I am running core 2 with all of the latest patches/updates. My apache (2.0 - I think) server has suddenly decided to turn itself off every once and a while. I started to look in the logs, but could not find anything worth while (which log? - I could not find one called apache or httpd.)

For now, I have added a cron job in /etc/cron.hourly that does:
/usr/sbin/apachectl start

but this is not a very good solution :-(

thanks for your help,
Jordan

Okay first of all, try to narrow the times down. And there should be something in your logs, not necessarily your apache logs but your syslogs perhaps even.

And no, running a cron script hourly just to start the service is bad, at least do a restart so it doesn't affect your system if its invoked when apache is already running.

And if you really want to keep your cron job going to restart.. you should really think about a script that checks for the apache process, if its running, do nothing.. if its not found, then start apache.

Thanks for the tip to use restart - I did it.
I had checked the syslog and did not see anything pertitnant (what should I be looking for?)

Here's what I am getting now when I do a restart:
[root@dot log]# /usr/sbin/apachectl restart
httpd not running, trying to start
(98)Address already in use: make_sock: could not bind to address [::]:443
no listening sockets available, shutting down
Unable to open logs

and a stop/start:
[root@dot log]# /usr/sbin/apachectl stop
httpd (pid 17724?) not running
[root@dot log]# /usr/sbin/apachectl start
(98)Address already in use: make_sock: could not bind to address [::]:443
no listening sockets available, shutting down
Unable to open logs

The funny thing is that I can still access my web pages!

Any suggestions of where to look in the logs?

thanks...