Error: Initializing shm:application/x-tex-tfm.1820113 errno=2 in SPS

Products

• SITEMINDER
• CA Single Sign On Secure Proxy Server (SiteMinder)

Issue/Introduction

 

When starting the CA Access Gateway (SPS), the Apache process doesn't start properly. No process listens to the port 80. CA Access Gateway (SPS) reports the error:

  [Fri Nov 05 09:01:53.215254 2021] [jk:emerg] [pid 1820113:tid 140174192141760] Initializing shm:application/x-tex-tfm.1820113 errno=2. Unable to start due to shared memory failure.

or 

  [Tue Dec 21 08:56:46.543517 2021] [jk:error] [pid 3539570] [Tue Dec 21 08:56:46.543 2021] [3539570:140544702113216] [debug] jk_shm_close::jk_shm.c (744): Closed shared memory /{home_sps/httpd/logs/jk-runtime-status.3539570 childs=1

Commenting out the "User <service-account>" line in the httpd.conf makes the httpd service to start properly.

But the process uses root as account which cause a security risk.

 

Environment

 

CA Access Gateway (SPS) 12.8SP5 on RedHat 8;

 

Cause

The httpd.conf file has <service-account> defined as User:

httpd.conf :

    User <service-account>

Running grep command to check if the user is in the passwd file:

    # grep <service-account> /etc/passwd

returns nothing, as the user <service-account> isn't defined in /etc/passwd file.

Modifying the httpd.conf to have user nobody instead of <service-account> makes the httpd process to start fine.

 

Resolution

To solve this issue:

•  Add the user <service-account> to the /etc/passwd file;
    or
• Configure the httpd.conf file with a User which is already in the /etc/passwd file.