Apache Error Logs

[Duane Attaway]

On Sun, 12 Jan 2003, Seth Dimbert wrote:

> But, I've mis-stated the question. You see, Apache isn't the only thing
> failing. When the box hiccups, I can't attach via http, ftp or SSH!
> 
> So, I have to reboot the box manually (like I just did). So, once it
> restarts, where do I look to determine the problem?

Rebooting?  Ouch.  When you list the process with "ps -aux" they are
missing after the "hiccup?"  You can manually restart them with the init
scripts.  When you boot your computer, init is the first process started
and it starts default runlevel processes through these init scripts.

One way to troubleshoot what is happening is ssh to your box and do a 
"tail -f /var/log/messages &" or whatever your main log file is.  If you 
have more than one log file you wish to track, you can include multiple 
logs to "tail forever" into your terminal screen.  The amperstand at the 
end puts it into the background...so you have a shell to type commands and 
it will beep back at you any anomalies.

Common problems might include buggy code, buffer overruns, or something
that terminates with signal 11.  Most daemons will log why they quit.  
This kind of stuff is getting mighty rare these days as code has much
improved over the last few years.  A daemon quitting without a log entry 
is pretty hard to force.  You should see something in the logs.

Most of my problems have been lose or dirty PCI connections or power 
supply problems.  Its fun to trace the problem down by software to a 
memory buffer on the video card when it just isn't plugged in all the 
way...

--
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