Help with strange web server problem

[Ken Stevenson]

Jerry Bell wrote:
> It's hit or miss, but the first time someone visits the web site, they get
> a "server not found" page.  On hitting refresh, they get the page - no
> problems.  If I wait a while and try again, I get the same problem.
> 
> The problem appears to be something in the initial communication with the
> web server.  Using tcpdump, I can see that the PC connects to the web
> server and sends the GET request, but the server closes the connection
> abruptly.  Comparing that flow to a normal session, I see that there are
> some extra packets between the initial SYN and the sending of the GET
> phrase that do not exist during a successful session.
> 
> I'm running 5.4-STABLE FreeBSD 5.4-STABLE #0: Thu Aug 18 (built from the
> stable source as of that day).
> I'm using apache 1.3.34.  I was on 1.3.33 and rebuilt the port to see if
> that was the problem.
> 
> I'm not sure if this is an apache problem or a FreeBSD problem.  Any
> suggestions on further troubleshooting or known issues?
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Jerry
> 
On a couple of occasions, I've had a similar problem that was the 
result of Apache having multiple processes running, and 1 of the 
running processes was failing while all the others were okay.

Try refreshing about 20 times and see if the problem comes and goes or 
if it only occurs on the first connection.

In any event, restarting Apache fixed the problem for me.

-- 
Ken Stevenson
Allen-Myland Inc.