Update broke my Apache

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I'm running on Lenny at the moment, and using Apache2 to run a webserver.

All was going swimmingly, and I had configured apache with various virtual hosts that were correctly loading from the web. All good.

I've been regularly running dist-upgrades, to keep my system updated, and only noticed today that, sometime in the last week or so, my sites have stopped working. The webserver itself is still working, as whenever I try to go to my pages, I get the 'It Works' standard apache output.

I've tried tweaking my VH settings, but no joy. Im not exactly a Linux pro, so I'm willing to concede that maybe I had hacked my VH settings in some manner that allowed them to work, but werent correct, and now the current version has fixed the issue.

Also, when I try to restart apache, I get

Below are my settings from apache2.conf, and the virtualhost files (placed in sites-available, and linked into sites-enabled)

Code:

#
# Based upon the NCSA server configuration files originally by Rob McCool.
#
# This is the main Apache server configuration file.  It contains the
# configuration directives that give the server its instructions.
# See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ for detailed information about
# the directives.
#
# Do NOT simply read the instructions in here without understanding
# what they do.  They're here only as hints or reminders.  If you are unsure
# consult the online docs. You have been warned.  
#
# The configuration directives are grouped into three basic sections:
#  1. Directives that control the operation of the Apache server process as a
#     whole (the 'global environment').
#  2. Directives that define the parameters of the 'main' or 'default' server,
#     which responds to requests that aren't handled by a virtual host.
#     These directives also provide default values for the settings
#     of all virtual hosts.
#  3. Settings for virtual hosts, which allow Web requests to be sent to
#     different IP addresses or hostnames and have them handled by the
#     same Apache server process.
#
# Configuration and logfile names: If the filenames you specify for many
# of the server's control files begin with "/" (or "drive:/" for Win32), the
# server will use that explicit path.  If the filenames do *not* begin
# with "/", the value of ServerRoot is prepended -- so "/var/log/apache2/foo.log"
# with ServerRoot set to "" will be interpreted by the
# server as "//var/log/apache2/foo.log".
#

### Section 1: Global Environment
#
# The directives in this section affect the overall operation of Apache,
# such as the number of concurrent requests it can handle or where it
# can find its configuration files.
#

#
# ServerRoot: The top of the directory tree under which the server's
# configuration, error, and log files are kept.
#
# NOTE!  If you intend to place this on an NFS (or otherwise network)
# mounted filesystem then please read the LockFile documentation (available
# at <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.1/mod/mpm_common.html#lockfile>);
# you will save yourself a lot of trouble.
#
# Do NOT add a slash at the end of the directory path.
#
ServerRoot "/etc/apache2"

#
# The accept serialization lock file MUST BE STORED ON A LOCAL DISK.
#
#<IfModule !mpm_winnt.c>
#<IfModule !mpm_netware.c>
LockFile /var/lock/apache2/accept.lock
#</IfModule>
#</IfModule>

#
# PidFile: The file in which the server should record its process
# identification number when it starts.
# This needs to be set in /etc/apache2/envvars
#
PidFile ${APACHE_PID_FILE}

#
# Timeout: The number of seconds before receives and sends time out.
#
Timeout 300

#
# KeepAlive: Whether or not to allow persistent connections (more than
# one request per connection). Set to "Off" to deactivate.
#
KeepAlive On

#
# MaxKeepAliveRequests: The maximum number of requests to allow
# during a persistent connection. Set to 0 to allow an unlimited amount.
# We recommend you leave this number high, for maximum performance.
#
MaxKeepAliveRequests 100

#
# KeepAliveTimeout: Number of seconds to wait for the next request from the
# same client on the same connection.
#
KeepAliveTimeout 15

##
## Server-Pool Size Regulation (MPM specific)
## 

# prefork MPM
# StartServers: number of server processes to start
# MinSpareServers: minimum number of server processes which are kept spare
# MaxSpareServers: maximum number of server processes which are kept spare
# MaxClients: maximum number of server processes allowed to start
# MaxRequestsPerChild: maximum number of requests a server process serves
<IfModule mpm_prefork_module>
    StartServers          5
    MinSpareServers       5
    MaxSpareServers      10
    MaxClients          150
    MaxRequestsPerChild   0
</IfModule>

# worker MPM
# StartServers: initial number of server processes to start
# MaxClients: maximum number of simultaneous client connections
# MinSpareThreads: minimum number of worker threads which are kept spare
# MaxSpareThreads: maximum number of worker threads which are kept spare
# ThreadsPerChild: constant number of worker threads in each server process
# MaxRequestsPerChild: maximum number of requests a server process serves
<IfModule mpm_worker_module>
    StartServers          2
    MaxClients          150
    MinSpareThreads      25
    MaxSpareThreads      75 
    ThreadsPerChild      25
    MaxRequestsPerChild   0
</IfModule>

# These need to be set in /etc/apache2/envvars
User ${APACHE_RUN_USER}
Group ${APACHE_RUN_GROUP}

#
# AccessFileName: The name of the file to look for in each directory
# for additional configuration directives.  See also the AllowOverride
# directive.
#

