Apache :: Starting apache 2.2.8 server = no errors but does nothing

clem_c_rock · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 10

Hello,
I've installed apache 2.2.8 on Ubuntu and I have gotten as far as setting httpd.conf up as far as it won't throw any errors when I do a sudo httpd -k start.

The only thing, is that when I run sudo httpd -k start, nothing happens.

Where is the first place one would look to diagnose this?

Thanks,
Clem C

James Blond

Anything the error_log? Tried to start in debug mode ? -e debug?

tdonovan

One problem is that httpd -k start is the command to start Apache on Microsoft Windows.
Apache on Unix does not have any -k switch.

On Unix, Apache is usually started with the apachectl script. Maybe you should use: sudo apachectl start
If you installed Apache 2.2.8 into a specific directory, then be sure to use the full path, e.g. sudo /opt/apache2/apachectl start

If Apache is not running right, the first place you should look is in the Apache error log.
The location of the error log file depends on where you obtained Apache 2.2.8. If you got it from a package, then it will be in /var/log/apache2. If you built Apache 2.2.8 from source code, then it will be in the /logs directory where you installed Apache.

-tom-

clem_c_rock · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 10

I installed my apache 2.2.8 from the source here:

/etc/httpd-2.2.8/

and when I do

more /etc/httpd-2.2.8/logs/error_log

I get this:

(2)No such file or directory: httpd: could not open error log file /logs/error_log.
Unable to open logs

I'm confused because it looks like the log file's been written to but it's saying the logs can't be open

James Blond

That is

/etc/httpd-2.2.8/logs/error_log != /logs/error_log

/ points to the root and by default there is no logs folder

clem_c_rock · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 10

I was thinking that the httpd.conf was pointing to the /logs directory relative to it's installation.

Here's what I have in my httpd.conf for the base virtualhost

<VirtualHost 208.01.101.100>
DocumentRoot "/usr/local/apache2/htdocs"
ServerName 208.01.101.100
ErrorLog /logs/error_log
</VirtualHost>

I also set the base error log file to this:

ErrorLog "/logs/error_log"

Still, when I do a sudo apachectl start, I get nothing.

tdonovan

re: "I was thinking that the httpd.conf was pointing to the /logs directory relative to it's installation."

That is only true when it does not start with a slash. For example:

clem_c_rock · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 10

ok - now starting to get somewhere:

in logs/error_log:

[Mon Feb 11 06:16:12 2008] [warn] pid file /var/run/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
[Mon Feb 11 06:16:12 2008] [alert] getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Mon Feb 11 06:16:12 2008] [alert] getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Mon Feb 11 06:16:12 2008] [alert] getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Mon Feb 11 06:16:12 2008] [alert] getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Mon Feb 11 06:16:12 2008] [notice] Apache/2.2.4 (Unix) configured -- resuming normal operations
[Mon Feb 11 06:16:12 2008] [alert] Child 21773 returned a Fatal error... Apache is exiting!
[Mon Feb 11 06:16:12 2008] [alert] getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive

James Blond

clem_c_rock · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 10

Good news - The server actually starts w/ no problem.

but, when I do: sudo apachectl restart

I get:

httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.0.1 for ServerName

Bad new is that I've configure my paths wrong so when I go to my ip: 208.78.101.123 I get this:

The requested URL / was not found on this server.

In the httpd.conf, my ServerRoot is set to this:

ServerRoot "/etc/httpd-2.2.8/"

and my virtualhost looks like this:

<VirtualHost *>
DocumentRoot "/www/vhosts/ehermann"
ServerName "www.ehermann.com"
ServerAlias "www.e-hermann.com"
ErrorLog logs/error_log
</VirtualHost>

The directory /www/vhosts/ehermann does exist and I have a simple index.html file in there.

James Blond

clem_c_rock · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 10

I have that section set up like this:

James Blond

You configured the vhost right, but outside of the vhost container you need to set servername as well. For some reason Linux wants that.

clem_c_rock · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 10

Great - that took care of the "Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.0.1 for ServerName" warning.

Still, when I go to my IP: http://208.78.101.123/

I get the 404.

Thanks for all your help!

James Blond

http://208.78.101.123/index.html works! But as txt, not html. Seems that apache sends a wrong header.

Watch for DirectoryIndex
and if not given add index.html

clem_c_rock · Joined: 27 Nov 2007 Posts: 10

each step provides more errors.

Now I get this:

Syntax error on line 74 of /etc/apache2/httpd.conf: Cannot load /etc/httpd-2.2.8/modules/mappers/mod_dir.c into server: /etc/httpd-2.2.8/modules/mappers/mod_dir.c: invalid ELF header

James Blond

Seems that this module has not built correctly. Did you compile apache yourself or installed from your distro?