Why am I getting this weird Apache page thing when I go to my website?
September 19, 2023 10:41 AM Subscribe
I've recently changed some content (text) on my website, , and now, when I go there, I get a page that says,
"Apache 2 Test Page powered by CentOS
This page is used to test the proper operation of the Apache HTTP server after it has been installed. If you can read this page it means that the Apache HTTP server installed at this site is working properly." etc etc
What's going on? I asked the administrator of the web server, who is basically not really a professional (hard to explain), and she doesn't know what's going on. I have many other pages, website things, on there ("there" = echonyc.com), with no problem. We can't figure it out. Any thoughts about what this could mean?
When I run a developer tab on your URL, I get a 403 (Forbidden) for the site. Index.html gets a 404 (Not Found) so your configuration is pointing to a custom index page.
Does that custom page have proper read permission?
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:46 AM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Does that custom page have proper read permission?
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:46 AM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
Something is going on with the web server that is causing it to load the default page instead of your content. This is often a configuration issue with virtual hosts on the server. Your not-quite-an-adminstrator friend is in the best position to figure out what's going on.
As an additional data point, the HTTPS version of the URL loads the echonyc.com page, which also points to a goofed up vhosts setup.
posted by zamboni at 10:46 AM on September 19, 2023
As an additional data point, the HTTPS version of the URL loads the echonyc.com page, which also points to a goofed up vhosts setup.
posted by zamboni at 10:46 AM on September 19, 2023
Did you change the index.html (or whatever dot-extension you're using) page, and change the name to something else? My guess is that your server is looking for your default page and not finding it, and is showing this as a backup.
posted by adamrice at 10:47 AM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by adamrice at 10:47 AM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]
As an additional data point, the HTTPS version of the URL loads the echonyc.com page, which also points to a goofed up vhosts setup.
Never mind, I omitted the www - if it's not specifically configured, it would make sense that going to the bare URL (with no www) would load the first virtual host.
posted by zamboni at 10:53 AM on September 19, 2023
Never mind, I omitted the www - if it's not specifically configured, it would make sense that going to the bare URL (with no www) would load the first virtual host.
posted by zamboni at 10:53 AM on September 19, 2023
Your web server is the Apache software. It needs to be told about all the different domains that it serves -- and that configuration also tells it where on its storage to find the actual files, images, and scripts. The web page you're seeing I what Apache serves up when it hasn't been told where to find the content of your web site.
This setting is in a file called httpd.conf, and there should be another config file that covers the certificate and the encryption (which causes the little lock icon, and makes your connections safe), maybe called ssl.conf.
Many web servers actually host a bunch of sites, so the one configuration file has a "stanza" of lines for each web site. You need to find your server's config file and make sure that the stanza for your web site's domain name (lizmargoshes.com) is pointing at the right directory of files. It may be that when you uploaded new files for the site, you overwrote httpd.conf?
Here's the "getting started" page for Apache which, I'll be honest, is pretty daunting: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/trunk/getting-started.html
Do you have a nerd you can ask...or is that us?
(Forgive me if you know this!)
posted by wenestvedt at 12:39 PM on September 19, 2023
This setting is in a file called httpd.conf, and there should be another config file that covers the certificate and the encryption (which causes the little lock icon, and makes your connections safe), maybe called ssl.conf.
Many web servers actually host a bunch of sites, so the one configuration file has a "stanza" of lines for each web site. You need to find your server's config file and make sure that the stanza for your web site's domain name (lizmargoshes.com) is pointing at the right directory of files. It may be that when you uploaded new files for the site, you overwrote httpd.conf?
Here's the "getting started" page for Apache which, I'll be honest, is pretty daunting: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/trunk/getting-started.html
Do you have a nerd you can ask...or is that us?
(Forgive me if you know this!)
posted by wenestvedt at 12:39 PM on September 19, 2023
Can you be more specific about the changes you made? Maybe you accidentally deleted files you didn't think were needed? (that were actually config files?)
posted by cgg at 3:17 PM on September 19, 2023
posted by cgg at 3:17 PM on September 19, 2023
It looks to me like your default index page is not readable by the user running the apache process, so it is 403'ing and Apache is returning the configured error document, which is that test page.
On https, the certificate being served does not have the SAN set to include your URL, so it is not trusted and the virtual host it matches is for echonyc so it serves that page.
When you say you updated your site, how do you do it? Do you do it locally and upload to the server somehow? Do you remote into the machine and edit locally though shell access?
posted by cmm at 3:35 PM on September 19, 2023
On https, the certificate being served does not have the SAN set to include your URL, so it is not trusted and the virtual host it matches is for echonyc so it serves that page.
When you say you updated your site, how do you do it? Do you do it locally and upload to the server somehow? Do you remote into the machine and edit locally though shell access?
posted by cmm at 3:35 PM on September 19, 2023
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by DMelanogaster at 10:42 AM on September 19, 2023