apache 403 Forbidden error

[saju_2]

Hi

I am using apache 2.0.54 on RH9. I am trying to configure Big brother server on it. The apache default page is coming properly but the Big brother index page is not displaying . It is giving the above error. The error_log is saying
Symbolic link not allowed: /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/bb. I am having a symbolic link to the DocumentRoot /usr/local/apache2/htdocs

Anything to do with the FollowSymLinks options in the config file?

Thanks in advance
CS

[Ivan Ferreira]

Yes, that error shows when the:

Options FollowSymLinks

Is not enabled for the virtual directory.

Add the option to the apache configuration file for big brother. I don't know about big brother configuration but it's very likely that will install a file in /etc/httpd/conf.d.

So edit the file and add the option.

[saju_2]

Hi

Any idea how to make the necessary changes.

I have a symbolic link in /usr/local/apache2/htdocs ( Which is the DocumentRoot)
ll /usr/local/apache2/htdocs shows that
bb -> /home/bb/bb1.9e-btf/www
I want to access /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/bb/index.html through browser.
Now what change i have to do in the httpd.conf file so that apache can access it. File permssions are given as 777

Reagrds
CS

[Ivan Ferreira]

In your conf file, you should have:



(more lines here)



Find these lines and configure the options:



Options FollowSymLinks

(more lines here)

[Ivan Ferreira]

Also, to avoid touching the main configuration file, you can create a conf file in the conf.d directory. Name the file bigbrother.conf

vi conf.d/bigbrother.conf

And configure like this:

Alias /bb "/home/bb/bb1.9e-btf/www"


Options Indexes
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all


This way, you won't need the soft link any more.

[saju_2]

Hi Ivan

I tried putting the /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/bb entry in the httpd.conf and tried to enable symbolic linking, but didin;t work.

If I make a sepearte file how apache is going read that? Also what path I can give in the browser to get to the www directory in bb?( By default the Browser looks in the RootDocument definded in the httpd.conf file)

Regards
CS

[Ivan Ferreira]

There are a few directives that matters:

ServerRoot

This directive indicates where the configuration files are located.

Include conf.d/*.conf

This directive indicates that all files in "ServerRoot"/conf.d ending in .conf sould be loaded as part of the configuration file. That's how the conf.d/bigbrother.conf file is loaded.

And if you configure the file as my last post, the URL to access the "Alias" created will be:

http://yourserver/bb