Question

Symlink between multiple domains on PLESK 8.1 (Linux)

Asked by: brendanwov

Hey Experts!

I'm in a situation where I need to create a symlink from one domain to another in PLESK 8.1.  Althought the symlink is properly created, I keep getting a FORBIDDEN error from Apache when trying to access files which should  be accessible through the symlink.

I'm guessing this is a chown issue where Apache is locked down by PLESK to not allow symlinks between domains.

Does anyone know a simple way around this?  If so, are there serious security implications to your suggested change?

Thanks a lot!

Brendan

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-03-22 at 00:30:43ID22465052
Tags

plesk

,

symlink

,

apache

Topic

Apache Web Server

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
8

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Plesk and AWStats
    Hi all, We've got a Windows 2003 Server running Plesk 7.6 Everything works fine until you decide to look at the stats for the website. The stats open up fine, but when you want to look at some further information i.e. a Full list of the referring Search Terms, or the Entry...
  2. getimagesize not following symlink - images display howe…
    Running Fedora Core 6 with Plesk installed. (Virtual Host) Have a symbolic link pointing to an image directory in another subdomain. Have put a 'vhosts.conf' file allowing to FollowSymLinks, which appears to be working just fine as the images are displayed appropriately. I...
  3. Update Apache on plesk
    Hi I got a FC server that needs apache updated. The same server has got plesk installed. Should I simply use yum to update it or is there some other procedure so that plesk wont break.
  4. Plesk crash
    Hi! I've a ubuntu 32 bit server, that use Plesk. I've saw with the watchdog that the plesk webserver need more and more memory space, until he use the complete memory and then the server crash. Have you an idea of what can be the problem or how can I find them?
  5. Plesk Sitebuilder
    I have installed plesk sitebuilder 4.5 on dedicated server with plesk panel 9.2., centos 5.3, but when I go into plesk control panel to setup the admin I get the error Error: URL cannot be resolved. I have done all that was suggested in the dns records on the plesk panel but...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: NopiusPosted on 2007-03-22 at 00:36:16ID: 18769595

There is an option in httpd.conf to allow following symlinks:
Options FollowSymLinks
Without this option following symlinks is forbidden.
Read here: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/mod/core.html#options

What is the exact error text? Please provide the error line from apache error_log file.

 

by: brendanwovPosted on 2007-03-22 at 00:39:44ID: 18769604

Hey Nopius!

Thanks for your quick reply.  Here is how my httpd.conf file is currently configured...

<Directory />
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
</Directory>

Can you give me the exact syntax of what I need to change in order to allow symlinks between domains?

I look forward to your reply.  Thanks!

Brendan

 

by: brendanwovPosted on 2007-03-22 at 00:44:47ID: 18769619

Hey Nopius!

Just to be sure you have all the information you need...

# Each directory to which Apache has access can be configured with respect
# to which services and features are allowed and/or disabled in that
# directory (and its subdirectories).
#
# First, we configure the "default" to be a very restrictive set of
# features.
#
<Directory />
    Options FollowSymLinks
    AllowOverride None
</Directory>

#
# Note that from this point forward you must specifically allow
# particular features to be enabled - so if something's not working as
# you might expect, make sure that you have specifically enabled it
# below.
#

#
# This should be changed to whatever you set DocumentRoot to.
#
<Directory "/var/www/html">

#
# Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",
# or any combination of:
#   Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatch ExecCGI MultiViews
#
# Note that "MultiViews" must be named *explicitly* --- "Options All"
# doesn't give it to you.
#
# The Options directive is both complicated and important.  Please see
# http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/core.html#options
# for more information.
#
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

#
# AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in .htaccess files.
# It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:
#   Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
#
    AllowOverride None

#
# Controls who can get stuff from this server.
#
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all

</Directory>


I look forward to your reply.  Thanks!

Brendan

 

by: NopiusPosted on 2007-03-22 at 00:49:05ID: 18769632

It looks that you have required option. Now I need to see what Apache says in /var/www/logs/error_log (I belive it's correct path), just try to access symlinked domain then copy-paste the output from:

tail -20 /var/www/logs/error_log

 

by: brendanwovPosted on 2007-03-22 at 01:10:25ID: 18769686

Hey Nopius!

I triggered the error and then viewed the log files and there didn't seem to be any errors listed within the most recent 20 minutes.  So I don't think this error is registering.  To calrify, the log file you suggested I tail didn't exist so I used the command below.

tail -50 /var/log/httpd/error_log

Thanks for your help!  What do you suggest?  Let me know.

Brendan

 

by: NopiusPosted on 2007-03-22 at 01:19:08ID: 18769696

If you get 'forbidden' then _very_ likely there are some logs about your access attempt. Maybe not in this file. May be in /var/log/httpd/access_log (try tail that file).

Or you may have different logfiles for different domains. To check it, run
grep -i errorlog httpd.conf
and post results here.

If there is nothing either in access_log or in error_log (or in all logs for all domains if you have separate), then probably 'forbidden' comes not from Apache or your server, but from some kind of proxy between you and Apache. Please provide what exact error message your browser says.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...