Apache Server configuration support

Author

Unable to load pages

mgb-svea@hotmail.com

2007-01-19, 7:31 pm

Greetings all,

I don't know if I'm in the right place now, but I'll give it a try
anyhow.

I'm currently running Apache 2.0 and php 4.4 on a Windows XP SP2
computer.
It is a personal server for personal use only.

On january the 18:th at approximately 04:37 am my server refused to
load anything from my server. I hade not made any changes to the
congifuration; neither to apache nor php. The last entry in access.logg
was at the given time, 04:37.

I was given the idea to telnet, and used following syntax: "telnet
localhost 80", from command-prompt, but that only resulted in a blank
screen. I tried to my ftp-server, and that worked fine.

I was also given the idea to view netstat, and used following syntax:
netstat -a | find ":80", and it resulted in following, over and over:

TCP 0.0.0.0:80 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
TCP 127.0.0.1:80 127.0.0.1:1579 CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.1.11:80 85.226.11.225:1062 CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.1.11:80 85.226.11.225:1066 CLOSE_WAIT
TCP 192.168.1.11:80 85.226.11.225:1400 CLOSE_WAIT

But I have no idea what the heck that means
I have tried to reinstall it, but it didn't change anything.

The last logs to error.log was following:

[Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Apache/2.0.59 (Win32) PHP/4.4.4
configured -- resuming normal operations
[Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Server built: Jul 27 2006 15:55:03
[Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Parent: Created child process 1452
[Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Child 1452: Child process is
running
[Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Child 1452: Acquired the start
mutex.
[Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Child 1452: Starting 250 worker
threads.

I don't know why I got an error message at this time, cause when
earlier the same day, nothing happend!

Anyone have a clue to what it could be?

Thanks in advance,
/Martin

shimmyshack

2007-01-19, 7:31 pm

mgb-svea@hotmail.com wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
> I don't know if I'm in the right place now, but I'll give it a try
> anyhow.
>
> I'm currently running Apache 2.0 and php 4.4 on a Windows XP SP2
> computer.
> It is a personal server for personal use only.
>
> On january the 18:th at approximately 04:37 am my server refused to
> load anything from my server. I hade not made any changes to the
> congifuration; neither to apache nor php. The last entry in access.logg
> was at the given time, 04:37.
>
> I was given the idea to telnet, and used following syntax: "telnet
> localhost 80", from command-prompt, but that only resulted in a blank
> screen. I tried to my ftp-server, and that worked fine.
>
> I was also given the idea to view netstat, and used following syntax:
> netstat -a | find ":80", and it resulted in following, over and over:
>
> TCP 0.0.0.0:80 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING
> TCP 127.0.0.1:80 127.0.0.1:1579 CLOSE_WAIT
> TCP 192.168.1.11:80 85.226.11.225:1062 CLOSE_WAIT
> TCP 192.168.1.11:80 85.226.11.225:1066 CLOSE_WAIT
> TCP 192.168.1.11:80 85.226.11.225:1400 CLOSE_WAIT
>
> But I have no idea what the heck that means
> I have tried to reinstall it, but it didn't change anything.
>
> The last logs to error.log was following:
>
> [Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Apache/2.0.59 (Win32) PHP/4.4.4
> configured -- resuming normal operations
> [Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Server built: Jul 27 2006 15:55:03
> [Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Parent: Created child process 1452
> [Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Child 1452: Child process is
> running
> [Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Child 1452: Acquired the start
> mutex.
> [Fri Jan 19 20:18:50 2007] [notice] Child 1452: Starting 250 worker
> threads.
>
> I don't know why I got an error message at this time, cause when
> earlier the same day, nothing happend!
>
> Anyone have a clue to what it could be?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> /Martin

everything seems to be fine, if apache is starting then it is bound to
port 80 and even appears to be serving requests to 85.226.11.225
when you say "refuses to load" thats what we need more about. The fact
that it happenned at a particular time - were you working on it then?
how do you know the time,
It could be updates but thats usually the second thursday, not the
third.
anyway describe the actual error you get, and perhaps we will be able
to help. is it a 404, a 403, a 500 error, or "nothing" page not
displayed, what about firefox versus ie etc...

