Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Hosting Security and Technology : please help.. it's urgent.

[jasonX]

Apache won't start for some reason. I ran /scripts/easyapache, and still nothing. I haven't changed anything that I know of, possibly suexec. But I've tried starting it with suexec enabled and disabled. This is what shows up in error_log
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [warn] pid file /usr/local/apache/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [notice] Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) FrontPage/5.0.2.2510 mod_ssl/2.8.9 OpenSSL/0.9.6b configured -- resuming normal operations
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [notice] Accept mutex: sysvsem (Default: sysvsem)
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [alert] Child 14562 returned a Fatal error...
Apache is exiting!
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:29 2002] [warn] pid file /usr/local/apache/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of previous Apache run?
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:30 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:30 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:30 2002] [notice] Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) FrontPage/5.0.2.2510 mod_ssl/2.8.9 OpenSSL/0.9.6b configured -- resuming normal operations
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:30 2002] [notice] Accept mutex: sysvsem (Default: sysvsem)
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:30 2002] [alert] Child 14585 returned a Fatal error...
Apache is exiting!
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:30 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:30 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:30 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can anyone please help me get this working. I don't know how to fix it.. I've already ran apachectl, and all it says is SYNTAX OK

Thanks.

[MotleyFool]

Hi Jason,

apachectl is only to test the syntax of your httpd.conf file

to try and see if any httpd processes are running type

ps auxwww | grep httpd

and see the result.

If you are trying to upgrade apache through CPanel, you can try

/scripts/updatenow

followed by

/scripts/upcp

If you still cant start httpd, just download the 1.3.26 tarball into /tmp and do a default install to keep the show going

hope it helps

Balaji

[jasonX]

ok.. thanks.. ill try updating those.. but whats a default 1.3.26 tarball? Apache? will that work, or cause problems with cpanel/whm?

[Techark]

Jason run httpd configtest

[jasonX]

I already have, i said in first post.. Just show this



[~]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd configtest
Syntax OK

[MotleyFool]

Jason,

By 1.3.26 tarball I mean apache_1.3.26.tar.gz from

http://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/

If you download the tar ball into /tmp or some other working directory and

tar -xzvf apache_1.3.26.tar.gz

it will explode everything into a folder

apache_1.3.26

then

cd apache_1.3.26

make
make install clean

will install the default

It is better than no webserver at all and is a temporary fix

[mahinder]

[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive
[Thu Aug 8 21:50:24 2002] [alert] (2)No such file or directory: getpwuid: couldn't determine user name from uid 4294967295, you probably need to modify the User directive

-------------------------

as you posted above i guess there is some user permission problem. Check weather all apache files and directories have proper user names and permissions.

Also you can download buildapache.sea from layer1.cpanel.net and install it manually with this command

sh buildapache.sea

then select advanced option and select the modules

this may fix the problem ..

[jasonX]

yea, ive reinstalled buildapache like 3 times like that.. still no luck.. I don't know why any permissions on apache files would have been changed.. But ill try to i guess look at permissions somehow.. I wouldn't even know what apache files need what permissions or whatever though..

[MotleyFool]

Jason

have you tried the updatenow followed by upcp?

[jasonX]

Yea, no luck

[jasonX]

I'm scared to redo apache with the base apache config.. I think it might screw up the server even more.. I e-mailed site5, the people i buy my cpanel license through. Hopefully they can login and work some magic. I wonder how long it will take considering the time.. I also e-mailed cpanel using there online form.. Maybe that will help to..

[The Prohacker]

The syntax of your config is right, but I think there is something set wrong, check all the user directives...

[DuncanMcLord]

Hi,

i recently had a similar problem on a server.
I commented the additional apache modules and finally found out, that 1 module (can't remember which, though) was interfering with 2 other modules.
...might be worth a try.

[jasonX]

Thanks Duncan, I'll give it a shot.. Prohacker, I dont mean to sound like an idiot here, but how would I go about checking user directives? Where are they and what would I be looking for?

Thanks

[The Prohacker]

Originally posted by jasonX
Thanks Duncan, I'll give it a shot.. Prohacker, I dont mean to sound like an idiot here, but how would I go about checking user directives? Where are they and what would I be looking for?

Thanks

Not a stupid question...

In the httpd.conf, there are lines like User username

If you have suExec, then they are in every vhost directive...

If not, its only in one part...

If you need some extra help, you can pm me for instant messaging details and I'll try to help more.. i'll be up for a couple more hours if you need it...