nginx: the configuration file /jet/etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: [emerg] getgrnam(“nobody”) failed nginx: configuration file /jet/etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed
but if I run: nginx -t
to see if there are configuration errors in the nginx.conf file,
nginx -t return the output:
nginx: the configuration file /jet/etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok nginx: configuration file /jet/etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
every now and then on WordPress I also get the error: internal server 500 error
and I don’t know if this is related to the problem I described above
My web server is (include version):
The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): Linux lemp7-optimized-g2-1-vm 4.9.0-8-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.110-3+deb9u4 (2018-08-21) x86_64
My hosting provider, if applicable, is: google cloud compute engine
I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don’t know): yes
I’m using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): no, through ssh.
The version of my client is (e.g. output of certbot --version or certbot-auto --version if you’re using Certbot): certbot-auto
I managed to install the certificates by inserting a line with the “user nobody nogroup;” in the nginx.conf file
After the installation I removed the line with the “user nobody nogroup;” in the nginx.conf file
Hi Juergen, thank you.
In my system if I run : getent group
I find the group nogroup : nogroup:x:65534:
If I try to add the user: nobody to the group: nogroup
the output is: nobody already exist.
I realized that I can no longer upload files to WordPress on the admin side.
How can I use the control panel again?
When I installed the certificates there were two possible options and I chose the one with always rediretc, did I get it wrong?
Yes but it appened after switching to ssl.
There is some option I can change … ? Or please let me know how and if I am able to delete the all the directory letsencrypt and try to install letsencrypt certs again
Well I have solved the problem. Fortunately I managed to find the error in the log and I understood what happened.
“certbot-auto” installs the certificates using the user: nobody. In my system there already existed by default a user “nobody” of the group “nogroup” but has no access to nginx. So to be able to install the certificates I had to insert a line with the directive: user nobody nogroup; inside nginx.conf. This allowed the installation of certificates. However, this procedure has changed the permissions in the directory: / jet / tmp / nginx /
where instead of: my_ssh_user: my_ssh_group I found: nobody: my_ssh_group and with this modified setting I received the internal server 500 error on the WordPress admin panel. So the problem is not related to WordPress but to the certificate installation procedure.
After installing the certificates I removed the user nobody nogroup directive; because during the restart of nginx, a warning came up saying that this directive is not supported and therefore will be ignored.
Restoring the permissions with chmod on the directory: / jet / tmp / nginx I fixed the problem and the internal server 500 error disappeared.
question: when I have to do the renewal of the certificates the same problem will happen ?
if I wanted to install more than one certificate, I have to indicate another directory for the installation or I can always give the same one?
That's a very untypical setting. The standard user should be root, so root access is required to read the private key. Using another user who owns the certificates is bad.
That’s a very untypical setting. The standard user should be root, so root access is required to read the private key. Using another user who owns the certificates is bad.
I agree but, during the installation of the certificates, as I wrote above, certbot-auto crashed and as you advised I had to enter the user nobody to be able to install the certificates .... so?
