Apache configuration shows error after removing a domain from Plesk: httpd: bad user name

Symptoms

• Apache configuration shows the error:

  • on CentOS/RHEL-based distributions:

    # httpd -t
    AH00543: httpd: bad user name john_doe

  • on Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

    # apache2 -t
    AH00543: apache2: bad user name john_doe

• The user from the error (in this example, john_doe) does not exist on the system:

  # grep john_doe /etc/passwd
  #

• There is an Apache configuration file that contains this user:

  • On CentOS/RHEL-based distributions:

    # grep -r john_doe /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/*
    /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"
    /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"

  • On Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

    # grep -r john_doe /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/*
    /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"
    /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"

• The domain in the file name (In this example, example.com) does not appear on the Domains page in Plesk.

• The following error message may appear on the Home page in Plesk:

  New configuration files for the Apache web server were not created due to the errors in configuration templates: AH00112: Warning: DocumentRoot [/var/www/...] does not exist AH00543: apache2: bad user name example.

Cause

The subscription/domains was not properly removed.

Resolution

1. Connect to the Plesk server via SSH.

2. Find all orphaned files that belong to the nonexistent user:

   • on CentOS/RHEL-based distributions:

     # grep -r john_doe /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/*
     /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"
     /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"

   • on Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

     # grep -r john_doe /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/*
     /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"
     /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf: SuexecUserGroup "john_doe" "psacln"

3. Remove these files:

   • on CentOS/RHEL-based distributions:

     # rm -rf /etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf

   • on Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:

     # rm -rf /etc/apache2/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/example.com.conf

4. Regenerate web-server configuration files for all domains:

   Note: If there are +300 domains on the server, run this command during server maintenance time.

   # plesk repair web -y