 'id')
#11 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model.php(684): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder->__call('insertGetId', Array)
#12 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model.php(649): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model->insertAndSetId(Object(Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder), Array)
#13 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model.php(518): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model->performInsert(Object(Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder))
#14 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder.php(734): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model->save()
#15 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Support\helpers.php(950): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder->Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\{closure}(Object(App\Error))
#16 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder.php(735): tap(Object(App\Error), Object(Closure))
#17 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model.php(1357): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder->create(Array)
#18 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model.php(1369): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model->__call('create', Array)
#19 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\app\Exceptions\Handler.php(246): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model::__callStatic('create', Array)
#20 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\app\Exceptions\Handler.php(217): App\Exceptions\Handler->logErrorAndNotify(Array, Object(Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalThrowableError))
#21 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\app\Exceptions\Handler.php(106): App\Exceptions\Handler->logThenRenderServerException(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalThrowableError), 500)
#22 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel.php(326): App\Exceptions\Handler->render(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalThrowableError))
#23 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel.php(124): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel->renderException(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalThrowableError))
#24 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\public\index.php(53): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#25 {main}  

Once this error occurred for the first time all requests to the website triggered the exact same error.

Googling the issue all i found was the following 2 solutions:

1. run php artisan config:cache or php artisan config:clear
2. restart the web server

One example of where these solutions were found can be found here

Now restarting the web server worked, but within an hour we had the same issue come up again. Did another restart and it seems to work for now, but i'd like to know what causes this and how can we prevent it?

Some more information:

• We're using Redis to cache everything including the config.
• Hosting is done using a custom apache stack.
• The website has ran months with some reboots but never encountering this issue.
• The first time the issue occurred today the server had filled it's memory capacity, the 2nd time it happened it had 15 GB of memory left over.

Any clues or advice would be much appreciated. If more information is needed to answer the question i'll try and expand the question when asked for it.

Update:

So we had the error occur again, same line but different error. I think that something goes wrong with building the PDO connection and this connection then gets stored to be used again for all future requests for some period of time?

This is the new stack trace:

[2018-06-25 15:27:38] production.ERROR: Symfony\Component\Debug\Exception\FatalThrowableError: Undefined class constant 'PDO::ATTR_CASE' in C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory.php:245
Stack trace:
#0 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory.php(183): Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory->createConnector(Array)
#1 [internal function]: Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectionFactory->Illuminate\Database\Connectors\{closure}()
#2 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(883): call_user_func(Object(Closure))
#3 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(904): Illuminate\Database\Connection->getPdo()
#4 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(392): Illuminate\Database\Connection->getReadPdo()
#5 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(318): Illuminate\Database\Connection->getPdoForSelect(true)
#6 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(640): Illuminate\Database\Connection->Illuminate\Database\{closure}('select * from `...', Array)
#7 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(607): Illuminate\Database\Connection->runQueryCallback('select * from `...', Array, Object(Closure))
#8 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Connection.php(326): Illuminate\Database\Connection->run('select * from `...', Array, Object(Closure))
#9 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder.php(1710): Illuminate\Database\Connection->select('select * from `...', Array, true)
#10 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder.php(1695): Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder->runSelect()
#11 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder.php(462): Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder->get(Array)
#12 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder.php(446): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder->getModels(Array)
#13 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Concerns\BuildsQueries.php(75): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder->get(Array)
#14 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder.php(391): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder->first(Array)
#15 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\app\Http\Controllers\Webshop\HomeController.php(268): Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder->firstOrFail()
#16 [internal function]: App\Http\Controllers\Webshop\HomeController->showArticleDetail('BOSAL-287-273-1...')
#17 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Controller.php(55): call_user_func_array(Array, Array)
#18 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\ControllerDispatcher.php(44): Illuminate\Routing\Controller->callAction('showArticleDeta...', Array)
#19 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Route.php(203): Illuminate\Routing\ControllerDispatcher->dispatch(Object(Illuminate\Routing\Route), Object(App\Http\Controllers\Webshop\HomeController), 'showArticleDeta...')
#20 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Route.php(160): Illuminate\Routing\Route->runController()
#21 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Router.php(574): Illuminate\Routing\Route->run()
#22 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(30): Illuminate\Routing\Router->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#23 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\app\Http\Middleware\Localization.php(43): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#24 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): App\Http\Middleware\Localization->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#25 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#26 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Middleware\SubstituteBindings.php(41): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#27 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Routing\Middleware\SubstituteBindings->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#28 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#29 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\VerifyCsrfToken.php(65): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#30 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\VerifyCsrfToken->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#31 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#32 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\View\Middleware\ShareErrorsFromSession.php(49): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#33 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\View\Middleware\ShareErrorsFromSession->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#34 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#35 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\app\Http\Middleware\ConfigureBugsnap.php(36): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#36 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): App\Http\Middleware\ConfigureBugsnap->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#37 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#38 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Session\Middleware\StartSession.php(64): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#39 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Session\Middleware\StartSession->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#40 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#41 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Cookie\Middleware\AddQueuedCookiesToResponse.php(37): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#42 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Cookie\Middleware\AddQueuedCookiesToResponse->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#43 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#44 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Cookie\Middleware\EncryptCookies.php(59): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#45 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Cookie\Middleware\EncryptCookies->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#46 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#47 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(102): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#48 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Router.php(576): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->then(Object(Closure))
#49 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Router.php(535): Illuminate\Routing\Router->runRouteWithinStack(Object(Illuminate\Routing\Route), Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#50 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Router.php(513): Illuminate\Routing\Router->dispatchToRoute(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#51 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel.php(176): Illuminate\Routing\Router->dispatch(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#52 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(30): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel->Illuminate\Foundation\Http\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#53 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\spatie\laravel-robots-middleware\src\RobotsMiddleware.php(14): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#54 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Spatie\RobotsMiddleware\RobotsMiddleware->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#55 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#56 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\TransformsRequest.php(30): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#57 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\TransformsRequest->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#58 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#59 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\TransformsRequest.php(30): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#60 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\TransformsRequest->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#61 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#62 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\ValidatePostSize.php(27): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#63 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\ValidatePostSize->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#64 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#65 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\CheckForMaintenanceMode.php(46): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#66 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(148): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Middleware\CheckForMaintenanceMode->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request), Object(Closure))
#67 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline.php(53): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->Illuminate\Pipeline\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#68 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline.php(102): Illuminate\Routing\Pipeline->Illuminate\Routing\{closure}(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#69 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel.php(151): Illuminate\Pipeline\Pipeline->then(Object(Closure))
#70 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\vendor\laravel\framework\src\Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel.php(116): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel->sendRequestThroughRouter(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#71 C:\Webserver\Websites\www.somedomain.com\webroot\public\index.php(53): Illuminate\Foundation\Http\Kernel->handle(Object(Illuminate\Http\Request))
#72 {main}

