Virtual Hosting on External Harddrive

[nasp]

Hi, to begin i want to let you know I just switched to Ubuntu and my knowledge of unix and apache is kinda limited.

The main reason why i want to map an host on my harddrive is because i often have to switch computer or os and I mainly use it for developping and testing. But after following tutorials i keep getting a error 403 message:
Forbidden

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.
Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu5.3 with Suhosin-Patch Server at dev Port 80


In order to install apache i followed those steps:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy#Install_a_LAMP_server_for_local_web_d evelopment

In order to add a virtual host i followed those steps:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Hardy#Adding_a_virtual_host_to_your_LAMP_se rver

this is my /etc/hosts:
127.0.0.1 localhost dev
127.0.1.1 simon-desktop

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

this my httpd.conf:

<VirtualHost *>
ServerName dev
DocumentRoot /media/DATA/dev
<Directory "/media/DATA/dev/">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
</Virtualhost>


this is the error logged in /var/log/apache2/error.log:
[Wed Aug 20 20:38:00 2008] [crit] [client 127.0.0.1] (13)Permission denied: /media/DATA/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable

Plus, when I restart apache "/etc/init.d/apache2 restart" i get this error message on shutdown and on restart:
apache2: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName

Thanks a lot for sharing idea on how to resolve my problem :)

Simon

[cariboo907]

It would be a ;ot easier if you created a symbolic link from your removeable media to /var/www then trying to set it up in a config file. to do this in /var/www do something like this:

ln -s /media/DATA/dev html


Then modify the /etc/apache2/sites-available/default to reflect the document root change eg:

NameVirtualHost *
<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

DocumentRoot /var/www/html

Jim

[windependence]

The issue is most likely ownership of /media/DATA. It's probably owned by your user and Apache has no access.

-Tim

[nasp]

I still get a 403, how do i give apache access to this folder?

I get this new error after adding a symbolic link:
[Thu Aug 21 19:23:31 2008] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] Symbolic link not allowed or link target not accessible: /var/www/dev

And modifying httpd.conf to
<VirtualHost *>
ServerName dev
DocumentRoot /var/www/dev/
</Virtualhost>


I still have the same error on shutdown and restart of apache:
<VirtualHost *>
ServerName dev
DocumentRoot /var/www/dev/
</Virtualhost>


Whats the difference between allowed sites and the httpd.conf

[nasp]

I tried to sudo chmod -R +rx /media/DATA/dev with no success :(

[windependence]

httpd.conf is the conf file from Apache 1.3. It is only there for compatibilty purposes. You should have nothing in there. Your conf should go in your apache2.conf file, and the /etc/apache2/sites-available files.

The error you are getting on startup can be solved by running the coomand below (with your actual domain and server name) and restarting Apache:

echo "ServerName dev.yourdomain.com" | sudo tee /etc/apache2/conf.d/fqdn

More info here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP

-Tim

[nasp]

Ok, so erased all my httpd.conf and followed the instructions in the link you gave me.

now sites-avaibles/dev looks like:
NameVirtualHost *
<VirtualHost *>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
ServerName dev
DocumentRoot /media/DATA/dev
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>
<Directory /media/DATA/dev>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
<Directory "/usr/lib/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

ErrorLog /var/www/dev/error.log

# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
ServerSignature On

</VirtualHost>

and then i did
sudo a2dissite default && sudo a2ensite dev
which worked.

One weird thing is that it created the error.log file at /media/DATA/dev but when i type http://dev it still get a 403 and /media/DATA/dev logs
[Sat Aug 23 13:55:51 2008] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] (13)Permission denied: access to / denied

If it can write the in log file it has write access, no?
Does it mean apache has no read access?

Edit: The reason why the log file points to /var/www/dev/ is because i have a symbolic link that points to /media/DATA/dev there.

Edit2: Changing DocumentRoot or Directory to /var/www/dev/ result in this error instead

[Sat Aug 23 14:05:33 2008] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] Symbolic link not allowed or link target not accessible: /var/www/dev

[windependence]

It's definitely a permissions issue.

