Apache2 on Slackware: VirtualHost config - connection refused on port 8080

Question

I am trying to configure virtual hosts on a Slackware server and have run into a glitch.

When I browse to localhost or 127.0.0.1 I get:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

I need to finish configuring the WebApp at 8080. When I browse to localhost:8080 or 127.0.0.1:8080 I get:

Unable to connect

          Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at 127.0.0.1:8080.

Some context: I need to duplicate the following instructions for Debian/Ubuntu on Slackware and need a hand --- so here's the Debian version:

5. sudo ln -s /etc/koha/koha-httpd.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/koha
6. sudo a2enmod rewrite deflate
7. sudo a2ensite koha && /etc/init.d/apache2 reload

So far: My httpd.conf ( LoadModule stuff and comments left out )

ServerRoot "/usr"
Listen 127.0.0.1:80
User apache
Group apache
ServerAdmin [email protected]
ServerName localhost:80
DocumentRoot "/srv/httpd/htdocs"
<Directory />
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
    Order deny,allow
    Deny from all
</Directory>
<Directory "/srv/httpd/htdocs">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
<IfModule dir_module>
    DirectoryIndex index.html
</IfModule>
<Directory "/srv/httpd/cgi-bin">
    AllowOverride None
    Options None
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
DefaultType text/plain

Include /etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
Include /etc/httpd/extra/httpd-default.conf

This is a CGI app I should mention. I added the apps apache configurations to /etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf ( here with comments deleted ):

NameVirtualHost *:80
<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerAdmin  webmaster@auction
   DocumentRoot /usr/share/koha/opac/htdocs
   ServerName localhost
   ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/koha/ "/usr/share/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/"
   ScriptAlias /index.html "/usr/share/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/opac-main.pl"
   ScriptAlias /opac-search.pl "/usr/share/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/opac-search.pl"
   ScriptAlias /search "/usr/share/koha/opac/cgi-bin/opac/opac-search.pl"
   ErrorLog /var/log/koha/koha-opac-error_log
   SetEnv KOHA_CONF "/etc/koha/koha-conf.xml"
   SetEnv PERL5LIB "/usr/share/koha/lib"
   <IfModule mod_gzip.c>
     mod_gzip_on yes
     mod_gzip_dechunk yes
     mod_gzip_keep_workfiles No
     mod_gzip_can_negotiate yes
     mod_gzip_update_static No
     mod_gzip_temp_dir /tmp
     mod_gzip_minimum_file_size 512
     mod_gzip_maximum_file_size 1000000
     mod_gzip_maximum_inmem_size 1000000
     mod_gzip_handle_methods GET POST
     mod_gzip_item_exclude reqheader "User-Agent: .*Mozilla/4\..*\["
     mod_gzip_item_exclude mime ^image/.*
     mod_gzip_item_exclude rspheader Content-Type:image/*
     mod_gzip_item_include file \.js$
     mod_gzip_item_include mime ^application/javascript$
     mod_gzip_item_include mime ^application/x-javascript$
     mod_gzip_item_include file \.php$
     mod_gzip_item_include mime ^text/html$
     mod_gzip_item_include file \.css$
     mod_gzip_item_include mime ^text/css$
  </IfModule>
  <IfModule mod_deflate.c>
    # Compress content with type html, text, and css, ...
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain text/html text/xml text/css
    AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml application/xhtml+xml application/rss+xml application/javascript application/x-javascript
    DeflateCompressionLevel 9
    # Properly handle old browsers that do not support compression
    BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
    BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
    BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
    DeflateFilterNote Input instream
    DeflateFilterNote Output outstream
    DeflateFilterNote Ratio ratio
    LogFormat '"%r" %{outstream}n/%{instream}n (%{ratio}n%%)' deflate
    <IfModule mod_headers.c>
       #properly handle requests coming from behind proxies
       Header append Vary User-Agent
    </IfModule>
  </IfModule>
   Options +FollowSymLinks
   ErrorDocument 400 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/400.pl
   ErrorDocument 401 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/401.pl
   ErrorDocument 403 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/403.pl
   ErrorDocument 404 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/404.pl
   ErrorDocument 500 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/500.pl
   RewriteEngine On
   RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (.*?)(?:[A-Za-z0-9_-]+)=&(.*)
   RewriteRule (.+) $1?%1%2 [N,R,NE]
   RewriteRule ^/bib/([^\/]*)/?$ /cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail\.pl?bib=$1 [PT]
   RewriteRule ^/isbn/([^\/]*)/?$ /search?q=isbn:$1 [PT]
   RewriteRule ^/issn/([^\/]*)/?$ /search?q=issn:$1 [PT]
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost *:8080>
   ServerAdmin webmaster@auction
   DocumentRoot /usr/share/koha/intranet/htdocs
   ServerName localhost:8080
   ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/koha/ "/usr/share/koha/intranet/cgi-bin/"
   ScriptAlias /index.html "/usr/share/koha/intranet/cgi-bin/mainpage.pl"
   ScriptAlias /search "/usr/share/koha/intranet/cgi-bin/search.pl"
   ErrorLog /var/log/koha/koha-error_log
   SetEnv KOHA_CONF "/etc/koha/koha-conf.xml"
   SetEnv PERL5LIB "/usr/share/koha/lib"
   Options +FollowSymLinks
   ErrorDocument 400 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/400.pl
   ErrorDocument 401 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/401.pl
   ErrorDocument 403 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/403.pl
   ErrorDocument 404 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/404.pl
   ErrorDocument 500 /cgi-bin/koha/errors/500.pl
   <IfModule mod_gzip.c>
     mod_gzip_on yes
     mod_gzip_dechunk yes
     mod_gzip_keep_workfiles No
     mod_gzip_can_negotiate yes
     mod_gzip_update_static No
     mod_gzip_temp_dir /tmp
     mod_gzip_minimum_file_size 512
     mod_gzip_maximum_file_size 1000000
     mod_gzip_maximum_inmem_size 1000000
     mod_gzip_handle_methods GET POST
     mod_gzip_item_exclude reqheader "User-Agent: .*Mozilla/4\..*\["
     mod_gzip_item_exclude mime ^image/.*
     mod_gzip_item_exclude rspheader Content-Type:image/*
     mod_gzip_item_include file \.js$
     mod_gzip_item_include mime ^application/javascript$
     mod_gzip_item_include mime ^application/x-javascript$
     mod_gzip_item_include file \.php$
     mod_gzip_item_include mime ^text/html$
     mod_gzip_item_include file \.css$
     mod_gzip_item_include mime ^text/css$
   </IfModule>
   <IfModule mod_deflate.c>
     # Compress content with type html, text, and css, ...
     AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/plain text/html text/xml text/css
     AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE application/xml application/xhtml+xml application/rss+xml application/javascript application/x-javascript
     DeflateCompressionLevel 9
     # Properly handle old browsers that do not support compression
     BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
     BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
     BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html
     DeflateFilterNote Input instream
     DeflateFilterNote Output outstream
     DeflateFilterNote Ratio ratio
     LogFormat '"%r" %{outstream}n/%{instream}n (%{ratio}n%%)' deflate
     <IfModule mod_headers.c>
       #properly handle requests coming from behind proxies
       Header append Vary User-Agent
     </IfModule>
  </IfModule>
   RewriteEngine On    
   RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (.*?)(?:[A-Za-z0-9_-]+)=&(.*)
   RewriteRule (.+) $1?%1%2 [N,R,NE]
   RewriteRule ^/bib/([^\/]*)/?$ /cgi-bin/koha/detail\.pl?bib=$1 [PT]
   RewriteRule ^/isbn/([^\/]*)/?$ /search?q=isbn:$1 [PT]
   RewriteRule ^/issn/([^\/]*)/?$ /search?q=issn:$1 [PT]
</VirtualHost>

