Raspi won't start apache2 after I power cycled

Question

Serious Raspi n00b here (I come from a Microsoft background)

Had apache2 running with no issues. Unplugged the Raspi because I wanted to set up a powered usb hub for an external hdd. Got everything hooked up, the Pi started up... I'm able to VNC, terminal, and FTP just fine, but my website wasn't working. So, naturally I tried to restart Apache2 with this command :

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start 

but that didnt work so I tried this:

sudo service apache2 start

that doesn't work either. This/These are the errors I see... with

/etc/init.d/apache2 start I get this:

[....] Starting apache2 (via systemctl): apache2.serviceJob for apache2.service failed. See 'systemctl status apache2.service' and 'journalctl -xn' for details. failed!

with sudo service apache2 start I get this:

Job for apache2.service failed. See 'systemctl status apache2.service' and 'journalctl -xn' for details.

After some Googling I came across this Q & A but to be honest... I don't get it and none of the answers solved this for me.

Please help me... you guys are my only hope!

Oh, and here is the config file :

# This is the main Apache server configuration file.  It contains the
# configuration directives that give the server its instructions.
# See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/ for detailed information about
# the directives and /usr/share/doc/apache2/README.Debian about Debian specific
# hints.
#
#
# Summary of how the Apache 2 configuration works in Debian:
# The Apache 2 web server configuration in Debian is quite different to
# upstream's suggested way to configure the web server. This is because Debian's
# default Apache2 installation attempts to make adding and removing modules,
# virtual hosts, and extra configuration directives as flexible as possible, in
# order to make automating the changes and administering the server as easy as
# possible.

# It is split into several files forming the configuration hierarchy outlined
# below, all located in the /etc/apache2/ directory:
#
#   /etc/apache2/
#   |-- apache2.conf
#   |   `--  ports.conf
#   |-- mods-enabled
#   |   |-- *.load
#   |   `-- *.conf
#   |-- conf-enabled
#   |   `-- *.conf
#   `-- sites-enabled
#       `-- *.conf
#
#
# * apache2.conf is the main configuration file (this file). It puts the pieces
#   together by including all remaining configuration files when starting up the
#   web server.
#
# * ports.conf is always included from the main configuration file. It is
#   supposed to determine listening ports for incoming connections which can be
#   customized anytime.
#
# * Configuration files in the mods-enabled/, conf-enabled/ and sites-enabled/
#   directories contain particular configuration snippets which manage modules,
#   global configuration fragments, or virtual host configurations,
#   respectively.
#
#   They are activated by symlinking available configuration files from their
#   respective *-available/ counterparts. These should be managed by using our
#   helpers a2enmod/a2dismod, a2ensite/a2dissite and a2enconf/a2disconf. See
#   their respective man pages for detailed information.
#
# * The binary is called apache2. Due to the use of environment variables, in
#   the default configuration, apache2 needs to be started/stopped with
#   /etc/init.d/apache2 or apache2ctl. Calling /usr/bin/apache2 directly will not
#   work with the default configuration.


# Global configuration
#

#
# ServerRoot: The top of the directory tree under which the server's
# configuration, error, and log files are kept.
#
# NOTE!  If you intend to place this on an NFS (or otherwise network)
# mounted filesystem then please read the Mutex documentation (available
# at <URL:http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#mutex>);
# you will save yourself a lot of trouble.
#
# Do NOT add a slash at the end of the directory path.
#
#ServerRoot "/etc/apache2"

#
# The accept serialization lock file MUST BE STORED ON A LOCAL DISK.
# Mutex file:${APACHE_LOCK_DIR} default

#
# PidFile: The file in which the server should record its process
# identification number when it starts.
# This needs to be set in /etc/apache2/envvars
# PidFile ${APACHE_PID_FILE}

#
# Timeout: The number of seconds before receives and sends time out.
# Timeout 300

#
# KeepAlive: Whether or not to allow persistent connections (more than
# one request per connection). Set to "Off" to deactivate.
# KeepAlive On

#
# MaxKeepAliveRequests: The maximum number of requests to allow
# during a persistent connection. Set to 0 to allow an unlimited amount.
# We recommend you leave this number high, for maximum performance.
# MaxKeepAliveRequests 100