Look at this:

http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/13PermissionDenied

-Tim

[nasp]

I did
sudo chmod -R 644 /media/DATA/dev
And now I can't access it, and all my filea are hidden...

[windependence]

Wel that's probably because of who owns it. You would be perfectly OK to set those files at 755. Actually I am not too sure you want to do this recursively in that directory either. I have a great book on Apache security here. Let me take a look and see what is recommended. I have most of my stuff at 755 but then I have some other things in place also for security.

-Tim

[nasp]

Thanks a lot for your fast support, I really appreciate it :)

[windependence]

No problem. Can you give me the output of

ls -la /media/DATA/dev

ls -la /media/DATA

and

ls -la /media

I want to find out who owns those directories.

-Tim

[nasp]

ls -la /media/DATA/dev

total 288
drwx------ 5 simon root 32768 2008-08-23 13:52 .
drwx------ 37 simon root 32768 1969-12-31 19:00 ..
-rwx------ 1 simon root 704 2008-08-23 14:05 error.log
-rwx------ 1 simon root 477 2008-08-23 13:47 error.log~
-rwx------ 1 simon root 0 2008-08-23 13:43 index.html
-rwx------ 1 simon root 23 2008-08-17 20:37 index.php
-rwx------ 1 simon root 23 2008-08-17 20:37 index.php~
drwx------ 3 simon root 32768 2008-08-21 19:53 .metadata
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-21 20:05 preferences
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-23 13:44 PUI

ls -la /media/DATA
drwx------ 37 simon root 32768 1969-12-31 19:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 2008-08-24 00:04 ..
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 alumini
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-06-15 17:42 $AVG8.VAULT$
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-03-22 19:33 _BACKUP
drwx------ 8 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:47 Compagnie
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 corpg
drwx------ 5 simon root 32768 2008-04-13 16:08 DataGrid
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 depenses_ecole
drwx------ 5 simon root 32768 2008-08-23 13:52 dev
-rwx------ 1 simon root 15364 2008-03-25 09:48 .DS_Store
drwx------ 5 simon root 32768 2007-08-30 13:07 École
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 etudeff07
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 etudiant2
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2007-09-07 17:12 Films
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-04-08 20:18 FOUND.000
drwx------ 7 simon root 32768 2008-06-21 01:36 framework
-rwx------ 1 simon root 18874368 2008-08-02 23:22 ibdata1
-rwx------ 1 simon root 10485760 2008-08-02 23:22 ib_logfile0
-rwx------ 1 simon root 10485760 2007-01-24 18:36 ib_logfile1
drwx------ 7 simon root 32768 2008-03-30 02:55 Icons
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-17 19:49 Images
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 katya_portfolio
drwx------ 7 simon root 32768 2008-05-08 16:58 lib
-rwx------ 1 simon root 55 2008-07-25 20:15 loyer.txt
-rwx------ 1 simon root 1635 2007-05-09 11:20 MTLDINW2K-100.err
drwx------ 47 simon root 32768 2008-08-19 19:11 Musique
dr-x------ 10 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:59 My Pictures
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 mysql
-rwx------ 1 simon root 1740 2008-05-25 18:36 numtel.txt
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-03-03 10:05 Polices
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 portfolio
drwx------ 9 simon root 32768 2008-08-23 14:34 Programmes
drwx------ 7 simon root 32768 2008-02-13 02:33 Projets
drwx------ 6 simon root 32768 2008-03-03 23:14 $RECYCLE.BIN
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2007-08-30 14:05 Recycled
drwx------ 13 simon root 32768 2007-08-30 13:07 System Volume Information
drwx------ 5 simon root 32768 2007-09-19 09:05 .TemporaryItems
-rwx------ 1 simon root 82 2007-09-19 09:05 ._.TemporaryItems
-rwx------ 1 simon root 19456 2008-05-25 15:23 Thumbs.db
drwx------ 4 simon root 32768 2008-08-09 10:19 .Trash-1000
-rwx------ 1 simon root 4096 2007-09-04 11:30 ._.Trashes
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 vitresimpec
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 _vitresimpec
drwx------ 5 simon root 32768 2008-03-04 23:58 vitresimpec.com
drwx------ 7 simon root 32768 2008-05-16 00:12 vitresimpec_v2
-rwx------ 1 simon root 188547 2008-06-30 11:30 wubildr
-rwx------ 1 simon root 8192 2008-06-30 11:30 wubildr.mbr
drwx------ 12 simon root 32768 2008-08-11 19:50 www

