Cannot Get WordPress Installed
 

I recently built my own Centos 5.7 server. I was able to install php, update it to 5.2 and install MySQL. I have attempted several times to install WordPress, but for some reason I cannot run install.php. Anytime I attempt to hit my WordPress site (/var/www/html/blog) from a computer i get error 403, access forbidden. I checked the permissions on the folder and files which are all 755 in /blog and all subdirectories. I changed the owner to apache. I have created the database in MySQL called 'blogs' and assigned MySQL root a generic password. I have edited the wp config file as instructed based upon the database name, user name and password. Still same error, 403 Forbidden. Understand I am extremely new to Linux, WordPress, etc... But I can follow directions :). Another friend of mine suggested that I create a .htaccess file in the /blog directory. I created the file according to another forum post with WordPress, still nothing. I have stopped, started, restarted, rebooted... So much for a WordPress 5-Minute Install huh?? Thanks for any assistance you can provide

From your post it looks like you'll make a good blogger :)

Can you see the WordPress logo when you get the 403 ? What specifically is telling you to get lost ?

The first place to look would be in your logs. Try going to /var/log and snooping around, and in particular in the apache directory, look for access.log and error.log.

Are you sitting in front of your server, or are you remotely accessing it ?

Thank you for your reply. I do not see the Wordpress logo at any time. I simply get the following:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /blog/wp-admin/install.php on this server.
Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at internal-web Port 80

Below is an excerpt from my access_log when trying to run the install.php script.

192.168.0.132 - - [15/Feb/2012:03:58:16 -0600] "GET /blog/ HTTP/1.1" 403 284 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.963.46 Safari/$
192.168.0.132 - - [15/Feb/2012:03:58:16 -0600] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 286 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.963.46 S$
192.168.0.132 - - [15/Feb/2012:03:58:22 -0600] "GET /blog/ HTTP/1.1" 403 284 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.963.46 Safari/$
192.168.0.132 - - [15/Feb/2012:03:58:22 -0600] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 403 5043 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.963.46 Safari/535.$
192.168.0.132 - - [15/Feb/2012:03:58:23 -0600] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 286 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.963.46 S$
192.168.0.132 - - [15/Feb/2012:05:15:34 -0600] "GET /blog/wp-admin/install.php HTTP/1.1" 403 304 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome$
192.168.0.132 - - [15/Feb/2012:05:15:38 -0600] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 286 "-" "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.963.46 S$

Here is an excerpt from the error_log...

[Wed Feb 15 03:41:21 2012] [notice] Digest: done
[Wed Feb 15 03:41:21 2012] [notice] mod_python: Creating 4 session mutexes based on 256 max processes and 0 max threads.
[Wed Feb 15 03:41:21 2012] [notice] Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) configured -- resuming normal operations
[Wed Feb 15 03:43:30 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] (13)Permission denied: access to /blog/index.php denied
[Wed Feb 15 03:43:31 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] File does not exist: /var/www/html/favicon.ico
[Wed Feb 15 03:58:16 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] (13)Permission denied: access to /blog/index.php denied
[Wed Feb 15 03:58:16 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] File does not exist: /var/www/html/favicon.ico
[Wed Feb 15 03:58:22 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] (13)Permission denied: access to /blog/index.php denied
[Wed Feb 15 03:58:22 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] Directory index forbidden by Options directive: /var/www/html/
[Wed Feb 15 03:58:23 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] File does not exist: /var/www/html/favicon.ico
[Wed Feb 15 05:15:34 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] (13)Permission denied: access to /blog/wp-admin/install.php denied
[Wed Feb 15 05:15:38 2012] [error] [client 192.168.0.132] File does not exist: /var/www/html/favicon.ico

It says access is denied, but I have assigned ownership to apache.apache. It was root. All files have 755 access rights, but I have even changed them to 777, still no joy.

Thanks again for your assistance

A

sorry... I am in front of the server and I have shell access. It is simply a playground for me to learn linux, so it lives right next to me.

The best way to learn : play !

It looks to me like a directive in your apache configs that is doing the blocking. So it is Apache.

Within " /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf " you will find statements that are doing the blocking, like "allow from XXXXX" or "Allow from None"....

You might want to copy your httpd.conf for backup, and then play with this file. Try "Allow from All" ( note this is just for a test - take your system off line, or do not expose it to the internet.)

REMEMBER to put the copy back after your playing.

So, make a change to this file, and watch the result in access.log/error.log. Restart or reload apache after each change.

Have a look over here for an excellent guide to a generic Apache setup:

http://www.server-world.info/en/note..._5&p=httpd&f=1

Ciao !

Thank you for the suggestions and for the input. I just completely screwed the server trying a chmod command. So this is a great learning experience. I am currently reinstalling everything :) Thank you for your patience. I will post back later today when I have time to play again

A

I cannot count the times I've done a complete re-install after playing in my sandbox.

If you can get those "test" pages going from the guide, you should be good to go....

FYI - apache might own the pages, but firefox (etc) runs as user "nobody" - it has no system privledges ( thank god ! )

Yes, do keep me posted !

Just thought I would give an update. i decided to go with the latest release of Centos 6.2, which I installed from a net install ISO. I got everything installed (WordPress, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, apache, etc...). I was even able to load mycrypt from the EPEL repo. Yeah me !!!!
I would like to say thanks for your assistance. The initial attempts I made was to try to replicate the setup on our Production server (Centos 5.7, with PHP 5.2 ) but I quickly came to realize that it would be better for me to start with the latest releases.

Thank you for your assistance. My WordPress site will now take form. Of course, it may take the form of something slightly warm and squishy.

Thank you again
A

Bon Voyage !

or is it Bin Voyage ?

:)