How do I prevent spawning of zombie-like apache2 processes on Dreamhost VPS?

Posted by Jonathan Hayward on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Jonathan Hayward
Published on 2014-08-21T22:18:07Z Indexed on 2014/08/21 22:21 UTC
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I have had a website for months or longer on a DreamHost VPS, and I have had vague memories on, in initial setup, having to turn off some customized Apache under /dh to get a standard Apache 2.x to work with.

Things have been going along on an even keel, when I started making some changes lately and I found that when I tried to bounce Apache (/usr/sbin/apachectl restart), it couldn't bind to port 80, and my site had been converted from a big literature site to a small parking site. I tried to see what was listening on 80, and it was a DreamHost-customized Apache that had spawned. I killed all of them, restarted Apache, and changed the parent directory under /dh to mode 000. That was a day or two ago.

I was bouncing Apache again in trying to get a new site to load under HTTPS, and I found that once again DreamHost's apache had spawned, from the directory I set to mode 000, and once again converted my site to a parking page. I renamed the directory, but I am very skeptical of whether I have permanently killed the DreamHost-customized Apache.

Besides duct tape options like a crontab to kill and delete each minute, how can I permanently turn off the Apache processes that are spawning from a location under /dh and interfering with standard Apache? What should I be doing that I am not? Can DreamHost's technical support stop the interference?

Thanks,

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