Typical (?) apache newbie question... Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name

Looks like you're trying to start Apache using a slight modified default config.

Better to start from the beginning + setup everything correctly.

Note: This process is fairly simple + if you've never done this before... might be useful to hire someone to go through the process once with you.

1) Choose a public domain name as mycloud.domain.com will never work, as it's highly unlikely you own domain.com yourself.

2) Generate an SSL cert for domain from #1, as the SSL setup you have... won't work as you might expect... For SSL to work, the related domain + certs must actually be real + correct.

If your domain name is foo.com then you'll generate a cert like this...

certbot-auto --no-self-upgrade --non-interactive --rsa-key-size 4096 --email $your-email-here --agree-tos --webroot -w /var/www/html -d foo.com -d www.foo.com

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3) Then use a working Apache config file. Here's a copy of the template I use for this... changing WEBSITE to foo.com (your real domain name).

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName  www.WEBSITE
   ServerAdmin support@WEBSITE
   RewriteEngine on
   RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+) [NC]
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [NC,L,R=302]
   Include logging.conf
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
   ServerName  WEBSITE
   ServerAdmin support@WEBSITE
   RewriteEngine on
   RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [NC,L,R=302]
   Include logging.conf
</VirtualHost>

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>

   <VirtualHost *:443>

      ServerName  www.WEBSITE
      ServerAdmin support@WEBSITE

      RewriteEngine on
      RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.+) [NC]
      RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=302]

      Include logging.conf

      SSLEngine on
      SSLUseStapling on

      SSLCertificateFile    /etc/letsencrypt/live/WEBSITE/fullchain.pem
      SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/WEBSITE/privkey.pem

      # Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security with a 2 year duration
      Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; preload"

   </VirtualHost>

   <VirtualHost *:443>

      ServerName  WEBSITE
      ServerAdmin support@WEBSITE

      DocumentRoot /sites/OWNER/WEBSITE/TYPE

      <Directory /sites/OWNER/WEBSITE/TYPE>
          Options +Indexes +FollowSymLinks
          AllowOverride All 
          Require all granted
      </Directory>

      Include logging.conf

      SSLEngine on
      SSLUseStapling on

      SSLCertificateFile    /etc/letsencrypt/live/WEBSITE/fullchain.pem
      SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/WEBSITE/privkey.pem

      # Enable HTTP Strict Transport Security with a 2 year duration
      Header always set Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=63072000; preload"

   </VirtualHost>

</IfModule>

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4) My logging.conf file.

SetEnvIf Remote_Addr "127\.0\.0\.1" dontlog
SetEnvIf Remote_Addr "::1" dontlog

# DRF: Stop ApacheBench log thrash
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent ApacheBench dontlog

# DRF: Stop sqlmap log thrash
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent sqlmap dontlog

# LogLevel warn rewrite:trace3 ssl:debug
LogLevel warn
ErrorLog  /var/log/apache2/error.log
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log vhost_combined env=!dontlog

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Note: "Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name" has no bearing on Apache failing to start.

I normally set the following to address this.

# /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
ServerName foo

# /etc/hosts
127.0.0.1	foo

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Where "foo" is either a machine name or a LXD/Docker container name.

better NOT remove localhost from the 127.0.0.1 address line. This may upset some software looking for that name.

noci is correct, my /etc/hosts line above is meant to be added to /etc/hosts, not replace /etc/hosts.

Best you leave your /etc/hosts file exactly as-is, because many hosting companies add network specific cruft to /etc/hosts which if removed... will cause what noci suggested... where "upset software" might means some/all services on your machine lose connectivity.

Good mention noci!

Thanks - it was indeed all that was missing. Server up & running !

Now as I like to understand how things are working what did I do exactly by "binding" the FQDN to the local machine IP ? Care to elaborate ?

Basically Apache needs to make sure it knows where the host is when it starts

On windows you have a host file in C:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts

And Linux is /etc/host

This file basically overrides dns so if you was working on a website migration for example but do not want to change the name servers of the domain until you are happy that the new host is fully functional you can add it to your computers host file flush the dns then you will see the new host and make the tweaks before changing the nameservers :)

Hope this helps.

Kenza

Likely reason this worked...

127.0.0.1 mycloud.domain.com

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Is because you changed your Apache config.

Default configs on all Distros default to listen on *:80 so if this default was still in existence, the /etc/hosts entry is not required.

Best you restore default behavior via...

a2ensite 000-default
service apache2 reload

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If you have additional questions about your setup, best open additional questions... one topic/question, for best answers.