Apache fails to start after latest kernel update

Support
1

I just updated my 2 AlamLinux 9.3 systems. Bothe have Apache configured. One system had no problem starting Apache after the reboot. The other keeps getting a timeout (a start failure). I have tried all the suggested solutions without a resolution. I even re-installed Apache with the same result.

Here is the result of starting the service:

Job for httpd.service failed because a timeout was exceeded.
See “systemctl status httpd.service” and “journalctl -xeu httpd.service” for details.

sudo systemctl status httpd
× httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.d
└─php-fpm.conf
Active: failed (Result: timeout) since Mon 2026-05-18 15:32:06 EDT; 1min 39s ago
Docs: man:httpd.service(8)
Process: 521185 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/httpd $OPTIONS -DFOREGROUND (code=killed, signal=KILL)
Main PID: 521185 (code=killed, signal=KILL)
Status: “Total requests: 0; Idle/Busy workers 100/0;Requests/sec: 0; Bytes served/sec: 0 B/sec”
CPU: 225ms

May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Killing process 523672 (httpd) with signal SIGKILL.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Killing process 523673 (httpd) with signal SIGKILL.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Killing process 523674 (httpd) with signal SIGKILL.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Killing process 523675 (httpd) with signal SIGKILL.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Killing process 523676 (httpd) with signal SIGKILL.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Killing process 523677 (n/a) with signal SIGKILL.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Main process exited, code=killed, status=9/KILL
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Killing process 523538 (httpd) with signal SIGKILL.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Failed with result ‘timeout’.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: Failed to start The Apache HTTP Server.

sudo journalctl -xeu httpd.service

Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: Help and Support | AlmaLinux Wiki
░░
░░ An ExecStart= process belonging to unit httpd.service has exited.
░░
░░ The process’ exit code is ‘killed’ and its exit status is 9.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Killing process 523538 (httpd) with signal SIGKILL.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: httpd.service: Failed with result ‘timeout’.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: Help and Support | AlmaLinux Wiki
░░
░░ The unit httpd.service has entered the ‘failed’ state with result ‘timeout’.
May 18 15:32:06 eagal01w systemd[1]: Failed to start The Apache HTTP Server.
░░ Subject: A start job for unit httpd.service has failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: Help and Support | AlmaLinux Wiki
░░
░░ A start job for unit httpd.service has finished with a failure.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 97875 and the job result is failed

2

hello

It looks like Apache itself may be starting, but systemd is timing out while waiting for the startup notification.

Could you compare the systemd integration settings with the working server?

Please run:

grep -R “systemd_module” /etc/httpd /usr/lib64/httpd/modules 2>/dev/null
ls -l /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-systemd.conf
httpd -M | grep systemd
systemctl cat httpd

Reference:

thanks

3

ls -l /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-systemd.conf
-rw-r–r–. 1 root root 88 Dec 22 17:33 /etc/httpd/conf.modules.d/00-systemd.conf

the same on boih systems.

When I run the httpd -M | grep systemd on the system that i snot working is takes a long time to respond but they both have the same result

AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.0.1. Set the ‘ServerName’ directive globally to suppress this message
systemd_module (shared)

The result of systemctl ct httpd is different.

The working system has

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

/etc/systemd/system/httpd.service.d/php-fpm.conf

[Unit]
Wants=php-fpm.service

The non working system has :

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.d/php-fpm.conf

[Unit]
Wants=php-fpm.service

4

Any reason you’re on AlmaLinux 9.3 instead of 9.7? 9.3 has been end of life for over a year.

5

I just checked the version and both are alma linux 9.7

6

I was ablew to resolve the issue by rebuilding the system. Everything is working now.

1 Like