[sharp-discuss] apache2 not starting on Ubuntu 7.04 SHARP installation

Clemens Vonrhein vonrhein at globalphasing.com
Thu Aug 14 08:34:34 CEST 2008


Dear Lee,

On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 05:32:26PM -0400, Lee S Parsons wrote:
> Hello
> I finally accomplished a working installation of sharp on an Ubuntu 
> Linux (7.04) system.  Yesterday the system started correctly, although 
> it never accepted new names and passwords.

You should be able to create new users for the SHARP server by doing:

  % cd /where/ever/sharp
  % source ./setup.csh           # tcsh/csh
    - or -
  % . ./setup.sh                 # sh/bash/ksh/zsh
  % adm/bin/newuser

> I also noticed that the restart-server command did not work, but I
> wasn't planning to worry about that for the moment.

The exact command is "restart_server" (i.e underscore instead of
dash). It needs to be run under the UNIX account that is intended to
run the httpd/server on the correct machine. If for some reason a
previous httpd/server crashed ungracefully, it might refuse to do
so. In that case the best is to

  % cd /where/ever/sharp
  % source ./setup.csh           # tcsh/csh
    - or -
  % . ./setup.sh                 # sh/bash/ksh/zsh
  % adm/bin/kill_server
  % adm/bin/restart_server
  % adm/bin/check_server

> Then one of my friendly users rebooted the system without warning.  It 
> appears the system in question did shut down gracefully, however I 
> cannot restart apache2 for SHARP.

You are trying to use apache2 as the httpd for SHARP/autoSHARP? This
is different from the recommended version of the apache httpd (1.3.X)
that also comes with the SHARP/autoSHARP files
(helpers_server.*.tar.gz). There is a basic example configuration file
for apache2 available in $BDG_home/sushi/conf, but this might need
some tweaking and editing before it is going to work.

If at all possible, try to use the 1.3.X httpd binary that comes as
part of the installation. Or compile your own 1.3.X binary - for
details see $BDG_home/helpers/*/httpd.README_GPhL on how to do that.

> The problem appears to be linked to the Authorization methods, and
> returns this message:
> 
> /install/adm/bin/restart_server
> Syntax error on line 359 of /usr/local/SHARP/sushi/conf/httpd-2.0.conf:
> Invalid command 'AuthUserFile', perhaps misspelled or defined by a 
> module not included in the server configuration
>  
>  ERROR : something went wrong - please see any message above
>          and also try running the httpd binary
>          /usr/sbin/apache2 by hand. Maybe this binary isn't
>          working on that particular platform/operating
>          system? See the file(s)
>          /usr/local/SHARP/helpers/*/httpd.README_GPhL.

If you are using a apache httpd binary coming with your operating
system: be aware that these are very often compiled/configured
differently from a plain default installation of the official Apache
httpd distribution. OS supplier configure their version of the Apache
httpd very modular which would require that you have to manually load
all kind of modules before it will behave as expected by
SHARP/autoSHARP (which assumes a httpd installation based on the
official Apache httpd distribution).

> I also tried starting apache2 directly (using the -f switch) with the 
> sushi httpd-2.0.conf file, and the same 'AuthUserFile' error was 
> returned.  I have the following auth modules enabled (via symbolic links 
> in /etc/apache2/mods-enabled):
> 
> /etc/apache2/mods-enabled$ ls auth*
> auth_basic.load  authn_default.load  authn_file.load  
> authz_default.load  authz_groupfile.load  authz_host.load  authz_user.load
> 
> I am not sure what to do next.

2 possibilities (with 2 sub-possibilities each):

  1. use a 1.3.X version of the httpd

     a) we do ship pre-compiled binaries inside of
        helpers_server.*.tar.gz that can be tried

     b) if none of those works (because of the way the httpd is built
        this can happen): just follow the instructions in
        /usr/local/SHARP/helpers/*/httpd.README_GPhL to compile your
        own (very easy). This is then guaranteed to work on that
        machine.

  2. use a 2.X version of the httpd: you will most likely need to do
     some editing in the configuraiton file.

     a) try using the system-supplied apache2 binary: you need to load
        additional modules ... but I don't know which (depends on your
        operating system and how the vendor has configured it)

     b) compile your own 2.X version

I would definitely go with option 1 (hopefully a) but b) is easy
enough as well). Yes, 1.3.X is a bit older version, but this is a
httpd running on a local machine on a non-privileged port (8080) under
a non-root account (right?) behind a firewall (I guess) ... so I can't
really see any security implications here.


Hope that helps.

Cheers

Clemens

> 
> thank you
> Lee Parsons
> Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
> SUNY Upstate Medical University
> Syracuse, NY
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> sharp-discuss mailing list
> sharp-discuss at globalphasing.com
> https://www.globalphasing.com/mailman/listinfo/sharp-discuss

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