It may happen that Apache no longer works after an update of your VPS. A common reason for this is, for example, that PHP-FPM may need to be re-enabled after the update. In this article, we explain what you can do to solve problems after an update of Apache.
Investigating the cause
The best place to start investigating the problem is in journalctl. Services that do not want to start will always report the cause in it. For this, use the following syntax for Apache:
Ubuntu / Debian:
journalctl -xe -u apache2
CentOS 7:
journalctl -xe -u httpd
Which error message you will see here will largely depend on the cause of the problem, and therefore also what steps you need to take to resolve it. In this article, we assume that the problem arose after an update of Apache. The most common message that you will see is the following:
Jun 04 09:35:11 ubuntu16.transipdemo.nl apache2[735]: * The apache2 instance did not start within 20 seconds. Please read the log f Jun 04 09:35:11 ubuntu16.supporttest.nl systemd[1]: apache2.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1 Jun 04 09:35:11 ubuntu16.supporttest.nl systemd[1]: Failed to start LSB: Apache2 web server.
In this case, Apache tries to start, but the boot process takes too long. This is usually because you need to re-enable PHP-FPM after an Apache update. You can recognize this by seeing the following message immediately following the updating of your VPS:
NOTICE: Not enabling PHP 7.3 FPM by default NOTICE: To enable PHP 7.3 FPM in Apache2 do: NOTICE: a2enmod proxy_fcgi setenvif NOTICE: a2enconf php7.3-fpm
In that case, run the bottom command and restart Apache to fix the problem (replace apache2 with httpd if you use CentOS):
a2enconf php7.3-fpm
systemctl restart apache2
Does Apache not work after an update and you encounter a different error message than the one covered in this article? Let us know in a message under 'Responses'. We will then see if we can reproduce it for you and include it in this article.
Should you have any questions left regarding this article, do not hesitate to contact our support department. You can reach them via the ‘Contact Us’ button at the bottom of this page.