How To Log Apache 500 Internal Server Errors?

Locating the Apache Configuration File

To configure Apache to log 500 Internal Server Errors, you need to find the main configuration file. The file location depends on your operating system and Apache version:

• Ubuntu and Debian: /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
• CentOS and Red Hat: /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
• macOS: /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

To check your Apache version, run apache2 -v or httpd -v in the terminal.

sudo cp /path/to/apache2.conf /path/to/apache2.conf.backup

Enabling Error Logging

After finding the configuration file, follow these steps to enable error logging:

1. Open the configuration file with a text editor using sudo privileges.

2. Find or add the LogLevel directive. Set it to log 500 errors:

   LogLevel warn

   This logs warnings and more severe issues, including 500 errors.

3. Find or add the ErrorLog directive to specify where Apache will write error logs:

   ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/error.log

   Replace ${APACHE_LOG_DIR} with the actual path if needed.

4. Save the changes and exit the text editor.

5. Restart Apache to apply the new settings:

   • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo systemctl restart apache2
   • CentOS/Red Hat: sudo systemctl restart httpd
   • macOS: sudo apachectl restart

After these changes, Apache will log 500 Internal Server Errors to the specified error log file. You can monitor this file to fix issues as they occur.

Modifying php.ini Settings

To log PHP errors in Apache, you need to change the php.ini file. Here's how:

1. Find the php.ini file:

   • Ubuntu/Debian: /etc/php/[version]/apache2/php.ini
   • CentOS/Red Hat: /etc/php.ini
   • macOS: /etc/php.ini or /usr/local/php/php.ini

   You can find the exact location by running php --ini in the terminal.

2. Open the php.ini file with a text editor using sudo privileges.

3. Enable error reporting and logging by setting these directives:

   error_reporting = E_ALL
   display_errors = Off
   log_errors = On

4. Set the error_log directive to specify where PHP should write error logs:

   error_log = /var/log/php_errors.log

   Make sure the directory exists and is writable by the web server.

5. Save the changes and exit the text editor.

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Adjusting PHP Error Reporting Level

PHP has different error reporting levels. Here's how to set them:

1. Understand the error reporting levels:

   • E_ALL: Reports all errors and warnings
   • E_ERROR: Reports only fatal runtime errors
   • E_WARNING: Reports runtime warnings
   • E_NOTICE: Reports notices for non-critical errors

2. Set the level:

   • For development:

     error_reporting = E_ALL

   • For production:

     error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT

3. After making changes, restart Apache to apply the new settings.