httpd and dovecot service start fails

Harold Hallikainen harold at hallikainen.com
Tue Feb 7 05:31:01 UTC 2006


>
>> On Mon, 2006-02-06 at 10:41 -0600, Bob McClure Jr wrote:
>>> > On Mon, Feb 06, 2006 at 07:54:20AM -0800, Harold Hallikainen wrote:
>>> >
>>> > > On Sun, Feb 05, 2006 at 01:53:38PM -0800, Harold Hallikainen wrote:
>>> > >>
>>> > >> > On Sat, Feb 04, 2006 at 09:43:02PM -0800, Harold Hallikainen
>>> wrote:
>>> > >> >> I'm installing FC4 on an old machine after having success on a
>>> new
>>> > >> >> machine. I did a new install (instead of update) and modified
>>> the
>>> > >> same
>>> > >> >> configs I modified on the new machine. Here's the latest
>>> problem.
>>> > >> This
>>> > >> >> is
>>> > >> >> getting real close to working correctly!
>>> > >> >>
>>> > >> >> If I do /sbin/service httpd restart or /sbin/service dovecot
>>> restart,
>>> > >> >> the
>>> > >> >> restart fails (the stop fails too since they did not start
>>> properly
>>> > >> >> during
>>> > >> >> boot). However, if I do /usr/sbin/httpd or /usr/sbin/dovecot ,
>>> they
>>> > >> both
>>> > >> >> seem to run fine. How can I find out what's going wrong during
>>> boot
>>> > >> or
>>> > >> >> restart that's causing these to not run? I've looked in the
>>> httpd
>>> > >> logs
>>> > >> >> and
>>> > >> >> the messages log and found nothing.
>>> > >> >
>>> > >> > Look again.  For httpd, look in /var/log/httpd/error_log.  For
>>> > >> > dovecot, look in /var/log/maillog.  If a service isn't starting
>>> > >> > properly, there _must_ be some information either on the screen
>>> or in
>>> > >> > a log.
>>> > >> >
>>> > >>
>>> > >> I left httpd running last night by manually starting it. I then
>>> did
>>> a
>>> > >> service httpd restart this afternoon. Here's the restart:
>>> > >>
>>> > >> [root at kauko sbin]# ./service httpd restart
>>> > >> Stopping httpd:                                            [  OK
>>> ]
>>> > >> Starting httpd:
>>> [FAILED]
>>> > >> [root at kauko sbin]#
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >> And here's the error_log:
>>> > >>
>>> > >> [Sun Feb 05 04:02:20 2006] [notice] Digest: generating secret for
>>> digest
>>> > >> authentication ...
>>> > >> [Sun Feb 05 04:02:20 2006] [notice] Digest: done
>>> > >> [Sun Feb 05 04:02:20 2006] [notice] LDAP: Built with OpenLDAP LDAP
>>> SDK
>>> > >> [Sun Feb 05 04:02:20 2006] [notice] LDAP: SSL support unavailable
>>> > >> [Sun Feb 05 04:02:22 2006] [notice] mod_python: Creating 4 session
>>> > >> mutexes
>>> > >> based on 150 max processes and 0 max threads.
>>> > >> [Sun Feb 05 04:02:23 2006] [notice] Apache/2.0.54 (Fedora)
>>> configured --
>>> > >> resuming normal operations
>>> > >> [Sun Feb 05 13:49:44 2006] [notice] caught SIGTERM, shutting down
>>> > >> Waiting for data... (interrupt to abort)
>>> > >>
>>> > >>
>>> > >> The 13:49:44 appeared when I did the restart. Nothing appeared
>>> after
>>> > >> that...
>>> > >>
>>> > >> THANKS!
>>> > >>
>>> > >> Harold
>>> > >
>>> > > Hmm.  This does not compute.  Try to start it again, and very soon
>>> > > after, do this:
>>> > >
>>> > >   cd /var/log
>>> > >   ls -lrt
>>> > >
>>> > > The last log touched will be at the bottom of the list.  My guess
>>> is
>>> > > it will be messages.  Check that.  Also check
>>> > > /var/log/httpd/access_log.  It must be leaving a suicide note
>>> somewhere.