AccessFileName .htaccess

#
# The following lines prevent .htaccess and .htpasswd files from being 
# viewed by Web clients. 
#
<Files ~ "^\.ht">
    Order allow,deny
    Deny from all
</Files>

#
# DefaultType is the default MIME type the server will use for a document
# if it cannot otherwise determine one, such as from filename extensions.
# If your server contains mostly text or HTML documents, "text/plain" is
# a good value.  If most of your content is binary, such as applications
# or images, you may want to use "application/octet-stream" instead to
# keep browsers from trying to display binary files as though they are
# text.
#
DefaultType text/plain


#
# HostnameLookups: Log the names of clients or just their IP addresses
# e.g., www.apache.org (on) or 204.62.129.132 (off).
# The default is off because it'd be overall better for the net if people
# had to knowingly turn this feature on, since enabling it means that
# each client request will result in AT LEAST one lookup request to the
# nameserver.
#
HostnameLookups Off

# ErrorLog: The location of the error log file.
# If you do not specify an ErrorLog directive within a <VirtualHost>
# container, error messages relating to that virtual host will be
# logged here.  If you *do* define an error logfile for a <VirtualHost>
# container, that host's errors will be logged there and not here.
#
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

#
# LogLevel: Control the number of messages logged to the error_log.
# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
#
LogLevel warn

# Include module configuration:
Include /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/*.load
Include /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/*.conf

# Include all the user configurations:
Include /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

# Include ports listing
Include /etc/apache2/ports.conf

#
# The following directives define some format nicknames for use with
# a CustomLog directive (see below).
# If you are behind a reverse proxy, you might want to change %h into %{X-Forwarded-For}i
#
LogFormat "%v:%p %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" vhost_combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined
LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %b" common
LogFormat "%{Referer}i -> %U" referer
LogFormat "%{User-agent}i" agent

#
# Define an access log for VirtualHosts that don't define their own logfile
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/other_vhosts_access.log vhost_combined

#
# Customizable error responses come in three flavors:
# 1) plain text 2) local redirects 3) external redirects
#
# Some examples:
#ErrorDocument 500 "The server made a boo boo."
#ErrorDocument 404 /missing.html
#ErrorDocument 404 "/cgi-bin/missing_handler.pl"
#ErrorDocument 402 http://www.example.com/subscription_info.html
#

#
# Putting this all together, we can internationalize error responses.
#
# We use Alias to redirect any /error/HTTP_<error>.html.var response to
# our collection of by-error message multi-language collections.  We use 
# includes to substitute the appropriate text.
#
# You can modify the messages' appearance without changing any of the
# default HTTP_<error>.html.var files by adding the line:
#
#   Alias /error/include/ "/your/include/path/"
#
# which allows you to create your own set of files by starting with the
# /usr/share/apache2/error/include/ files and copying them to /your/include/path/, 
# even on a per-VirtualHost basis.  The default include files will display
# your Apache version number and your ServerAdmin email address regardless
# of the setting of ServerSignature.
#
# The internationalized error documents require mod_alias, mod_include
# and mod_negotiation.  To activate them, uncomment the following 30 lines.

#    Alias /error/ "/usr/share/apache2/error/"
#
#    <Directory "/usr/share/apache2/error">
#        AllowOverride None
#        Options IncludesNoExec
#        AddOutputFilter Includes html
#        AddHandler type-map var
#        Order allow,deny
#        Allow from all
#        LanguagePriority en cs de es fr it nl sv pt-br ro
#        ForceLanguagePriority Prefer Fallback
#    </Directory>
#
#    ErrorDocument 400 /error/HTTP_BAD_REQUEST.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 401 /error/HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 403 /error/HTTP_FORBIDDEN.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 404 /error/HTTP_NOT_FOUND.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 405 /error/HTTP_METHOD_NOT_ALLOWED.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 408 /error/HTTP_REQUEST_TIME_OUT.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 410 /error/HTTP_GONE.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 411 /error/HTTP_LENGTH_REQUIRED.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 412 /error/HTTP_PRECONDITION_FAILED.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 413 /error/HTTP_REQUEST_ENTITY_TOO_LARGE.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 414 /error/HTTP_REQUEST_URI_TOO_LARGE.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 415 /error/HTTP_UNSUPPORTED_MEDIA_TYPE.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 500 /error/HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 501 /error/HTTP_NOT_IMPLEMENTED.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 502 /error/HTTP_BAD_GATEWAY.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 503 /error/HTTP_SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE.html.var
#    ErrorDocument 506 /error/HTTP_VARIANT_ALSO_VARIES.html.var



# Include of directories ignores editors' and dpkg's backup files,
# see README.Debian for details.

# Include generic snippets of statements
Include /etc/apache2/conf.d/

# Include the virtual host configurations:
Include /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/

#Include phpbb3 settings
#Include /etc/phpbb3/apache.conf

Code:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin xxxx
       ServerName xxxx.selfip.com
    
