Can't reindex from web admin

Question

I can't reindex catalog_category_flat index from web admin, I see an error message. But I can reindex it from the console by running

php shell/indexer.php --reindex catalog_category_flat

without a problem. What could be the problem?

Answer 1

You should try this - http://www.expertwebadvisor.com/cannot-initialize-the-indexer-process-in-index-management-in-magento/

Take backup of database before running the SQL query

Answer 2

Generally this problem due to max_execution_time.

Just increase max_execution_time according to your server setting. Two way to do so

1) php.ini (must be in root directory)

max_execution_time = 18000

2) .htaccess (must be in root directory)

php_value max_execution_time 18000

Thank you.