#
# KeepAliveTimeout: Number of seconds to wait for the next request from the
# same client on the same connection.
# KeepAliveTimeout 5


# These need to be set in /etc/apache2/envvars User ${APACHE_RUN_USER} Group ${APACHE_RUN_GROUP}

#
# HostnameLookups: Log the names of clients or just their IP addresses
# e.g., www.apache.org (on) or 204.62.129.132 (off).
# The default is off because it'd be overall better for the net if people
# had to knowingly turn this feature on, since enabling it means that
# each client request will result in AT LEAST one lookup request to the
# nameserver.
# HostnameLookups Off

# ErrorLog: The location of the error log file.
# If you do not specify an ErrorLog directive within a <VirtualHost>
# container, error messages relating to that virtual host will be
# logged here.  If you *do* define an error logfile for a <VirtualHost>
# container, that host's errors will be logged there and not here.
# ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

#
# LogLevel: Control the severity of messages logged to the error_log.
# Available values: trace8, ..., trace1, debug, info, notice, warn,
# error, crit, alert, emerg.
# It is also possible to configure the log level for particular modules, e.g.
# "LogLevel info ssl:warn"
# LogLevel warn

# Include module configuration: IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.load IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.conf

# Include list of ports to listen on Include ports.conf


# Sets the default security model of the Apache2 HTTPD server. It does
# not allow access to the root filesystem outside of /usr/share and /var/www.
# The former is used by web applications packaged in Debian,
# the latter may be used for local directories served by the web server. If
# your system is serving content from a sub-directory in /srv you must allow
# access here, or in any related virtual host. <Directory />    Options FollowSymLinks  AllowOverride None  Require all denied </Directory>

<Directory /usr/share>  AllowOverride None  Require all granted </Directory>

<Directory /var/www/>   Options Indexes FollowSymLinks  AllowOverride None  Require all granted </Directory>

#<Directory /srv/>
#   Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
#   AllowOverride None
#   Require all granted
#</Directory>




# AccessFileName: The name of the file to look for in each directory
# for additional configuration directives.  See also the AllowOverride
# directive.
# AccessFileName .htaccess

#
# The following lines prevent .htaccess and .htpasswd files from being
# viewed by Web clients.
# <FilesMatch "^\.ht">  Require all denied </FilesMatch>


#
# The following directives define some format nicknames for use with
# a CustomLog directive.
#
# These deviate from the Common Log Format definitions in that they use %O
# (the actual bytes sent including headers) instead of %b (the size of the
# requested file), because the latter makes it impossible to detect partial
# requests.
#
# Note that the use of %{X-Forwarded-For}i instead of %h is not recommended.
# Use mod_remoteip instead.
# LogFormat "%v:%p %h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" vhost_combined LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O \"%{Referer}i\" \"%{User-Agent}i\"" combined LogFormat "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %>s %O" common LogFormat "%{Referer}i -> %U" referer LogFormat "%{User-agent}i" agent

# Include of directories ignores editors' and dpkg's backup files,
# see README.Debian for details.

# Include generic snippets of statements IncludeOptional conf-enabled/*.conf

# Include the virtual host configurations: IncludeOptional sites-enabled/*.conf

# vim: syntax=apache ts=4 sw=4 sts=4 sr noet

UPDATE:

sudo journalctl | tail

Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: Action 'configtest' failed. Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: The Apache error log may have more information. Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi systemd[1]: apache2.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1 Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Apache2 web server. Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Unit apache2.service entered failed state. Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi sudo[2673]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user root Jan 30 02:43:27 raspberrypi dhcpcd[377]: eth0: Router Advertisement from fe80::9610:3eff:fe7c:9f62 Jan 30 02:43:27 raspberrypi dhcpcd[377]: eth0: fe80::9610:3eff:fe7c:9f62 router available Jan 30 02:44:54 raspberrypi sudo[2758]: pi : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/ ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/journalctl Jan 30 02:44:54 raspberrypi sudo[2758]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root by pi(uid=0)

UPDATE 2:

cat /var/log/apache2/error.log

no such file or directory

sudo systemctl status apache2.service 
● apache2.service - LSB: Apache2 web server
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/apache2)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2016-01-30 02:40:41 UTC; 16min ago
  Process: 2684 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/apache2 start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: Output of config test was:
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: AH00558: apache2: Could not relia...e
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: (2)No such file or directory: AH0...g
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: (2)No such file or directory: AH0...1
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: AH00014: Configuration check failed
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: Action 'configtest' failed.
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi apache2[2684]: The Apache error log may have mor....
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi systemd[1]: apache2.service: control process exi...1
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Apache2 web server.
Jan 30 02:40:41 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Unit apache2.service entered failed ....
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.