    DocumentRoot /var/www/
    <Directory />
        Options FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
    </Directory>
    <Directory /var/www/>
        Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
        AllowOverride None
        Order allow,deny
        allow from all
    </Directory>

    ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
    <Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
        AllowOverride None
        Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

    ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

    # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
    # alert, emerg.
    LogLevel warn

    CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
    ServerSignature On

    Alias /doc/ "/usr/share/doc/"
    <Directory "/usr/share/doc/">
        Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
        AllowOverride None
        Order deny,allow
        Deny from all
        Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128
    </Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Code:

<VirtualHost *>
    ServerAdmin xxxx
    ServerName xx.xxxx.selfip.com
    DocumentRoot /usr/share/wordpress/

    <Directory /usr/share/wordpress>
      Options FollowSymLinks
      AllowOverride Limit Options FileInfo
      DirectoryIndex index.php
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

If anyone can offer help, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks
Fergal

 

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Not easy - as there are parts missing there! (I know that including them would make the post even bigger!)

In particular - the Listen and NameVirtualHost definitions are presumably in an un-shown file.

My guess here is that the middle block is not in fact being included.

httpd -S is a useful command to see just how the config files are being parsed.

Harry.

 

Yeah, they are elsewhere, in ports.conf:

Code:

# If you just change the port or add more ports here, you will likely also
# have to change the VirtualHost statement in
# /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default

NameVirtualHost *:80
Listen 80

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
    # SSL name based virtual hosts are not yet supported, therefore no
    # NameVirtualHost statement here
    Listen 443
</IfModule>

I dont seem to have httpd on this machine, and its not listed as indicated in apt-cache.

 

Ah - I thought they might have those values - but couldn't be sure.

I'd definitely suggest that the middle code block is not being included somewhere. Also in the third code block the VH is * not *:80 - any reason?

And finally - the actual filename of the Apache server binary is httpd! (Unless the distro has done something *really* stupid!)

Harry.

 

I believe thats how i set it up initially, without the :80. Its not an issue though, I can have it in or not, since it should be going through port 80 anyway.

httpd! didnt work either (its Debian Lenny I'm on, if that helps). Im really not sure what the deal is with this though. None of the VH's are being properly served, but the conf file has a reference to sites-enabled correctly (as far as I can tell)

 

Unless you are trying to do something special it should match the NameVirtualHost setting.

In what way didn't httpd work? (And - by the way - the exclaimation mark wasn't part of the filename - it was me being slightly surprised <grin>)

I'd suggest that some update has mangled some of the file inclusion stuff - perhaps putting them back to 'Debian standard' - so you'll need to check all the Includes carefully.

Harry.

 

Incidentally - breakages like this will be common on non-stable platforms!

Harry.

 

yeah i figured as much, but I did it to try and get a different piece of software working (not that it did mind).

httpd just gives me a command not found error.

 

Then it isn't in your path. You will need to include the full path (whatever that is on Lenny). If you aren't sure what that is, either try man httpd or look in the scripts in /etc/init.d/apache2 for some idea.

Harry.

 

nope. its not there. at all. no man file for it, and /etc/init.d/apache2 isnt a directory. httpd just plain isnt there.

This is pissing me off. there is no apparent reason for this breakdown. None of the VH settings had changed recently. And I've compared the old and current apache2.conf files, both of which look fine. I even swapped them over with no joy.

Its definately looking at the sites-enabled files, as whenever I set the second vh file to *:80 as well, it starts bitching about duplicates.

 

I don't know if this will help or not but I found this link.

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/vhosts/examples.html

 

Very odd. Looking at your config I see the Serverroot is /etc/apache2 (which is a little unusual!). Are there no bin and/or sbin directories there?
Alternatively do a 'find' from root for apachectl. That is a script that usually starts the server and will tell you where it is.

Something is very odd - as your scripts show different ServerName values. What is the exact error message?

Harry.

 

I've been doing some digging and it appears that on Debian /etc/init.d/apache2 is a control script file. Have a look in that for a clue as to the location and name of the server.

Harry.

 

Ok, I got the output:

Code:

VirtualHost configuration:
wildcard NameVirtualHosts and _default_ servers:
*:80                   is a NameVirtualHost
         default server obsidianphoenix.selfip.com (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default:1)
         port 80 namevhost obsidianphoenix.selfip.com (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default:1)
         port 80 namevhost blog.obsidianphoenix.selfip.com (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/blog:1)
         port 80 namevhost rpg.obsidianphoenix.selfip.com (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/rpg:1)
         port 80 namevhost zhongwen.obsidianphoenix.selfip.com (/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/zhongwen:1)
Syntax OK

I dont know how I managed it, but I think i've got it working again.

Although if someone fancies going to my blog to check, that would be great.

 

I accessed your blog fergal and it let me leave a reply. Good job fergal!

 

cheers for letting me know Mitz. Good to know its actually working again.