Apache server hell - help!

**tripzero** · 11-16-2009, 01:30 PM

[Mon Nov 16 15:34:05 2009] [error] [client 192.168.1.11] (13)Permission denied: file permissions deny server access: /mysite/test.html

This is what leads me to believe it's a simple file permissions issue. Can you run a ls -l on /mysite and paste the output?

My guess is that a simple chmod -R a+r /mysite should do the trick.

EDIT:
Ooops, i guess i was a few seconds too late :P

**Bugbyte** · 11-16-2009, 03:48 PM

Ah! I've also found out that vsftpd, my ftp service, automagically mangles the file permissions on upload. You have to change umask settings in the vstpd.conf file to fix this.

Kind of sucks!

**chunkyks** · 11-16-2009, 04:00 PM

Ah! I've also found out that vsftpd, my ftp service, automagically mangles the file permissions on upload. You have to change umask settings in the vstpd.conf file to fix this.

Stop using ftp! SCP [or sftp - uses the same transport] is much more secure, easier to use, more reliable, easier to get through firewalls, more secure, easier to control permissions with, more secure...

On windows, winscp is your friend.

Perhaps it's outside the particular scope of this exercise, but the cool kids put their websites into version control and then on the web server to pull updates [rather than trying to push them using ftp]

Gary (-;

**Bugbyte** · 11-16-2009, 05:27 PM

The particular problem I'm trying to solve is for a piece of software that sends weather data gathered from a weather station via ftp to a location that is used when the server builds the page. The weather data software is programmed to use ftp.

If I install winscp and the software tries to use ftp, is it using winscp or does it still use ftp?

**chunkyks** · 11-16-2009, 05:41 PM

ewww. No, that's definitely ftp.

Does the weather software run on a different machine? Perhaps you could set up a little localhost-only ftp server, and scp the data up? If you want it automated, you can set up public keys and use command-line scp instead of winscp. That way you never expose the ftp server outside of localhost.

Overall... what's the actual weather software, and whree are you running it?

Gary (-;

**Bugbyte** · 11-16-2009, 09:53 PM

It's Davis weatherlink and yes, you can load the data onto a local folder.

**Maheriano** · 11-17-2009, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Thanks for your help pulsarsimon and Maheriano!

No problem, helping someone else with Linux issues gives me a tingling sensation of satisfaction!

**pulsarsimon** · 11-18-2009, 03:07 AM

could always use RCP - works well for me

on the apache/vsftp - if you copy the files, it probably changes the ownership.
if you have a script to load the files, why not include an automatic chmod and chown to fix them all...

tftp or rcp leaves everything as-is.

is the Davis Win or Linux based? if Win, then that's the problem - the ownership and permissions are botched to work with Win/Samba/etc. - probably how the UI was designed for Win users.

**Bugbyte** · 11-19-2009, 03:42 PM

You know, this has just turned into a living hell for me. I think I've finally got the issue figure out but I can't fix it.

1. I log into the linux machine as root. I know that is 'bad' but that's what I've been doing.
2. I installed apache2 as user root.
3. If I put files in /mysite then it serves them up okay
4. If I put them in /home/bugbyte/var/www and point the server at this location, I get 'forbidden' 403 error.

I'm pretty sure that the problem is that since apache isn't installed an run from the /home/bugbyte login that it doesn't own the files there and even though I've tried to change the permissions on them it doesn't always work.

SOOOOOOOO...I decided I'd do things right and unistall apache from root, then log into /home/bugbyte and install it from there.

I can't stay logged in to /bugbyte! Here's the transcript of what happens:

~ local_machine$ ssh bugbyte@192.168.1.4
bugbyte@192.168.1.4's password:
Linux iPlug 2.6.30.6 #1 PREEMPT Wed Sep 9 19:43:23 MDT 2009 armv5tel

The programs included with the Ubuntu system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Ubuntu comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by
applicable law.

To access official Ubuntu documentation, please visit:
http://help.ubuntu.com/
Last login: Thu Nov 19 20:33:04 2009 from 192.168.1.13
Connection to 192.168.1.4 closed.
~ local_machine$

I've now dicked around with the server files so much I feel like I have an actual handle on what's going on but I get logged out immediately from user /bugbyte and can't fix it!

Any suggestions? I hate climbing the learning curve.