The error line is once again on line 245 of ConnectionFactory from laravel/framework. This line is the return new MySQLConnector; line from the function below:

/**
 * Create a connector instance based on the configuration.
 *
 * @param  array  $config
 * @return \Illuminate\Database\Connectors\ConnectorInterface
 *
 * @throws \InvalidArgumentException
 */
public function createConnector(array $config)
{
    if (! isset($config['driver'])) {
        throw new InvalidArgumentException('A driver must be specified.');
    }

    if ($this->container->bound($key = "db.connector.{$config['driver']}")) {
        return $this->container->make($key);
    }

    switch ($config['driver']) {
        case 'mysql':
            return new MySqlConnector;
        case 'pgsql':
            return new PostgresConnector;
        case 'sqlite':
            return new SQLiteConnector;
        case 'sqlsrv':
            return new SqlServerConnector;
    }

    throw new InvalidArgumentException("Unsupported driver [{$config['driver']}]");
}

The class MySqlConnector extends the class Connector. The first few lines of Connecter are:

<?php

namespace Illuminate\Database\Connectors;

use PDO;
use Exception;
use Illuminate\Support\Arr;
use Doctrine\DBAL\Driver\PDOConnection;
use Illuminate\Database\DetectsLostConnections;

class Connector
{
    use DetectsLostConnections;

    /**
     * The default PDO connection options.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $options = [
        PDO::ATTR_CASE => PDO::CASE_NATURAL,
        PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
        PDO::ATTR_ORACLE_NULLS => PDO::NULL_NATURAL,
        PDO::ATTR_STRINGIFY_FETCHES => false,
        PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES => false,
    ];

It seems like PDO::ATTR_CASE should be set. Or maybe PDO::CASE_NATURAL is also not set? I'm not totally understanding what exactly happens, but somewhere in the creation of a new MySqlConnecter object, or the creation of the underlying Connector it returns the error that this is not set. First i thought it had to do with some of the functions in the class. But seeing that the Trace stops at the creation means that the error can't really come from any of the functions.

So something has to go wrong in using the PDO class i think? Connecter.php also has the following line at the start: 'use Doctrine\DBAL\Driver\PDOConnection;' which extends PDO as well.

Once this happens every further request for each user gives back the same error with stack trace until we restart Apache, this i don't understand at all. It seems like it could happen if somehow the PDO file was not available but i'm unsure why it keeps happening then and why a restart of Apache solves it.

Below are the subquestions that might help solve the issue:

1. What causes this error to show up?
2. If the above can't be easily answered, what can i do to get better understand this issue? It has only rarely occured on our live environment, so we have not had the chance to just put dd's everywhere to go through it step by step. And had to reach for the quickfix everytime which is just restarting Apache.
3. Why does every request after the initial failure fail as well with the same error?

Answer 1

Our last try we restarted MySQL Server, as well as Apache. (in that order) That seemed to have solved the issue. Just in case we did reboot the server that evening as well.

This solved it for us, but if someone has a better answer with some actual knowledge about what causes the issue i hope they share their knowledge!

Edit: still not fixed, seems to be a temporary fix.

Answer 2

Three suggestions here so far:

• make sure your database config is set up correctly and persists this way (thus nothing changes in the variables being read on the server side... not only from the .env file). This may have something to do with some kind of conflict between cached and current database settings. Have a detailed look;
• make sure your php version suits the requirements of laravel 5.4, because that type of error may easily be caused by unexisting syntax in the current php version that's being used somewhere in the background at some given point, from which on the backside server work is being corrupted;
• This might as well have something to do with the availability of your MySQL PDO driver for the php version you're using, so given function pieces regarding the stuff inside the PDO classes are not accessible. And this sounds most reasonable to me, so you could dig up deeper in that matter. Focus on certain PHP being used and settings around the PDO modules.

Furthermore, a serverside configuration error (like with apache or the server administration) should be concerned as false input is likely to be passed to basic laravel layers and cause unexpected behavior. Unfortunately the stack trace and the information around the error are insufficient to diagnose the issue precisely. Keep me tuned though, it seems interesting.