Cobra Forum

Question: Apache configuration shows error after removing a domain from Plesk: httpd: bad user name


Applicable to:

• Plesk for Linux

Symptoms

• Apache configuration shows the error:

   

• on CentOS/RHEL-based distributions:

# httpd -t
AH00543: httpd: bad user name john_doe

• on Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

# apache2 -t
AH00543: apache2: bad user name john_doe

• The user from the error (in this example, john_doe) does not exist on the system:

# grep john_doe /etc/passwd
#

• There is an Apache configuration file that contains this user:

   

• On CentOS/RHEL-based distributions:

# grep -r john_doe /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/*
/etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"
/etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"

       

•     On Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

# grep -r john_doe /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/*
/etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"
/etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"

• The domain in the file name (In this example, example.com) does not appear on the Domains page in Plesk.
• The following error message may appear on the Home page in Plesk:

New configuration files for the Apache web server were not created due to the errors in configuration templates: AH00112: Warning: DocumentRoot [/var/www/...] does not exist AH00543: apache2: bad user name example.


Cause

The subscription/domains was not properly removed.


Resolution

1.Connect to the Plesk server via SSH.

2.Find all orphaned files that belong to the nonexistent user:

• on CentOS/RHEL-based distributions:

# grep -r john_doe /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/*
/etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"
/etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"

• on Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

# grep -r john_doe /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/*
/etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"
/etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"

3.Remove these files:

• on CentOS/RHEL-based distributions:

# rm -rf /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf

• on Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

# rm -rf /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf

4.Regenerate web-server configuration files for all domains:

Note: If there are +300 domains on the server, run this command during server maintenance time.

# plesk repair web -y