mp2 Apache won't start under ssh

[Helmut Zeilinger <hz...@hzlabs.de>]

Hi all,

Apache with mod_perl starts and stops normaly from
a linux console.

Commands:

/usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
/usr/sbin/apache2 -k stop

But when i am logged in in the system by ssh from a remote host  (as root)
the second start/stop-cycle fails => the apache process seems to "hang".
The problem does not occure by doing "ssh localhost".

The "pstree" command shows no apache child processes.
I have to kill the hanging apache2 process manually.

An initial (1.) start succeeds, but no further starts are possible.

When i try to do this without mod_perl - by commenting out
..
LoadModule perl_module    modules/mod_perl.so
..
- everything is normal again.
(I removed  all other Perl related directives from the httpd.conf file.)

The Apache error log file provides no information concerning this
problem.


Software:

linux 2.6.14
perl 5.8.6
apache 2.0.55
mod_perl 2.0.2


Thanks for any help!

Helmut

Re: mp2 Apache won't start under ssh

["Philippe M. Chiasson" <go...@ectoplasm.org>]

Helmut Zeilinger wrote:
> 
>> Sounds like a lack of entropy, since you aren't typing on the local
>> keyboard:
>> http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/troubleshooting/troubleshooting.html#Server_Hanging_at_the_Startup
>>
> In deed the /dev/random device does not generate (enough) bytes, when
> the keyboard is not
> used. ("cat /dev/random" stops after  a few bytes, when not typing
> something on the keyboard)
> 
> As suggested in the troubleshooting (which i didn't read..) it works
> with the alternative /dev/urandom
> device.

Another option that might be worth considering is to supply more/better entropy
to your system. There are various deamons out there that will do that. Like EGD
and prngd (just a few on top of my head). On linux, it's also quite simple to
feed entropy to /dev/random with arbitrairy sources.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philippe M. Chiasson m/gozer\@(apache|cpan|ectoplasm)\.org/ GPG KeyID : 88C3A5A5
http://gozer.ectoplasm.org/     F9BF E0C2 480E 7680 1AE5 3631 CB32 A107 88C3A5A5

Re: mp2 Apache won't start under ssh

[Helmut Zeilinger <hz...@hzlabs.de>]

> Sounds like a lack of entropy, since you aren't typing on the local 
> keyboard:
> http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/troubleshooting/troubleshooting.html#Server_Hanging_at_the_Startup 
>
>
>
In deed the /dev/random device does not generate (enough) bytes, when 
the keyboard is not
used. ("cat /dev/random" stops after  a few bytes, when not typing 
something on the keyboard)

As suggested in the troubleshooting (which i didn't read..) it works 
with the alternative /dev/urandom
device.

Thanks!

Re: mp2 Apache won't start under ssh

[Stas Bekman <st...@stason.org>]

Helmut Zeilinger wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Apache with mod_perl starts and stops normaly from
> a linux console.
> 
> Commands:
> 
> /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
> /usr/sbin/apache2 -k stop
> 
> But when i am logged in in the system by ssh from a remote host  (as root)
> the second start/stop-cycle fails => the apache process seems to "hang".
> The problem does not occure by doing "ssh localhost".
> 
> The "pstree" command shows no apache child processes.
> I have to kill the hanging apache2 process manually.
> 
> An initial (1.) start succeeds, but no further starts are possible.
> 
> When i try to do this without mod_perl - by commenting out
> ..
> LoadModule perl_module    modules/mod_perl.so
> ..
> - everything is normal again.
> (I removed  all other Perl related directives from the httpd.conf file.)
> 
> The Apache error log file provides no information concerning this
> problem.

Sounds like a lack of entropy, since you aren't typing on the local keyboard:
http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/user/troubleshooting/troubleshooting.html#Server_Hanging_at_the_Startup


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