>>> > >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > OK, doing ls -lrt on the right directory, I get:
>>> >
>>> > [root at kauko log]# pwd
>>> > /var/log
>>> > [root at kauko log]# date
>>> > Mon Feb  6 07:46:39 PST 2006
>>> > [root at kauko log]# /sbin/service httpd restart
>>> > Stopping httpd:                                            [FAILED]
>>> > Starting httpd:                                            [FAILED]
>>> > [root at kauko log]# ls -lrt
>>> > total 5152
>>> > drwx------  2 root    root        4096 Nov  2  2004 ppp
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 privoxy privoxy     4096 Mar  2  2005 privoxy
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 root    root        4096 Mar  5  2005 fax
>>> > drwxrwsr-x  2 root    mailman     4096 Mar  7  2005 mailman
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 canna   canna       4096 Mar  7  2005 canna
>>> > drwxrwx---  2 quagga  quagga      4096 Apr  4  2005 quagga
>>> > drwx--S---  2 amanda  disk        4096 Apr 22  2005 amanda
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 tomcat  tomcat      4096 May 10  2005 tomcat5
>>> > drwxr-x---  2 squid   squid       4096 May 16  2005 squid
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 iiimd   iiimd       4096 May 23  2005 iiim
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 root    root        4096 May 27  2005 vbox
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan  7 18:21 spooler.4
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    utmp           0 Jan  7 18:21 btmp.1
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 root    root        4096 Jan  7 18:25 mail
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       72220 Jan  7 20:29 scrollkeeper.log
>>> > -rw-r-----  1 mysql   mysql          0 Jan  7 20:51 mysqld.log.4
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  3 news    news        4096 Jan  7 22:14 news
>>> > drwx------  2 root    root        4096 Jan  7 22:18 iptraf
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 uucp    uucp        4096 Jan  7 22:18 uucp
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root       39790 Jan  7 22:58 anaconda.xlog
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root       38944 Jan  7 22:58 anaconda.syslog
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root       15832 Jan  7 22:58 anaconda.log
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan  8 14:17 boot.log.4
>>> > drwxr-x---  2 root    root        4096 Jan  8 14:17 audit
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       55878 Jan 11 04:02 rpmpkgs.4
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root        4068 Jan 15 11:13 secure.4
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root        6813 Jan 15 12:19 maillog.4
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      186559 Jan 15 12:19 cron.4
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      467643 Jan 15 12:19 messages.4
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan 15 12:19 spooler.3
>>> > -rw-r-----  1 mysql   mysql          0 Jan 15 12:19 mysqld.log.3
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan 15 12:19 boot.log.3
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       55878 Jan 21 04:02 rpmpkgs.3
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root        1327 Jan 21 22:35 secure.3
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      567926 Jan 22 04:02 messages.3
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root        8451 Jan 22 04:02 maillog.3
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      376146 Jan 22 04:02 cron.3
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan 22 04:02 spooler.2
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan 22 04:02 secure.2
>>> > -rw-r-----  1 mysql   mysql          0 Jan 22 04:02 mysqld.log.2
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan 22 04:02 boot.log.2
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       56543 Jan 28 04:02 rpmpkgs.2
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      517218 Jan 29 04:02 messages.2
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root        6096 Jan 29 04:02 maillog.2
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      395521 Jan 29 04:02 cron.2