UPDATE 2.2

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo systemctl status apache2.service -l                                                                  ● apache2.service - LSB: Apache2 web server
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/apache2)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2016-01-30 03:06:25 UTC; 10min a                                             go
  Process: 3162 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/apache2 start (code=exited, status=1/FAILU                                             RE)

Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi apache2[3162]: Output of config test was:
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi apache2[3162]: AH00558: apache2: Could not reliably                                              determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1. Set the 'Se                                             rverName' directive globally to suppress this message
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi apache2[3162]: (2)No such file or directory: AH02291                                             : Cannot access directory '/var/log/apache2/' for main error log
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi apache2[3162]: (2)No such file or directory: AH02291                                             : Cannot access directory '/var/log/apache2/' for error log of vhost defined at                                              /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default.conf:1
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi apache2[3162]: AH00014: Configuration check failed
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi apache2[3162]: Action 'configtest' failed.
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi apache2[3162]: The Apache error log may have more in                                             formation.
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi systemd[1]: apache2.service: control process exited,                                              code=exited status=1
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Apache2 web server.
Jan 30 03:06:25 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Unit apache2.service entered failed stat                                             e.

Answer 1

Okay, after running into problems again I tried the following steps. (and I came up with this on my ownish(ish, see this link for more details)... which scares me)

After following the instructions in the link above to add ServerName localhost - in my case I had a name listed in /etc/hostname which I used instead) I tried again to start the service but continued to see errors.

After reading the messages a little more closely I keep seeing these two lines:

(2)No such file or directory: AH02291: Cannot access directory '/var/log/apache2/' for main error log
(2)No such file or directory: AH02291: Cannot access directory '/var/log/apache2/' for error log ...t.conf:1

So, I tried to grant access with this command:

sudo chmod -R ugo+rw /var/log/apache2/

and received the following message:

chmod: cannot access '/var/log/apache2/' No such file or directory

DOH! So a simple

sudo mkdir /var/log/apache2/ followed by

sudo chmod -R ugo+rw var/log/apache2/ followed by

sudo service apache2 start 

And viola!... at least for now....

Answer 2

I had the same problem with Apache running on Raspbian.

It turns out the problem was caused by putting /var/log in RAM when I followed this post on how to extend the life of the microSD card.

So I undid it by typing into the Terminal

sudo nano /etc/fstab

and removing this line:

tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs nodev,nosuid,size=50M 0 0

Then, following this post, I reinstalled Apache by typing into the Terminal:

sudo apt-get -o DPkg::Options::="--force-confmiss" --reinstall install apache2

Finally, I rebooted Raspbian and the Apache server starts up by itself.

Answer 3

As per the answer by Kerbin, if you mount your /var/log as tmpfs, you can rather do

sudo crontab -e

and put in there a line like this

@reboot mkdir /var/log/apache2

which will create the folder that apache looks for after installation so it doesn't complain about it. Same thing happens with lighttpd.

Answer 4

I modified /lib/systemd/system/apache2.service to add the line:

LogsDirectory=apache2

after Environment in the [Service] section. This automatically creates a directory in /var/log/ called apache2 with permissions 0755 when Apache starts. There's also a LogsDirectoryMode if you want something other than 0755.

Answer 5

Okay... I'm not accepting this as the answer because it's definitely not the path I wanted to take, but seeing as how I haven't nerd-raged this bad for years... this is what I did...

Using the instructions given by the answer found here I removed apache2. Then I reinstalled it... website is up and running again.... Thank you all so much for your help!!!! I'll continue to monitor this thread as I'm sure others with similar problems may still have a need for an answer that does not involve remove/reinstall.