Is FreeBSD the problem?

TomJones

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May 9, 2004
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76
I just purchased/rented a dedicated server. They gave me a choice of operating systems and the choice between CPanel or DA. I chose FreeBSD and DA. From the moment it came online, I have not been able to start any of my services. After several emails to support, they have Apache working but, that's about it. Can't get MySQL or anything else to go.

I just got off the phone with support. Seems they just started offering/using DA a few weeks ago (would have been great if they told me that in the beginning). They pretty much put it off on FreeBSD and DA not working well together. The two solutions offered were switch to CPanel or change operating systems (though, they have no practical time with DA on other OSs, either).

My obvious question is, does FreeBSD play well with DA? Are there issues between the two? WHICH VERSION SHOULD BE INSTALLED? Should I change to RedHat or another operating system or, wait for Support to figure things out?

Here's the error I'm getting from MySQL menu:

Unable to read %s : %s/usr/local/directadmin/conf/mysql.confUnable to open /usr/local/directadmin/conf/mysql.conf for reading.

Error connecting to MySQL: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)
 
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I'm no longer running FreeBSD here, so I'm not going to address the "specific" mysql issue.

What I am going to address is why I'm not running FreeBSD, as I think this admission will help you.

I'm not running FreeBSD because I decided we didn't have enough experience with FreeBSD to give our clients a seamless experience.

What you need is a hosting company with experience.

There's been a lot of anti-CPanel sentiment on these forums, and I can't get into that because I've never used it.

If you're "stuck" on your hosting company, then you need to be on a platform they have experience with.

If you're "stuck" on DA (as we are) then you should use a hosting company with DA experience; and with experience on the OS they're using as well.

Jeff
 
Thanks, Jeff.

I appreciate the comments. CP costs an extra $10 a month but, the Co seems to have a lot of experience with it. I'm new to EVERYTHING so, I really don't know what choice to make (I just dont want to spend an extra $120 a year for a few extra features).

I chose FreeBSD because I liked what I was reading on their site. I could be on any *NIX system and be at the same understanding as I am now with FreeBSD.

They are doing a fresh install of FreeBSD 4.9, guess I'll see how it goes.
 
Many people on this forum express great pleasure at moving to DA from CPanel. As I said, I have no experience with it.

I'm very happy with DA, as are our clients, resellers, dedicated system and colo customers.

Jeff
 
Let me know what questions you have related to Freebsd/DA and I'll try my best to assist since I have extensive experience in both.
 
Now that I looked at your question a little more closely did you delete the "mysql.sock" while attempting to secure the /tmp folder? I've done this myself. Had to reinstall mysql if I remember correctly.

2) It could be because your firewall (if you have one) is not allowing traffic to pass via localhost.
 
They wiped everything and did a clean install of FreeBSD 4.9 and DA. Everything is working now. It was a big eye opener realizing all the things I don't know about running a dedicated server. I really like the history of FreeBSD and its apparent stability, I just wish I knew more about everything at this point.

I guess the next step is configuring and securing the server. i2iweb- what do I really need to do? Is this something I should get an experienced administrator to do? I have logged in via SSH and, done some basic "ls pwd cd" etc commands but, that's it. Should I pay someone who knows exactly what to do?
 
Since you are just starting out it would help to pay someone who knows what they are doing. I also have some very nice howtos that I will post as soon as I can find them.
 
MaaaNN! Now Apache is stopped and won't start. I keep getting 'httpd service is stopped' messages and, I cannot start it from the show services menu.

What in the world is going on? This could drive me back to a budget host at this rate. Does anyone know how to start the services another way (or, why I can't start them from DA in the first place)? Here (besides FreeBSD 4.9) is what my system info shows:

Processor Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.60GHz (1614.39-MHz 686-class CPU)
Total Memory 235.203 MB
Free Memory 19.2617 MB
System Uptime 0 Days, 23 Hours and 52 Minutes
Apache 1.3.29 *** Stopped ***
DirectAdmin Running
Exim 4.24 Running
MySQL 4.0.14 Running
Named 8.3.6 Running
ProFTPd 1.2.9 Running
sshd Running
vm-Pop3d 1.1.6 Running
 
In freebsd you could start it manually by issueing the following command by logging in via ssh and logging in as root:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/httpd restart (to restart)

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/httpd start (to start)


/usr/local/etc/rc.d/httpd stop (to stop)
 
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I tried logging in as root but, when I typed my admin password (the only password I have) it closes putty. Logging in as Admin and then attempted to start, I got this:

$ /usr/local/etc/rc.d/httpd start
ulimit: ulimit: bad limit: Operation not permitted
ulimit: ulimit: bad limit: Operation not permitted
Starting httpd: touch: /var/spool/lock/httpd: Permission denied
[ FAILED ]
$ Syntax error on line 1340 of /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf:
SSLCertificateKeyFile: file '/etc/httpd/conf/ssl.key/server.key' not exists or empty


Is that because I'm not logged as root?
 
Can't login as root with BSD is what support just told me, you have to log in as Admin. Anyway, that's what I did and I got the error above.
 
First you have to login as admin and depending on if the user admin is in the wheel group then you can just type "su" and put in the root password.
 
I couldn't but, now they have fixed it. They said the permissions were set up wrong. Seems they are getting the hang of setting up DA. I'm new to everything so, the most frustrating part is not knowing what I should be able to fix on my own. Since I'm paying for it, though, I should get a working machine with a working Os and DA, right?
 
Well normally setting up DA on FreeBSD 4.9 goes without any strange hickups if you know your FreeBSD a little. I think they made a little mistake but I can understand your frustration. The thing is once DA and FreeBSD are up and running it is rock stable and fast!
 
That's a relief to hear, rhoekman! I think they may have it worked out. I'm crossing my fingers...
 
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