The “Apache Error: No matching DirectoryIndex easily” error triggers due to missing of the particular index file from DirectoryIndex section in httpd.conf file.

As a part of our Server Management Services, we help our Customers to fix webserver related errors regularly.

Let us today discuss the possible causes and fixes for this error.

What is Apache Error: No matching DirectoryIndex?

The “No matching DirectoryIndex” error occur while accessing applications that have index files other than index.html or other specified ‘directory index’.

For example, phpMyAdmin includes an index.php file upon installation, but not an index.html file.

By default Apache is configured with the following:

<IfModule dir_module>
DirectoryIndex index.html
</IfModule>

Thus Apache will only look for directory index files that has name as index.html. As a result, when attempting to access phpMyAdmin, Apache throws the following error:

[autoindex:error] [pid 20115] [client 10.30.6.80:50800] AH01276: Cannot serve directory /usr/share/phpMyAdmin/: No matching DirectoryIndex (index.html) found, and server-generated directory index forbidden by Options directive

How to fix Apache Error: No matching DirectoryIndex?

The most common reason for this error is the missing of the particular index file from DirectoryIndex section in httpd.conf file. This can be easily fixed by editing the file. For instance, if it is to add index.php to add phpMyAdmin, it can be performed with the setof steps given below:

First step is to open the httpd.conf file with any of the available editors.

vim /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

Now we need to identify the following set of lines in the configuration file.

<IfModule dir_module>
DirectoryIndex index.html
</IfModule>

Next task is to change it to the following format.

<IfModule dir_module>
DirectoryIndex index.html index.php
</IfModule>

Then save and exit the file. Finally, make sure to restart Apache with:

systemctl restart httpd

At times, this error can trigger when the PHP-FPM hits a limit of max allowed processes. We coulld fit it with an increase the value of max allowed processes. For example, in DirectAdmin servers, this can be set to 30 using the commands given below:

/usr/local/directadmin/directadmin set php_fpm_max_children_default 30
cd /usr/local/directadmin/custombuild/
./build rewrite_confs

In plesk environments, after a dist-upgrade, at time a 403 Forbidden is shown on all websites. The apache log shows the “No matching DirectoryIndex” in the apache error log.

To fix the error, enable the dir Apache module going to Tools & Settings > Apache Web Server > Select dir module > Click OK to apply changes

Note to include “IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.conf” to the /etc/apache2/apache2.conf:

# grep "IncludeOptional mods-enabled/\*\.conf" /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
IncludeOptional mods-enabled/*.conf

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Conclusion

In short, The “No matching DirectoryIndex” error occur while accessing applications that have index files other than index.html or other specified ‘directory index’. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers fix this error.