apache2: Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.0.1 for ServerName

Everytime I start apache2 (# apache2ctl start) this message is dispalyed:

apache2: Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.0.1 for ServerName

Well, the site is still running despite the above notification.

To fix it, we need to edit the /etc/apache2/httpd.conf or /etc/apache2.conf and add the following line:

ServerName nameofserver

Now, restart the apache server (# apache2ctrl restart) and should no loger see the previous message.

Enable mod_userdir for Apache2 on Debian

By default Apache2 doesn’t enable mod_userdir, a module to enable all users in your Linux system to host web pages. On Debian, it’s very to enable this mod, and probably with other modules as well. There is no need to edit the config file manually.

There are two tools offered by Debian to assist you with enabling and disabling the modules in Apache2: a2enmod and a2dismod. As the name inferred, a2enmod enables the modules, while the a2dismod does the opposite.

In my case, all I need to do is to type the following commands as the root (, or using sudo):

# sudo a2enmod mod_userdir

Then restart the apache2 server:

# sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload