Frequently Asked Questions

I get this error from Apache "configuration error: couldn't check user. No user file?".  What does it mean?

This is a generic error message from Apache that means that authorization has failed.  To get a more detailed error message set your loglevel to debug.

What does this error mean "Error sending _NOOP (-917467)"?

Any time you get a large negative error number this is probably a CUSSP error.  You can translate the error number into meaningful text here.  Error -917467 converts to "Time is out of bounds".

Why am I getting a "Time is out of bounds" error?

Kerberos requires that the system clock on your web server is accurately set.  If it isn't, you may get this error.  The solution is to periodically synchronize your clock using NTP or an equivalent mechanism.

Where do I get a srvtab, keytab or ServiceID?

Go here.

What's a ServiceID?

Look at this.

What's a srvtab?

Look at this.

Is 64-bit Linux supported?

Here's the bad news...

CUWebAuth is currently distributed as a 32-bit binary.  We don't have a date for availability of a 64-bit binary yet.  Unfortunately, it's not a simple matter of recompiling because the RPC library that we depend on is riddled with 32-bit dependencies.  So, in order to produce a 64-bit binary we will likely be replacing the RPC library.  This will affect both CUWebAuth and the CUWebLogin service, since they need to stay compatible.

Better news...

Linux supports running 32-bit binaries on 64-bit machines.  However, if your Apache is built for 64-bit, it will not be able to load a 32-bit module.  So, in order to run CUWebAuth, apache needs to be built as a 32-bit binary.

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a 64-bit machine?

No it doesn't defeat the primary purpose for 64-bit, which is to support a larger memory address space.  The operating system will do this whether you run 64-bit or 32-bit binaries.  The performance hit for running 32-bit binaries is minimal and not noticeable for most applications, especially considering that if you're upgrading from an older 32-bit machine you're likely adding a considerably faster CPU anyway.

32-Bit Configurations

1. ./configure --prefix=/home/hong/authbuild/apache_2.0.55_32bits --enable-
so --enable-cgi CC="gcc -m32" LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib -L/usr/local/lib"

2. Install apache2 to a chroot that points to 32 bit libraries and toolchain.
Here are instructions for how-to on debian (thanks to Ari Epstein for tracking this down)...
    http://alioth.debian.org/docman/view.php/30192/21/debian-amd64-howto.html

Punt...

If all this sounds just too complicated, then your other option is to set up a 32 bit virtual private server using VMWare, Xen, or other virtualization software.