Environment
Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 4
Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 3
Novell NetWare 6.5 Support Pack 2
Novell Open Enterprise Server (NetWare based)
Novell Open Enterprise Server (Linux based)
Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8
Situation
Apache fails to load or run. This could be a single instance
of apache, or all instances of apache that are intended to be
running on the server in question.
Resolution
When the Apache process starts, it logs any error messages to one
of two locations : STDOUT (on NetWare, this is called the logger
screen) or to a log file (if the startup redirected the output to a
file).
On NetWare 6.5, the logging location is SYS:/Apache2/logs . On Linux, this location is /var/log/apache2 . In this location, either a startup.err or an rcapache2.out file. There could be access and error logs, as well. If required, make backup copies of the log files (the access logs are the ones that identify who has visited the web site, when they did it, and what they were looking at, so these are the most important ones to the security personnel.
The process for identifying why Apache is not starting is simple :
Once the reason for Apache's failure has been identified, corrections can be applied. Each time something is corrected, it is suggested to remove the log files again before attempting to start Apache. Apache does not reset the log files, resulting in cluttered and "old" errors scattered through out the logs.
On NetWare 6.5, the logging location is SYS:/Apache2/logs . On Linux, this location is /var/log/apache2 . In this location, either a startup.err or an rcapache2.out file. There could be access and error logs, as well. If required, make backup copies of the log files (the access logs are the ones that identify who has visited the web site, when they did it, and what they were looking at, so these are the most important ones to the security personnel.
The process for identifying why Apache is not starting is simple :
- Remove the apache log files (specifically the error logs and the startup.err or the rcapache2.out files)
- Attempt to start up Apache. This will log to the appropriate file.
- Open the startup.err or the rcapache2.out file, and review it for errors.
- If no errors are located, open the error_log that was generated. Review it for errors.
Syntax error on line 212 of /etc/apache2/httpd.conf: Invalid command 'LineWithSyntaxError', perhaps mis-spelled or defined by a module not included in the server configuration
Once the reason for Apache's failure has been identified, corrections can be applied. Each time something is corrected, it is suggested to remove the log files again before attempting to start Apache. Apache does not reset the log files, resulting in cluttered and "old" errors scattered through out the logs.
Additional Information
There are some errors that appear with a [crit], meaning the error
was critical to the operation of Apache, usually causing Apache to
stop trying to configure itself. An example of these :
Other symptoms include :
The above example indicates a problem with make_secure_socket, or
SSL and Certificate issues are present. There are various
tools and documents that discuss these particular errors.
[Fri Apr 14 07:31:03 2006] [crit] (10022)Unknown error: make_secure_socket: for port 443, WSAIoctl: (SO_SSL_SET_SERVER)
apache daemon exited with status 1