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

Lee S Parsons parsonsl at upstate.edu
Thu Aug 14 18:33:08 CEST 2008


Dr. Vonrhein

Thank you for your reply, here is an update:

Clemens Vonrhein wrote:
>
> 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 should have mentioned, I was able to create new users using the 
newuser script, but I could never log in as them.  Only the user that I 
created when setting up SHARP was allowed in. 


>
>   % 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
>
>   

As mentioned, restart_server (sorry about the earlier typo) dies 
immediately with the "AuthUserFile" error that I mentioned earlier.  
Still trying to figure out how to get around that one...

Though kill_server is now irrelevant, since the server doesn't start at 
all since the reboot...

>
> 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.
>
>   

Maybe I misread the installation information on the SHARP website - I 
thought I had to install Apache before installing SHARP. 


> 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.
>
>   

I just tried starting the 1.3.34 that came with SHARP - I extracted the 
contents of the tarball into /usr/local/Helpers-server/ (notice the 
intentional capitalization).  I then tried

/usr/local/Helpers-server/httpd -f 
/usr/local/SHARP/sushi/conf/httpd-1.3.conf

And the response was a core dump. 


> 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 think I have the modules part figured out - it seems that there is a 
syntax problem somewhere in here that involves the difference in 
configurations between Apache 1.3.x and 2.2.x.   I verified which 
modules to run for Apache2 (and we even had it somehow working right 
after the SHARP install - just never again). 




> 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
>   

I've tried them, and found that:
( .RedHat-FC3, .glibc23, .SuSE-9.1, .SuSE-9.3) return an error on not 
being able to resolve the FQDN, and then promptly die without leaving 
any messages

( .RedHat-7.3, .glibc22, and "httpd" with nothing after it) all segfault 
and core dump. 

This was when using the config file at 
/usr/local/SHARP/sushi/conf/httpd-1.3.conf


>      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.
>
>   

When I opened the tarball "helpers_server.linux.tar.gz", there was no 
file "apache_1.3.34.tar.gz" as suggested by httpd.README_GPhL.  Should I 
download that version directly from the Apache group and build it myself?




>   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)
>
>   

It seems like the problem lies in how the "AuthUserFile" method is 
called.  I'm looking to see if I can find good documentation on how it 
may have changed between apache 1.3.x and 2.2.x.  I am starting to 
wonder if perhaps "AuthUserFile" may have been deprecated (in name) 
along the way and replaced by something else.

>      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.
>
>
>   

As much as I didn't think I'd be saying this, we aren't really much at 
all concerned about security on this system.  You are correct that it is 
behind a firewall, running as a non-root account.  Apache2 was built 
just because this system had no webserver on it prior, so it seemed 
logical at the time to build the newest version.  We certainly didn't 
expect to walk into this mess with the Apache2 config files, or we would 
have built the older version instead.

Any insight on where to go next with this would be great. 

thank you
Lee



> 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
>>     
>
>   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.globalphasing.com/pipermail/sharp-discuss/attachments/20080814/af203951/attachment.html 


More information about the sharp-discuss mailing list