Quick Question, I Think

Error Log Interpretation

[Odatpup]

[Sun Apr 24 07:56:47 2005] [error] [client 148.244.150.58] client denied by server configuration: /public_html/examplesite/403.shmtl

[Sun Apr 24 07:56:47 2005] [error] [client 148.244.150.58] client denied by server configuration: /public_html/examplesite/oldstuff

Can someone please tell me:

Does this errorlog message mean that this "visitor" requested something called "old stuff" and actually GOT my custom 403 error message? Or did it NOT get the custom 403?

TIA

[jdMorgan]

No, it means that the client was unable to fetch the custom error page, because access was denied.

Take a look at your access log. You should see the client's request for the original page, resulting in a 403, followed by a request for your custom error page, which also resulted in a 403.

Due to the order of processing, access denials in mod_rewrite are sometimes not logged to the error log, while access denials in mod_access are.

Jim

[Odatpup]

Jim, thanks very much for the reply. I'm REALLY trying to understand (please see my other post below, re: custom error pages not being served).

Here's a typical entry in my access log. Note that there is NO request for my custom error page. It only shows requests for the "page1" file itself:

 host-207-248-240-119.block.alestra.net.mx - - [24/Apr/2005:04:53:31 -0400] "GET /archives/page1.html HTTP/1.1" 403 - "http://www.vegas-hair.com/no-download-888-poker-games.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Mac_PowerPC; AtHome021)"

host-207-248-240-118.block.alestra.net.mx - - [24/Apr/2005:04:53:32 -0400] "GET /archives/page1.html HTTP/1.1" 403 - "http://www.vegas-hair.com/no-download-888-poker-games.html" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Mac_PowerPC; AtHome021)"

This is the complete entry for this request/hit (yes, a spammer, but fine as an example; all the other requests that are 403d look just like this one as to form). How come it doesn't show any request for my custom 403 page? Shouldn't it, based on what you said above?

Could this be related to the problems I describe in my other post, below?
TIA

[jdMorgan]

Due to the order of processing, access denials in mod_rewrite are sometimes not logged to the error log, while access denials in mod_access are.

The access to the file is logged to the access log, and shows a 403. The client then requests the custom error page, and, since that is blocked as well, you get an entry in your error log.

This is basically because you are using two different modules -- mod_rewrite and mod_alias -- to block access to various files by various means. There's nothing wrong with that, but it does cause some seemingly-strange logging behaviour.

Jim