also telnet DOES result in a blank window
if you type
telnet 127.0.0.1 80 [enter]
then at the blank window typ
GET / HTTP/1.1 [enter] [enter]

what do you see?
what about if you type

telnet 127.0.0.1 80 [enter]
then at the blank window typ
GET / HTTP/1.1 [enter]
Host: 127.0.0.1 [enter][enter]

you cant see when you are typing so get it right.

mgb-svea@hotmail.com

2007-01-19, 7:31 pm

shimmyshack skrev:

> mgb-svea@hotmail.com wrote:
>
>
> everything seems to be fine, if apache is starting then it is bound to
> port 80 and even appears to be serving requests to 85.226.11.225
> when you say "refuses to load" thats what we need more about. The fact
> that it happenned at a particular time - were you working on it then?
> how do you know the time,
> It could be updates but thats usually the second thursday, not the
> third.
> anyway describe the actual error you get, and perhaps we will be able
> to help. is it a 404, a 403, a 500 error, or "nothing" page not
> displayed, what about firefox versus ie etc...
>
> also telnet DOES result in a blank window
> if you type
> telnet 127.0.0.1 80 [enter]
> then at the blank window typ
> GET / HTTP/1.1 [enter] [enter]
>
> what do you see?
> what about if you type
>
>
> telnet 127.0.0.1 80 [enter]
> then at the blank window typ
> GET / HTTP/1.1 [enter]
> Host: 127.0.0.1 [enter][enter]
>
> you cant see when you are typing so get it right.

I know it stoped working then because I was working with php, making
small simple codes for my page. Just suddenly I couldn't load the page.
I've had that problem before, a few days before, but they lasted only
about 10-20 seconds. Sometimes all I needed to do was close the browser
and open a new one.

What I mean with "refuse to load", I'm talking about this: I enter
localhost, xaner.mine.nu(my dns) or 127.0.0.1, and in the statusbar the
green "bar" is shown stating that the page is loading, and it says
"opening localhost".. then nothing else happens, no error messages,
nothing.

I tried both ways, and typed really carfully looking at eatch
keystroke, making sure nothing goes wrong. But the screen stays blank.

What is the "update" you wrote about? Does the server update itself?

I breefly looked through my error.log file the past days, and found two
lines that looked quite odd to me.

[Thu Jan 18 05:30:43 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not
exist: D:/wwwserver/root/gwcache
This line only occurs ONCE in the whole error.log file

[Thu Jan 18 07:44:58 2007] [warn] pid file C:/Program Files/Apache
Group/Apache2/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of
previous Apache run?
This one, however, can be found numerous times.

shimmyshack

2007-01-20, 1:29 am

mgb-svea@hotmail.com wrote:
> shimmyshack skrev:
>
>
> I know it stoped working then because I was working with php, making
> small simple codes for my page. Just suddenly I couldn't load the page.
> I've had that problem before, a few days before, but they lasted only
> about 10-20 seconds. Sometimes all I needed to do was close the browser
> and open a new one.
>
> What I mean with "refuse to load", I'm talking about this: I enter
> localhost, xaner.mine.nu(my dns) or 127.0.0.1, and in the statusbar the
> green "bar" is shown stating that the page is loading, and it says
> "opening localhost".. then nothing else happens, no error messages,
> nothing.
>
> I tried both ways, and typed really carfully looking at eatch
> keystroke, making sure nothing goes wrong. But the screen stays blank.
>
> What is the "update" you wrote about? Does the server update itself?
>
> I breefly looked through my error.log file the past days, and found two
> lines that looked quite odd to me.
>
> [Thu Jan 18 05:30:43 2007] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] File does not
> exist: D:/wwwserver/root/gwcache
> This line only occurs ONCE in the whole error.log file
>
> [Thu Jan 18 07:44:58 2007] [warn] pid file C:/Program Files/Apache
> Group/Apache2/logs/httpd.pid overwritten -- Unclean shutdown of
> previous Apache run?
> This one, however, can be found numerous times.