ls -la /media
total 56
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 2008-08-24 00:04 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 2008-08-17 09:37 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root 999 6 2008-08-17 13:24 cdrom -> cdrom0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root 999 4096 2008-08-17 13:24 cdrom0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root 999 4096 2008-08-17 13:24 cdrom1
drwx------ 37 simon root 32768 1969-12-31 19:00 DATA
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root 999 7 2008-08-17 13:24 floppy -> floppy0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root 999 4096 2008-08-17 13:24 floppy0
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 110 2008-08-24 00:04 .hal-mtab
-rw------- 1 root root 0 2008-08-24 00:04 .hal-mtab-lock

[windependence]

OK, according to "Apache, the Definitive Guide" from O'Reilly, your document root should be owned by anyone EXCEPT the Apache user. This is so that if someone gains access as the Apache user, they cannot change the files. They suggest it be owned by root and the wheel group. Since wheel doesn't exist in Ubuntu, we'll use admin.

So we should then do this:

sudo chown -R root:admin /media/DATA/dev

Then, we need to give others (the Apache user) permission to enter (x) and permission to read the files, so we do this:

sudo chmod -R o+rx /media/DATA/dev

Then, do an ls -la and make sure the permissions and ownership have applied, and then restart Apache. Let me know if you can now reach your site.

-Tim

[nasp]

i get the same error :(
[Tue Aug 26 20:10:55 2008] [error] [client 127.0.0.1] (13)Permission denied: access to / denied

And my ls are still the exact same thing :(

[windependence]

If your listings are the same, then the permissions did not apply for some reason.

Your directory should look something like this:

drwxr-xr-x 2 root admin 4096 2008-08-26 15:14 test

And your files should look like this:

-rw-r--r-x 1 root admin 0 2008-08-26 15:11 test

Show me your ls -la on /media/DATA/dev

-Tim

[nasp]

ls -la /media/DATA/dev

total 288
drwx------ 5 simon root 32768 2008-08-23 13:52 .
drwx------ 35 simon root 32768 1969-12-31 19:00 ..
-rwx------ 1 simon root 1296 2008-08-26 20:10 error.log
-rwx------ 1 simon root 477 2008-08-23 13:47 error.log~
-rwx------ 1 simon root 0 2008-08-23 13:43 index.html
-rwx------ 1 simon root 23 2008-08-17 20:37 index.php
-rwx------ 1 simon root 23 2008-08-17 20:37 index.php~
drwx------ 3 simon root 32768 2008-08-21 19:53 .metadata
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-21 20:05 preferences
drwx------ 2 simon root 32768 2008-08-26 00:55 PUI


Argh and it seems like my apache doesn't auto-start anymore :(
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

* Restarting web server apache2
httpd (no pid file) not running

[windependence]

Hmmmm.... your permissions definitely did NOT change. Can you try the commands again and let me know if you get any errors?

We didn't change anything that would have to do with the Apache startup script so I am at a loss there. There may be an old pid file laying around that we will need to get rid of.

-Tim

[nasp]

Arhhhgg, I just realised i get
Permission Denied on every single file when i do
sudo chown -R root:admin /media/DATA/dev


But

sudo chmod -R o+rx /media/DATA/dev
works just fine.

Any idea why I get this error?