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Why won't httpd restart after a simple change? – Apache

Oracle Linux 7.2

I updated the SSL Certificate for a particular domain in the httpd.conf file.
Then I did a ‘sudo service httpd restart’, and it hung for a long time (over a minute), then errored out. Now, I can’t restart httpd, and I don’t see any hints in ‘systemctl status httpd.service’ or ‘journalctl -xe’.

Here’s what I’m seeing:

[oracle@secure-web-server-dvl ~]$ sudo service httpd start
Redirecting to /bin/systemctl start  httpd.service
Job for httpd.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status httpd.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
[oracle@secure-web-server-dvl ~]$ systemctl status httpd.service
● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2019-01-04 16:22:31 EST; 37s ago
     Docs: man:httpd(8)
           man:apachectl(8)
  Process: 3299 ExecStop=/bin/kill -WINCH ${MAINPID} (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
  Process: 3297 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/httpd $OPTIONS -DFOREGROUND (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 3297 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: httpd.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com kill[3299]: kill: cannot find process ""
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: httpd.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: Failed to start The Apache HTTP Server.
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: Unit httpd.service entered failed state.
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: httpd.service failed.
[oracle@secure-web-server-dvl ~]$ journalctl -xe
-- Documentation: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/multiseat
--
-- A new session with the ID 1 has been created for the user oracle.
--
-- The leading process of the session is 3259.
Jan 04 16:22:15 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: Started Session 1 of user oracle.
-- Subject: Unit session-1.scope has finished start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit session-1.scope has finished starting up.
--
-- The start-up result is done.
Jan 04 16:22:15 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: Starting Session 1 of user oracle.
-- Subject: Unit session-1.scope has begun start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit session-1.scope has begun starting up.
Jan 04 16:22:15 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com sshd[3259]: pam_unix(sshd:session): session opened for user oracle by (uid=0)
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com sudo[3281]:   oracle : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/oracle ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/sbin/service httpd st
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com polkitd[618]: Registered Authentication Agent for unix-process:3282:11555 (system bus name :1.14
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
-- Subject: Unit httpd.service has begun start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit httpd.service has begun starting up.
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: httpd.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com kill[3299]: kill: cannot find process ""
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: httpd.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: Failed to start The Apache HTTP Server.
-- Subject: Unit httpd.service has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/systemd-devel
--
-- Unit httpd.service has failed.
--
-- The result is failed.
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: Unit httpd.service entered failed state.
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com systemd[1]: httpd.service failed.
Jan 04 16:22:31 secure-web-server-dvl.nitssolutions.com polkitd[618]: Unregistered Authentication Agent for unix-process:3282:11555 (system bus name :1.

Help?

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2

Answers


  1. Chosen as BEST ANSWER
    0

    Ok, I figured this out. Our SSL certificate had expired, so I renewed it. When I replaced the cert in the various VirtualHost sections of the httpd.conf file, I forgot to also replace the key for the SSL cert. That caused the problem. When I went back and updated the keys for the corresponding SSL cert, Apache started right up.

    I think it's a bug that when this happens, there is no trace of root cause in the error messages. I was lucky to figure it out relatively quickly.


  2. 0

    There must be a process (like a web request that is still processing) attached to httpd which is causing it not to restart.
    I see in your error message that process with ID 3299 is trying to be killed, but is failing.
    Check to see if this process is running using

    ps -ef | grep 3299

    or using

    ps -ef| grep apache

    See man ps

    This will show you manual for viewing a snapshot of the current processes

    If you find that the process is still running then you can kill it manually, using command 

    kill -9 3299

    Using the -9 flag will prevent any process from blocking the kill.

    See man kill

    This should allow you to start the httpd service again.

    WARNING: Manually killing a processing can corrupt configuration files.
    Make a back up of your config files for your apache/httpd server first!

    This solution is a bit unorthodox, but as a last resort, sometimes you need to kill a rouge process that is being blocked, manually.

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