ok, I wonder whether you have checked your httpd.conf file thoroughly,
go through it and make sure that all the variables are correctly set to
appropriate values, if you are not sure what should be in that file
consult a standard httpd.conf file from apache or a source such as
xampp for windows from apachefriends.

what you are describing is a condition that you cannot diagnose without
some tools.
I personally would immediately reach for tcpview and filemon - both
available from the sysinternals section of the micro$oft website,
download them. Next download wireshark for windows.

run filemon and attach to the drives that are responsible for your
content - if you serve pages from D drive attach them. Include C too
since that is where (most likely) your apache install is. Filemon will
show all the disk access while you make a single failed request. After
the request stop it from monitoring - magnifying glass icon - you are
looking for files which are not found, or repetitive faults, even parts
of apache that arent found. Things out of the ordinary - consult the m$
website for hints.
Tcpview is a gui for netstat it shows you in more or less real time the
number of connections as well as what port and (green) new connections
and (red) closed connections. This tool allows you to watch traffic
hitting apache and see whats what, it can be useful.
By far the most impressive piece of software is wireshark - formerly
ethereal - open it bind it to a real network card - probably the one
you have set to 192.168.1.11, and then set it to update packets in real
time and press start capture. As you contact apache the individual
requests and packets are seen, you may then absolutlely see why things
are not working. You might see weird issues resulting from hardware,
failed packets, packets prevented from reaching apache.

To me what you have sounds like some sort of firewall issue, the blank
window means that apache has been found, when you press [enter][enter]
this should prompt apache to respond with an error or a response of a
good kind. Either way if the window stays black your packets are not
being received back from apache either because it cannot respond, or
does but is being prevented.

The update I refered to was some kind of windows update, or perhaps
antivirus false positive which snarfed a file away that caused apache
to fault. Abnormally ending apache usually means something fairly
serious in the conf file or a module that is faulty or not compatible,
but it could be almost anything, including a new IP address from your
DHCP server.

I recommend you check your versions, if you dont need older versions,
then update them to the latest ones, (apache and php etc...) if you
really are uncomfortable with all this, just backup your htdocs, then
go get xampp and install that, its just the job for zero to hero.

One more thing you mention that you "DNS" maps xaner.mine.nu(my dns) to
your IP, I am assuming that you mean your HOSTS file
(c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) rather than dns - unless you
are running a local windows dns server. I also assume you have a hard
coded static IP address, if you have bound apache to this IP, you
cannot reboot and allow DHCP to change your LAN IP or apache wont be
able to bind. Because you use 127.0.0.1 but the error.log contains
192.168.1.11 I was unsure of your setup.
DNS should be directing your domain name to your public IP, you cannot
expect requests for your domain name which route to your public IP to
end up at apache unless you use a modem which binds to your public IP,
also unless you have bought a static IP from your ISP, your external IP
will change and so even though you may have pointed your domain name A
record at your external IP, it will need to be updated, so you are
using DynDNS from a free provider in that case. Once again though you
will need to allow apache to bind to all addresses in that case.

There are sufficiently many variables and unknowns for me to say
confidently that unless you post much more of your set up I cant help
you, my advice - use XAMPP after backing up your work. Get the updated
version and perhaps even go with php5 (default) unless you need to
switch to 4. completely uninstall your old apache first. I only advise
this because you didnt like the netstat output earlier which makes me
think that your networking skills might mean you have a dodgy setup
there, not strictly an apache issue.
good luck!!