Cannot connect to localhost after permission change

[1888software]

Localhost apache2 webserver WAS running ok on Ubuntu 13.04.
I changed permission on /var/www/ so that I could access it with my non root account. It's a standalone server used only by myself for testing.
Now localhost does not run at all
Ping localhost shows server IS running.

The browser error is:

Unable to connect
Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost.

What should I be checking to resolve this?

With thanks.

[linuxonbute]

What user did you change it to?
post the results of

ls -l /var

and

ls -l /var/www

[1888software]

laptop@ubuntu-VPCEE43FX:~$ ls -l /var
total 52
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 5 07:52 backups
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 May 8 21:16 cache
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 Aug 4 05:26 crash
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 22 2013 games
drwxr-xr-x 66 root root 4096 Jul 26 11:42 lib
drwxrwsr-x 2 root staff 4096 Oct 9 2012 local
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Aug 2 06:32 lock -> /run/lock
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Aug 5 07:52 log
drwxrwsr-x 2 root mail 4096 Oct 17 2012 mail
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 Oct 17 2012 metrics
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 17 2012 opt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Aug 2 06:32 run -> /run
drwxr-xr-x 9 root root 4096 May 25 01:12 spool
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 Aug 5 23:44 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 4 laptop root 4096 Aug 4 18:41 www




laptop@ubuntu-VPCEE43FX:~$ ls -l /var/www
total 12
drwxrwxr-x 4 laptop laptop 4096 Aug 4 05:09 1888software.com
drwxrwxr-x 2 laptop ubuntu 4096 Aug 4 01:35 folder1
-rw-r--r-- 1 laptop root 194 Aug 4 04:58 index.html

[linuxonbute]

Not sure exactly how much you will need to do.

So first just try

sudo chown www-data.www-data /var/www

and see if that is enough.

[1888software]

When I logged in as superuser to make the change Ubuntu threw two errors. I authorized sending the reports, launched Firefox, typed in localhost and nada:

Unable to connect
Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at localhost.

Over to you. With thanks for your help!

[linuxonbute]

What were the errors?
Did the change of user take place anyway?
Try

ls -l /var

[1888software]

I didn't write the errors down, I get so many... almost everytime I logon as superuser there are Ubuntu errors...

I no longer see laptop as a user. This is the non root user I need to run the files under, so I can work without working as root.

ubuntu@ubuntu-VPCEE43FX:~$ sudo chown www-data.www-data /var/www
[sudo] password for ubuntu:
ubuntu@ubuntu-VPCEE43FX:~$ ls -l /var
total 52
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Aug 5 07:52 backups
drwxr-xr-x 18 root root 4096 May 8 21:16 cache
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 Aug 6 00:06 crash
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jan 22 2013 games
drwxr-xr-x 66 root root 4096 Jul 26 11:42 lib
drwxrwsr-x 2 root staff 4096 Oct 9 2012 local
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Aug 2 06:32 lock -> /run/lock
drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Aug 6 00:03 log
drwxrwsr-x 2 root mail 4096 Oct 17 2012 mail
drwxrwsrwt 2 root whoopsie 4096 Oct 17 2012 metrics
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 17 2012 opt
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 4 Aug 2 06:32 run -> /run
drwxr-xr-x 9 root root 4096 May 25 01:12 spool
drwxrwxrwt 2 root root 4096 Aug 6 00:17 tmp
drwxr-xr-x 4 www-data www-data 4096 Aug 4 18:41 www


Over to you linuxonbute

[1888software]

linuxonbute,
It is past midnite here on the West Coast of Canada.
I am logging off to get some sleep.
I will check in when I wake up.
Thank you very much for your assistance so far, i appreciate it.
ps also see my private message
1888software

[linuxonbute]

The change you made which caused the problem was
chown laptop.root /var/www
this changed the user ( Read as OWNER ) to laptop
and the group to root.
So you have given group called root access to it.
This is not how to set it up.
Did you understand this?

On my system it is www-data.www-data
so the owner is www-data
and the group is www-data

Now on my system www-data is the default user
and www-data is the default group
I expect this was true of yours.

>>> They are not the same entity <<<

To access the localhost web page I need to be a member of the www-data group.

Okay, let's do a few more checks.
run the following commands as your normal user
and post the results
>>>> WARNING <<<<
posting these results gives hackers some knowledge of your system.
If you are not happy for this to happen then send me a private message instead.

whoami

groups

cat /etc/groups|grep www-data

[1888software]

To answer the outstanding questions:

a. no I did not understand what I was doing
b. to the best of my knowledge yes www-data was the default setup

root is the superuser
laptop is the non-root user

I need to be able to work as the user called "laptop".
"laptop" needs read write - all - access to files in the /var/www/ folder or
alternatively somehow it needs to be setup so that I can easily copy edit and move files logged in as "laptop"

My undertstanding is that it is NOT a good idea to login and work as root. That's why I think I should use "laptop".

WhoamI to be posted to private...

Thank you.