Have I missed a fundamental basic here? I should mention that the modules deflate, rewrite and perl are installed and in the LoadModule instructions.

Thanks!

Bubnoff

UPDATE - with a concern/question

First -- Thank you quanta for your help thus far. I suspected a permissions issue and added this to my httpd.conf directory stanza.

<Directory "/srv/httpd/cgi-bin">
    AllowOverride None
    Options None
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>

Changed deny from all to "allow from all". So now it works and I thank you again, however, have I just committed major security faux paux?

Solution

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

Take a look at Apache error log, it will tell you more details.

Both. The public side is at 80, the admin/intranet side is at 8080.

For the testing purpose, add 2 hostnames into the /etc/hosts:

127.0.0.1 public.example.com
127.0.0.1 private.example.com

Change the Listen from:

Listen 127.0.0.1:80

to

Listen 80
Listen 8080

Restart Apache and make sure that Apache is listening on both port with:

netstat -nlp | grep httpd

Remove the line NameVirtualHost *:80

In <VirtualHost *:80>, change ServerName to public.example.com and in <VirtualHost *:8080>, change ServerName to private.example.com.

Restart Apache, and browse to the http://public.example.com and http://private.example.com:8080 to see what happens.

Comments

[Greg Petersen]

Which port do you want to use: 80 or 8080?

[Bubnoff]

Both. The public side is at 80, the admin/intranet side is at 8080.

[Bubnoff]

Did as you suggested. I get "403 Forbidden" on both. No errors in either error_log or access_log. Netstat reports "LISTEN" for both 80 and 8080.

[Greg Petersen]

Did you take a look at error log for Virtual Host: /var/log/koha/koha-opac-error_log, /var/log/koha/koha-error_log?

[Bubnoff]

I will check those tomorrow and report back. Thanks!

[Bubnoff]

/var/log/koha/koha-opac-error_log reports: [client 127.0.0.1] client denied by server configuration and the other log reports the same. The Apache user should have read and executable rights correct?

[Bubnoff]

Please see my update in my original post. It works, but I have a security concern. Thanks.

[Greg Petersen]

No. Order allow,deny means that Allow rules are processes before Deny rules. So, if you use Deny from all your clients would be denied access.