Rookie trying to start zoneminder.

[mrgar]

Hello,

I have built ZoneMinder from the Arch Linux AUR. It compiled but I am having difficulty getting the software to start.

Startup:

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$ sudo systemctl start zoneminder.service
Job for zoneminder.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status zoneminder.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

$systemctl status zoneminder.service

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 zoneminder.service - ZoneMinder CCTV recording and security system
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/zoneminder.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2017-04-30 18:24:54 CDT; 6min ago
  Process: 6558 ExecStart=/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl start (code=exited, status=255)

Apr 30 18:24:44 archer zmpkg[6558]: INF [Command: start]
Apr 30 18:24:44 archer zmdc[6571]: INF [Server starting at 17/04/30 18:24:44]
Apr 30 18:24:44 archer zmdc[6571]: ERR [Can't open pid file at /run/zoneminder/zm.pid]
Apr 30 18:24:46 archer zmdc[6571]: FAT [Can't bind to /var/lib/zoneminder/sock/zmdc.sock: Permission denied]
Apr 30 18:24:54 archer zmdc[6568]: FAT [Can't connect: No such file or directory]
Apr 30 18:24:54 archer zmpkg[6558]: ERR [Unable to run "/usr/bin/zmdc.pl startup", output is "Starting server"]
Apr 30 18:24:54 archer systemd[1]: zoneminder.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=255
Apr 30 18:24:54 archer systemd[1]: Failed to start ZoneMinder CCTV recording and security system.
Apr 30 18:24:54 archer systemd[1]: zoneminder.service: Unit entered failed state.
Apr 30 18:24:54 archer systemd[1]: zoneminder.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

I have been scouring pages but to no avail. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[rockedge]

Do these directories exist? /var/lib/zoneminder and /var/run/zoneminder

[mrgar]

Yes.

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gar@archer ~]$ ls -lh /var/lib/zoneminder/
total 8.0K
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Apr 30 05:35 sock
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Apr 30 05:35 temp
[gar@archer ~]$ ls -lh /var/run/zoneminder/
total 0 

[mrgar]

FYI, the sock and temp directories in /var/lib/zoneminder are empty.
The zoneminder directory in /var/run is empty as well.

[rockedge]

what happens when in a terminal you type? Can you see any errors?

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zmpkg.pl start

[mrgar]

Here's the report:

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$ sudo zmpkg.pl start
[sudo] password for gar: 
Job for zoneminder.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status zoneminder.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
[gar@archer ~]$ systemctl status zoneminder.service
● zoneminder.service - ZoneMinder CCTV recording and security system
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/zoneminder.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2017-05-01 06:48:07 CDT; 1min 12s ago
  Process: 16893 ExecStart=/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl start (code=exited, status=255)

May 01 06:47:56 archer zmpkg[16893]: INF [Command: start]
May 01 06:47:57 archer zmdc[16906]: INF [Server starting at 17/05/01 06:47:57]
May 01 06:47:57 archer zmdc[16906]: ERR [Can't open pid file at /run/zoneminder/zm.pid]
May 01 06:47:59 archer zmdc[16906]: FAT [Can't bind to /var/lib/zoneminder/sock/zmdc.sock: Permission denied]
May 01 06:48:07 archer zmdc[16903]: FAT [Can't connect: No such file or directory]
May 01 06:48:07 archer zmpkg[16893]: ERR [Unable to run "/usr/bin/zmdc.pl startup", output is "Starting server"]
May 01 06:48:07 archer systemd[1]: zoneminder.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=255
May 01 06:48:07 archer systemd[1]: Failed to start ZoneMinder CCTV recording and security system.

I am guessing these lines are the culprit:

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May 01 06:47:57 archer zmdc[16906]: ERR [Can't open pid file at /run/zoneminder/zm.pid]
May 01 06:47:59 archer zmdc[16906]: FAT [Can't bind to /var/lib/zoneminder/sock/zmdc.sock: Permission denied]
May 01 06:48:07 archer zmdc[16903]: FAT [Can't connect: No such file or directory]
May 01 06:48:07 archer zmpkg[16893]: ERR [Unable to run "/usr/bin/zmdc.pl startup", output is "Starting server"]

I am not sure if it is because of setting in a config file, or permissions in apache? I am stumped. Thanks for helping.

[rockedge]

This could be the clue:

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gar@archer ~]$ ls -lh /var/lib/zoneminder/
total 8.0K
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Apr 30 05:35 sock
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Apr 30 05:35 temp
[gar@archer ~]$ ls -lh /var/run/zoneminder/
total 0

try this in a terminal:

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chown -R www-data  /var/lib/zoneminder 

then run zmpkg.pl start again and see if there is a change.

[knight-of-ni]

rockedge is right.

ZoneMinder runs as the web account user. That means that any folder which ZoneMinder needs to write to, must be owned by the web account user.

This includes, but is not limited to, these folders:
events folder
images folder
temp folder
socket folder
log folder

[mrgar]

Thanks for your assistance.
I think this is the issue.

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 chown -R www-data /var/lib/zoneminder
chown: invalid user: ‘www-data’

Do I need to create a new user 'www-data'? Please pardon my ignorance.

[knight-of-ni]

Thanks for your assistance.
I think this is the issue.

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 chown -R www-data /var/lib/zoneminder
chown: invalid user: ‘www-data’

Do I need to create a new user 'www-data'? Please pardon my ignorance.

www-data is the web account name for Debian/Ubuntu systems. Redhat systems use apache, nginx, or lighttpd as the account name, depending on what web server is running. Arch linux.... I have no idea what the web account user is. It probably is not any one of the account names I just mentioned.
One way to find out what the name of the web account user is to look inside the main configuration file for your web server. On my redhat system, that config file is /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf. It might be somewhere else on Arch linux.

[rockedge]

did you build ZM using cmake?
something like

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 cmake -DZM_WEBDIR=/usr/share/zoneminder/www  -DZM_WEB_USER=www-data -DZM_WEB_GROUP=www-data -DZM_CGIDIR=/usr/lib/zoneminder/cgi-bin ./

for sure there is a owner/permissions conflict somewhere. Try creating and adding user www-data ..... maybe easy fix?

[mrgar]

chown to http seems to fix it! It is http on Arch. Thanks. Issue solved. Hopefully will be testing tonight.

[rockedge]

excellent! Good stuff.