[SOLVED] Apache keeps crashing

[jlamarche]

Hello everyone,

Not so long ago, I entered a company which has OTRS 3.2.5, and the following packages :

FAQ, GeneralCatalog, ImportExport, ITSMChangeManagement, ITSMConfigurationManagement, ITSMCore, ITSMIncidentProblemManagement and Support.

It's working on a Windows Server 2008 R2, with MySQL and Apache. Note that my manager isn't really "Linux-friendly", and that I'm not allowed to switch to this solution (unfortunately ...).

Here is my problem : sometimes - between five or ten minutes of browsing OTRS - Apache crashes, returning the following errors :

Parent: child process exited with status 255 -- Restarting.

Faulting application name: httpd.exe, version: 2.2.22.0, time stamp: 0x4f242d7a
Faulting module name: IPHLPAPI.DLL_unloaded, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4ce7b859
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x750034c1
Faulting process id: 0x728
Faulting application start time: 0x01cee6dacd1ac5b3
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\OTRS\Apache\bin\httpd.exe
Faulting module path: IPHLPAPI.DLL
Report Id: 24c3ab63-534f-11e3-b82a-0050560008d3

Faulting application name: httpd.exe, version: 2.2.22.0, time stamp: 0x4f242d7a
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x750034c1
Faulting process id: 0x8c4
Faulting application start time: 0x01cee6da6662c440
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\OTRS\Apache\bin\httpd.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: 08f7243e-52ce-11e3-b82a-0050560008d3

I really don't know if it's related, but we also often have the following message : "Error during Ajax communication. Status: error, Error: Fiddler - Receive Failure".

My manager keeps telling me that it's MySQL fault, but I don't think so. It's more like an Apache related problem imho. I migrated to SQL Server 2008 Express (I won't bother you with the problems that came with it while migrating), but had the same error with it : Apache keeps crashing. And, of course, it's a little bit slow. Whatever, I returned to MySQL and tried to resolve the problem in an other way.

Adding memory via ThreadStackSize wasn't really helpful, so I tried to find any other solution I could find over the Internet, but every single one of them weren't successful. For now, we set an automatic reset when the error is showed. I kept an eye on this, but it wasn't successful either : http://stefan.pachlina.net/index.php?op ... cle&id=317 (I couldn't find the 1.3.6.0 file, seems like it's not available anymore).

I think I should consider migrating to the newer version of OTRS, but my manager doesn't want to if it's not necessary. If I cannot avoid it, don't hesitate to tell me how, because it doesn't seem to be easy on Windows !

Is there any god back there that can save me ?

Best regards,

Jordan Lamarche.

[crythias]

It's not unreasonable to upgrade to the latest 3.2.9 ... *AN* option is to back up your filesystem and database, deinstall otrs, install Otrs3.2.9 and recover your config and database.

Also: viewtopic.php?t=8878

Consider this a chance to test disaster recovery.

[jlamarche]

Hello,

Thank you for your fast answer, I will give it a try !

Best Regards,

JL

[crythias]

btw, in *theory*, you could possibly "install" OTRS on another machine and overwrite the apache and perl folders on your production server (after backing them up, of course) then restart apache. Neither perl nor apache would interfere with your production version of OTRS' data, version, or interface ... be careful about clobbering apache httpd.conf, though.

This is just speculation, but with a bit of historical understanding of how OTRS and component applications work.

Each component does its own job and OTRS isn't *exactly* relying on the packed-in installed version of any particular component to maintain stability and data integrity. (Besides, you're not replacing mysql).

[jlamarche]

Hello everyone,

First of all, sorry for the late answer. We haven't got much time lately !

btw, in *theory*, you could possibly "install" OTRS on another machine and overwrite the apache and perl folders on your production server (after backing them up, of course) then restart apache. Neither perl nor apache would interfere with your production version of OTRS' data, version, or interface ... be careful about clobbering apache httpd.conf, though.

We tried to resolve the apache/perl problem by doing so, but that didn't work. Then, we installed OTRS 3.2.9 an everything works fine after the recovering of the older configuration files. Everything, except the PackageManager ... It gives us a Gateway Time-out error. Bad luck, considering we had many packages installed that we can't reinstall for now !

I took a look about this thread : viewtopic.php?f=33&t=21680&p=85790&hili ... out#p85790

Seems like it's something similar with our own problem. I'll give it a try and then come back (victorious, hopefully !) to tell you the story.

Best regards,

JL.

[jlamarche]

Hello,

That worked !

Here is what we did to make it work :

First of all, you must make a save of your database. Never forget it ! Then just uninstall OTRS 3.2.5, reboot the server, and install 3.2.9.

Before recovering your save file of the database, reinstall all the packages in the OTRS PackageManager. Then just import the save, and it works !

No more crash, no more ajax exception, and OTRS seems to work ever faster than before.

Thank you for your help !

Best Regards,

Jordan Lamarche.