php fopen() fails for urls on remote networks

Trouble running Wordpress 3.5.1 in an Apache 2.2.22 VirtualDomain created through Virtualmin 3.98 gpl where PHP v5.3.10 is running in FGCId mode under Ubuntu Server 12.0.4. The php calls to fopen() fail, which causes problems for WordPress (e.g., displaying RSS data, searching and loading updates, plugins, themes, etc.) File permissions are 750, and files are owned by user:user. PHP allow_fopen_url is On. I’ve written my own PHP test scripts and found that fopen() works fine if the specified URL is on the local network, but fails if it’s remote. The same host otherwise has no trouble communicating to remote hosts, so I don’t think it’s a network configuration problem. Replicated the problem on two servers, but that only proves that I’m consistent in my error. Grateful for any ideas.

Howdy,

This PHP documentation here explains what you’d need to do in order to open a remote file like that, there’s a php.ini parameter you’d need to tweak:

http://php.net/manual/en/features.remote-files.php