Cannot start Apache on Plesk server: The Alias directive will probably never match because it overlaps an earlier Alias

Symptoms

• Apache webserver cannot be started with the following warning:

  [alias:warn] AH00671: The Alias directive in /etc/httpd/conf.d/autoindex.conf at line 21 will probably never match because it overlaps an earlier Alias.

Cause

Apache misconfiguration:

• Include or IncludeOptional directive is specified twice in the Apache config:

  # grep -R “IncludeOptional conf.d” “/etc/httpd/conf/”
  /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf: IncludeOptional conf.d/*.conf
  /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf: IncludeOptional conf.d/*.conf

• The /etc/httpd/conf.d/ directory is Included twice in the Apache config (e.g. as relative and absolute paths):

  # grep Include /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
  IncludeOptional conf.d/*.conf
  Include /etc/httpd/conf.d/*.conf

Resolution

1. Connect to the server via SSH.

2. Edit file /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf and comment out extra record by adding # symbol at the line beginning or by removing redundant string:

   # IncludeOptional conf.d/*.conf

   ---

   # Include /etc/httpd/conf.d/*.conf

3. Reconfigure web services:

   # plesk sbin httpdmng –reconfigure-all