apache2 could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:631 after vSphere upgrade

After the upgrade from vSphere 4.0x to vSphere 4.1 or ESXi 4 to ESXi4.1 apache on a OES 2 server wouldn’t start with the error

apache2 could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:631

As you all probably know TCP port 631 is for IPP print, or for us Novell guy’s iPrint. iPrint is started with apache (the website that is). But if iPrint cannot start, apache wouldn’t start also. So what’s blocking TCP port 631? The must be another service that’s using TCP port 631 for ipp printing. After some investigation I discovered that CUPS was started on the OES 2 server. And CUPS also uses ipp and so TCP port 631. So shutting down CUPS enabled me to start apache (rcapache start). Of course you have to make sure that CUPS isn’t started by default anymore on boot time (insserv -r /etc/init.d/cups).

But what started CUPS because it wasn’t started at boot time before. The only change that was made on the OES 2 was the upgrade of the VMware tools. So that was it.

I must say, not really nice of VMware to enable the start of daemons that weren’t started by default before? I don’t know what the reason is why they want to start CUPS for the VMware tools? So if you know the reason, let me know!