How to Fix :- “module rewrite_module is already loaded, skipping” Apache/HTTPD

Recently I faced another issue during Apache restart. When I ran “httpd -t” command to check Apache configuration. I got ” module ssl_module is already loaded, skipping ”  or ” module rewrite_module is already loaded, skipping” warning message during test. This happened because ssl module or rewrite module  was already enabled more than 1 place. If you have more virtual host configuration file in Apache, it is very difficult to find where ssl module or rewrite module  line is define.

In this article I will explain you how to fix these type of  warning message easily.

Fix module is already loaded, skipping warning in Apache/HTTPD

Follow these below steps to fix these type of issue.

How to find out syntax error in Apache configuration file ?

Execute below command to check for error.

For Debian Linux :

# /usr/sbin/apache-perl -t

You will get command output something like below:

[Fri Jun 08 11:12:19 2012] [warn] module ssl_module is already loaded, skipping
[Fri Jun 08 11:12:19 2012] [warn] module rewrite_module is already loaded, skipping
Syntax OK

For Redhat Linux :

#/usr/sbin/httpd -t

command output:
[Fri Jun 08 11:12:19 2012] [warn] module ssl_module is already loaded, skipping
[Fri Jun 08 11:12:19 2012] [warn] module rewrite_module is already loaded, skipping
Syntax OK
 

To fix above warning message, first we will use grep command to find “ssl_module” word in  all configuration file. Follow these below command to find out these lines.

# grep ssl_module -rI /etc/httpd/*

conf/httpd.conf:LoadModule ssl_module /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/mod_ssl.so
conf.d/ssl.conf:LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so

OR

# grep rewrite_module -rI /etc/httpd/*

conf/httpd.conf:LoadModule rewrite_module /usr/lib64/httpd/modules/mod_rewrite.so
conf.d/ssl.conf:LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

Run the same grep command for Apache on Ubuntu system.

# grep ssl_module -rI /etc/apche2/*
# grep rewrite_module -rI /etc/apche2/*

You can see there are two file found where ssl_module or rewrite_module is define.

We can load all needed modules in one place /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf for httpd or /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file. So we can remove or comment out it from /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf file or /etc/apache2/apache2.conf .

Example for httpd on CentOS/Unix :

# vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf

# LoadModule ssl_module modules/mod_ssl.so
# LoadModule rewrite_module

commend out ssl_module or rewrite_module and exit after saving file.

Example for Apache on Ubuntu/Debian

vim /etc/httpd/apache2/apache2.conf

# LoadModule ssl_module moduless/mod_ssl.so
# LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

Now run again syntax check command and check

For httpd on CentOS/Unix system

#httpd -t

Syntax OK

For apache on Ubuntu/Debian system.

# /usr/sbin/apache-perl -t

You can see there are any warning.

Restart httpd service on Centos/Unix system.

# service httpd restart

OR

Restart apach2 service on Centos/Unix system.

# service apache2 restart

I hope this article will be helpful to  fix Apache ssl_module skipping warning if already loaded. If you have any queries and problem please comment in comment section.

Thanks:)