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan 29 04:02 spooler.1
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Jan 29 04:02 boot.log.1
>>> > -rw-r-----  1 root    root        2300 Jan 29 17:47 acpid
>>> > -rw-rw-r--  1 root    utmp      165888 Jan 29 18:01 wtmp.1
>>> > drwx------  3 radiusd radiusd     4096 Feb  1 04:02 radius
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       56543 Feb  4 04:02 rpmpkgs.1
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root        2260 Feb  4 22:10 secure.1
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      632534 Feb  5 04:02 messages.1
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root       15036 Feb  5 04:02 maillog.1
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      395130 Feb  5 04:02 cron.1
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 lp      sys         4096 Feb  5 04:02 cups
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Feb  5 04:02 spooler
>>> > drwx------  2 root    root        4096 Feb  5 04:02 httpd
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root           0 Feb  5 04:02 boot.log
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    utmp         384 Feb  5 17:57 btmp
>>> > -rw-r-----  1 mysql   mysql       3440 Feb  5 18:10 mysqld.log.1
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       46138 Feb  5 18:12 Xorg.0.log.old
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       11655 Feb  5 18:16 dmesg
>>> > -rw-r-----  1 mysql   mysql        757 Feb  5 18:16 mysqld.log
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root         676 Feb  5 18:17 sshblacklisting
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 root    root        4096 Feb  5 18:17 gdm
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       46138 Feb  5 18:17 Xorg.0.log
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root         225 Feb  5 18:28 yum.log
>>> > drwx------  2 root    root        4096 Feb  5 21:32 samba
>>> > drwxr-xr-x  2 root    root        4096 Feb  6 00:00 sa
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       67742 Feb  6 04:04 prelink.log
>>> > -rw-r--r--  1 root    root       56561 Feb  6 04:05 rpmpkgs
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root        5001 Feb  6 04:54 maillog
>>> > -rw-rw-r--  1 root    utmp       76032 Feb  6 07:40 wtmp
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root        1511 Feb  6 07:40 secure
>>> > -r--------  1 root    root    19136220 Feb  6 07:40 lastlog
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root       65638 Feb  6 07:45 cron
>>> > -rw-------  1 root    root      130754 Feb  6 07:45 messages
>>> > [root at kauko log]#
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > It looks like there were entries in messages and cron. Here's the
>>> last
>>> few
>>> > lines of messages:
>>> >
>>> > Feb  6 07:40:52 kauko sshd(pam_unix)[15144]: session opened for user
>>> root
>>> > by root(uid=0)
>>> > Feb  6 07:45:01 kauko crond(pam_unix)[15256]: session opened for user
>>> root
>>> > by (uid=0)
>>> > Feb  6 07:45:02 kauko crond(pam_unix)[15256]: session closed for user
>>> root
>>> > Feb  6 07:50:01 kauko crond(pam_unix)[15320]: session opened for user
>>> root
>>> > by (uid=0)
>>> > Feb  6 07:50:01 kauko crond(pam_unix)[15321]: session opened for user
>>> root
>>> > by (uid=0)
>>> > Feb  6 07:50:01 kauko crond(pam_unix)[15321]: session closed for user
>>> root
>>> > Feb  6 07:50:02 kauko crond(pam_unix)[15320]: session closed for user
>>> root
>>> >
>>> > and cron
>>> >
>>> > Feb  6 07:40:01 kauko crond[15134]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib/sa/sa1 1 1)
>>> > Feb  6 07:45:01 kauko crond[15257]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/mrtg
>>> > /etc/mrtg/mrtg.cfg --lock-file /var/lock/mrtg/mrtg_l --confcache
>>> > -file /var/lib/mrtg/mrtg.ok)
>>> > Feb  6 07:50:01 kauko crond[15322]: (root) CMD (/usr/bin/mrtg
>>> > /etc/mrtg/mrtg.cfg --lock-file /var/lock/mrtg/mrtg_l --confcache
>>> > -file /var/lib/mrtg/mrtg.ok)
>>> > Feb  6 07:50:01 kauko crond[15323]: (root) CMD (/usr/lib/sa/sa1 1 1)
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > I don't see anything related to the httpd restart... More ideas?
>>>
>>> I give up.  Maybe when Rick Stevens gets his morning coffee, he'll
>>> have some obvious solution that we've all missed.
