KB-1781 Apache fails to start with "Unable to start due to shared memory failure" error

Symptoms

Apache Web Server has been configured to work with Appian. The instructions in the Configuring Apache Web Server with Appian have been followed exactly, but Apache fails to start with the following error in the mod_jk.log:

[jk:warn] [pid XXXX] No JkShmFile defined in httpd.conf. Using default <APACHE_HOME>/logs/jk-runtime-status
[jk:emerg] [pid XXXX] Initializing shm:<APACHE_HOME>/logs/jk-runtime-status.XXXX errno=13. Unable to start due to shared memory failure.

The following are all true on the environment:

SELinux is enabled.
Prior to configuring Apache to work with Appian, Apache was able to start successfully.

Cause

SELinux may be configured to block shared memory access in the <APACHE_HOME>/logs/ directory.

Action

Work with a System Administrator to modify SELinux permissions to allow shared memory access in the <APACHE_HOME>/logs/ directory.

Affected Versions

This article applies to all versions of Appian using Linux as the operating system.

Last Reviewed: November 2018