Hi,

I've been using SuSE 9.0 Pro for a couple of months and have found it to be great for learning and experimenting. I do have one issue though.....

When installing SuSE I noticed YAST offered either an Apache 1.3 or Apache 2 server. Having experienced 1.3 servers on Yellow Dog, FreeBSD and OSX, I went for a source compile of 1.3.29 which went without problems. I then used Webmin to configure the 1.3.29 server without problems.

Having made the move on my Yellow Dog server to Apache2 (2.0.40 - PowerPC releases do lag somewhat) I thought I would try the same on the SuSE box.

I used YAST to install the simple Apache2 Webserver, performed an on-line update and finally used the YAST Network Services HTTP Server option to fire it up. This all worked fine. I closed the HTTP2 service as I wanted to configure Webmin to control the new Apache2 server and start it in Webmin. Having configured the Webmin module with the new Apache2 paths, I tried to start the server but got the message "Failed to start apache :."

However the server was running and serving pages. The system monitor showed that httpd2 was active. Not according to Webmin though.

Would anyone like to comment on the above and the following questions?

1. Is SuSE by trying to be too helpful making it overly difficult to configure Webmin to control Apache2?

2. Would I be better off uninstalling the YAST2 installed Apache2 and going for a source download and compile?

3. Has anyone managed to configure Webmin to run Apache2 under SuSE 9.0 Pro? Have I messed up the Webmin config of Apache2?

4. Would the 1.3.29 install affect Apache2 adversely?

Thank you in advance.

Regards

David

Hi,

Here's an update as I've spent this Sunday afternoon investigating a bit more.

I am pleased to say I have a solution, but this avoided answering the question of why SuSE's YAST" control of Apache2 prevented control of the server through Webmin. I eventually uninstalled the SuSE version of Apache2 and went for a download and compile of 2.0.49. This went smoothly and I now have an Apache2 server fully controllable from Webmin.

As for getting the SuSE 2.0.48 version to be controllable from Webmin - I could not manage it. I did find that when telling YAST2 to start the HTTP Server service - the System Monitor utility informed me that HTTP2 - prefork was running. Compared to when I started the server from within webmin (despite the message saying it had failed to start the server) System Monitor reported simply HTTPD2.

This leads me to conclude SuSE may have been rewriting the httpd.conf files each time YAST2 started Apache.

I'm happy in the sense that I achieved what I wanted, namely an Apache2 server running on my SuSE 9.0 box - but I am irked I could not find the answer.

Anyone shed any light?

Thanks

David

Figure you already have an answer to this but I just found the real solution that you were looking
for after a bit of digging on the web. Turns out the default module settings for Apache2 as installed
by Webmin for Suse 9.0 and 9.1 are incorrect. Below are the correct settings you should use. Those
listed with a * indicate a change from the default settings.

Configurable options for Apache2 Webserver
Configurable options:

Display virtual servers as Icons
Order virtual servers by Order in config files
Maximum number of servers to display 100
File or directory to add virtual servers to httpd.conf /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
Test config file before applying changes? Yes
Test config file after manual changes? No
Test config file after other changes? No
Test configuration with command apachectl configtest
Show Apache directive names
Base directory for Apache documentation Apache website

* * * * * * * * *
System configuration:
Apache server root directory /srv/www
*Path to httpd executable /usr/sbin/httpd2
Apache version Work out automatically
Path to the apachectl command /usr/sbin/apache2ctl
Command to start apache /etc/init.d/apache2 start
Command to stop apache /etc/init.d/apache2 stop
*Command to apply configuration /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
Path to httpd.conf /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
*Path to srm.conf Automatic
*Path to access.conf /etc/security/access.conf
Path to mime.types /etc/mime.types
*Path to Apache PID file /var/run/httpd2.pid

Hopefully this will help someone else out. Been pulling my hair out on this one for a few days.