>>
>> <yawn!>  Hi, guys.
>>
>> Hmmm...looking at the thread, you've tried a lot of things.  First off,
>> check /etc/sysconfig/httpd to see if there are any oddities in the
>> configuration.
>>
>> Also note that /etc/rc.d/init.d/httpd does NOT use apachectl to start.
>> It does check the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file for any Apache 1.3
>> config directives and aborts if it sees any.  It's odd, but Apache 2.0
>> will start with 1.3 directives in the file, but it tries to ignore them.
>> The start script, however, aborts.  The directives it looks for are:
>>
>> 	ServerType
>> 	BindAddress
>> 	Port
>> 	AddModule
>> 	ClearModuleList
>> 	AgentLog
>> 	RefererLog
>> 	RefererIgnore
>> 	FancyIndexing
>> 	AccessConfig
>> 	ResourceConfig
>>
>> If any of those are found in /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf, the script will
>> abort.   Of course, if you just do a "/usr/sbin/httpd", then it'll start
>> up.
>>
>> As to the dovecot stuff, dovecot is the new IMAP/POP daemon (replacing
>> the old imapd/ipop3d system).  It writes its logs to /var/log/maillog,
>> so check that for errors.  It is controlled by a config
>> file, /etc/dovecot.conf, and there may be a typo in there.
>>
>> As to someone's comment about how startup scripts are done:
>>
>> All actual startup/shutdown scripts are in /etc/rc.d/init.d.  In
>> /etc/rc.d/rcX.d (where the X refers to the system run level), there
>> are symlinks back to the /etc/rc.d/init.d scripts.  These links are
>> prefixed with either "Sxx" or "Kxx".  The "Sxx" links are used when the
>> system enters the given run level and are called "start scripts".  The
>> system ordinarily runs them in numerical order ("S01" before "S02" and
>> so on) and passes them the "start" command.
>>
>> The "Kxx" scripts are used when the system _leaves_ the run level and
>> are called "kill scripts".  These are also run in numerical order and
>> are given the "stop" command.
>>
>> /usr/sbin/service is a simple script that checks the appropriate
>> /etc/rc.d/init.d/rcX.d directory for a link containing the service name
>> you give it, and passes it the option you give it:
>>
>> 	service smb start
>>
>> checks the appropriate /etc/rc.d/rcX.d directory for a symlink
>> containing the string "smb" and passes it the "start" option.
>>
>> As to how to enable any service to start at boot time:
>>
>> 	chkconfig servicename on
>>
>> E.g.:
>>
>> 	chkconfig smb on
>>
>> will enable smb to start on the next boot.  Conversely:
>>
>> 	chkconfig smb off
>>
>> will prevent it from starting at boot.  Note that chkconfig only enables
>> or disables the start from boot.  If you need it to start now, use the
>> "service smb start" (or "service smb stop") command as well.
>>
>> Does that help?
>>
>
>
> I REALLY appreciate all the help! But, it still doesn't run! None of the
> old commands remain in the httpd.conf . I also tried deleting all the
> httpd conf files from this machine, then rsyncing them over from a machine
> that works great, and changing stuff like hostname and not much else in
> the config files. Still starts from /usr/sbin/httpd but not from
> /sbin/service httpd restart. I did a config file syntax check:
>
> [root at kauko sbin]# ./httpd -t
> Syntax OK
>
>
> So, that looks ok. Apparently I messed SOMETHING up!
>
>
Oops! I geess I hit send instead of save draft. Anyway, I just rebooted
the system and watched the screen during the reboot. I saw a message go by
about httpd that said something like "ServerRoot must be a directory."
ServerRoot is "/etc/httpd" which IS a directory (and this works with the
/sbin start and is working on another machine). Another error message on
dovecot flew by. I'll deal with that a little later. Any ideas about the
httpd error, which does not, as far as I can find, show up in any logs?

Time for bed here! More work on this tomorrow night!

THANKS!

Harold


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