[plug] Localhost problems

[Harry]

On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 17:58:09 +0800 "Joong Cho" <joongcho at westnet.com.au> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I'm having problems with my localhost when I type it in a web browser. It
> won't connect to it and the error message says, "Operation timed out when
> attempting to contact localhost..."
> 
> I'm pretty sure Apache is running.

A command like this will soon tell you:

harrymc at marigold:~$ ps aux | grep apache
root       377  0.0  0.1  2912 1392 ?        S    07:18   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache
www-data   392  0.0  0.1  2924 1408 ?        S    07:18   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache
www-data   393  0.0  0.1  2924 1408 ?        S    07:18   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache
www-data   394  0.0  0.1  2924 1408 ?        S    07:18   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache
www-data   395  0.0  0.1  2924 1408 ?        S    07:18   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache
www-data   396  0.0  0.1  2924 1408 ?        S    07:18   0:00 /usr/sbin/apache
harrymc at marigold:~$ 

And surfing to 
http://localhost/
shows me the Apache "Welcome to Your New Home in Cyberspace!" place holder
page (because I only have apache running on this machine to serve debian
mirror goodness).

If you are running debian and you don't see this after a default install then
I'd suspect that apache isn't running; which is odd of you did the vanilla
# apt-get install apache
 
Do the following and see if you get the same response:
marigold:/home/harrymc# dpkg --get-selections | grep apache
apache                                          install
apache-common                                   install
marigold:/home/harrymc# 

If you have been tinkering with firewalls then you _may_ have blocked
port 80 but I would have thought this would have required specialised
finger trouble to block localhost.

If all else fails, try the brute force approach by removing apache
_fully_ and reinstalling. This will overcome any arcane tweaks that
you've made to the apache config too. So:

# apt-get remove --purge apache apache-common
# apt-get install apache

If there's still no access, I'm stumped without being in front of
the machine and having my chin within scratching distance.

If you are an apache n00b, have a read of /etc/apache/httpd.conf
which will give a good overview of the fundamentals of what may
be adjusted but I'm pretty certain it will do UsefulThings straight
after the install.

Any success (or otherwise), report back to the list. In all respects
apache should install onto debian and JustWork(tm).

Hmmm. It's been a while since I installed apache but does it start by
default ? If not, you could try:

# /etc/init.d/apache restart  

cu
Harry

-- 
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