Resolved 18.0.40 upgrade killed postfix, now no mail

[Matt N]

Hi All,

today, in the middle of the day, no less, my Plesk Obsidian server updated from 18.0.39 > 18.0.40. Well, it attempted to. but encountered an error, and rolled back.

This resulted in Postfix having issues.
there was multiple packages for postfix installed, which I've managed to clean up removing the cleandupes etc.... all good.

I then set about removing postfix, and then attempting the upgrade from 18.0.39 > 18.0.40 - and this worked.

I then attempted to install PostFix and DoveCot, however I got a multitude of errors about postfix, so I set to use QMail and DoveCot. This got mail servers installed, however, currently QMail is not happily receiving email.

I would rather go back to Postfix - however, when I attempt to install postfix using the web installer in plesk, i Get the error

The Yum utility failed to install the required packages.

If I attempt to install via the command line, i get the following logs:

Retrieving information about the installed license key...
Launching component and product checkers...
Downloading file pool/PSA_18.0.40_7609/examiners/repository_check.sh: 100% was finished.
Downloading file pool/PSA_18.0.40_7609/examiners/disk_space_check.sh: 100% was finished.
Downloading file pool/PSA_18.0.40_7609/examiners/sh_cmd.sh: 100% was finished.
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, protectbase, rhnplugin
This system is receiving updates from CLN.
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* cloudlinux-x86_64-server-7: cl-mirror.syd.ventraip.net.au
PLESK_17_PHP56 | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP56-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP71 | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP71-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP72 | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP72-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP73 | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP73-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP74 | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_17_PHP74-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_18_0_40-dist | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_18_0_40-extras | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_18_0_40-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
1497 packages excluded due to repository protections
Failed to install {'release': '2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912', 'epoch': '2', 'version': '3.5.9', 'arch': 'x86_64', 'name': 'postfix'}:
Error while downloading packages metainfo: No package(s) available to install. Trying again.
Failed to install {'release': '2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912', 'epoch': '2', 'version': '3.5.9', 'arch': 'x86_64', 'name': 'postfix'}:
Error while downloading packages metainfo: No package(s) available to install. Trying again.
Failed to install {'release': '2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912', 'epoch': '2', 'version': '3.5.9', 'arch': 'x86_64', 'name': 'postfix'}:
Number of retries is exceeded.
InstallError: No package(s) available to install

ERROR: The Yum utility failed to install the required packages.
Attention! Your software might be inoperable.
Visit https://support.plesk.com/ to search for a solution.
exit status 1

I am stumped. I can see that it's unable ot install the particular postfix package, but I cannot work out why.

Server is Centos 7, running CloudLinux 7.9, with Plesk 18.0.40.
Was happily running PostFix prior to this upgrade attempt.

Open to ideas/suggestions.

 

[TomBoB]

are you getting your updates from the original Plesk update server or a mirror? If from a mirror, switch to Plesks official update servers.

 

[Matt N]

I am using CloudLinux 7 - but not sure how, or if i should, be changing to install source or even how to check.

 

[Matt N]

using the command :

./plesk-installer --source http://autoinstall.plesk com
and then attempting to install postfix still reports the same error.

this install has completely killed my server - MariaDB is also dead

 

[Bitpalast]

"1497 packages excluded due to repository protections"
I think there is a very basic issue with the operating system installation.

 

[Matt N]

running greg exclude *.repo inside the /etc/yum.repos.d directory returns no results. my /etc/yum.conf also does not have any reference to packages to exclude.

I do have a number of repo's that are not enabled - which was done by the CloudLinux installer.

 

[Matt N]

so after many hours of waiting, and curse words, and panic etc. I run the plesk installer again (ensuring it was pointed at the Plesk Official update servers), and attempted to add PostFix and remove QMail. and low and behold, it chugged along nicely, rather than very quickly giving me the YUM error I was getting yesterday.

I let it run, and its now installed Postfix and everything is running, albeit, with a flurry of emails now coming in for all my customer's.... but things are working.

 

[TomBoB]

glad it's sorted. Can you pin it down on something specific? Just so if it happens to other people they can find a hint here?

 

[Matt N]

I can't explain why the upgrade from 18.0.39 > 18.0.40 really messed with Postfix, or the components within Plesk, such as the "Service Management" or the ability to manage the email accounts etc.

The initial upgrade log that alerted me to the upgrade failure, didn't mention PostFix being a cause, but that a package called zstd-1.4.2-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

Here's the last chunk of the log.

sw-librrd-1.6.0.1-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117 0.0 B/s | 132 kB 00:00 sw-librrd-1.6.0.1-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.x86 | 132 kB 00:00
sw-engine-3.40.1-1centos.7.211118.1959.x86_64.r 0.0 B/s | 10 MB 00:00 sw-engine-3.40.1-1centos.7.211118.1959.x86_64.rpm | 10 MB 00:03
sw-nginx-1.20.1-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1 0.0 B/s | 5.3 MB 00:00 sw-nginx-1.20.1-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.x86_6 | 5.3 MB 00:02
sw-rrdtool-1.6.0.1-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t21111 0.0 B/s | 288 kB 00:00 sw-rrdtool-1.6.0.1-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.x8 | 288 kB 00:00
Running Transaction Check
Installing: plesk-libboost-regex1.74-1.74.0-1centos.7.211102.1122.x86_64 [1/130]
Installing: plesk-libboost-program-options1.74-1.74.0-1centos.7.211102.1122.x86_64 [2/130]
Installing: plesk-libboost-thread1.74-1.74.0-1centos.7.211102.1122.x86_64 [3/130]
Updating: plesk-dovecot-core-2.3.17-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.x86_64 [4/130]
Installing: plesk-libboost-serialization1.74-1.74.0-1centos.7.211102.1122.x86_64 [5/130]
Installing: plesk-libboost-chrono1.74-1.74.0-1centos.7.211102.1122.x86_64 [6/130]
Updating: plesk-ui-library-18.0-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.noarch [7/130]
Updating: sw-librrd-1.6.0.1-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.x86_64 [8/130]
Updating: plesk-platform-runtime-1.0.2-1centos.7.211118.1959.x86_64 [9/130]
Updating: plesk-rdbmspp-2.0.2-1centos.7.211118.1959.x86_64 [10/130]
Updating: libaps-1.0.10-1centos.7.211118.1959.x86_64 [11/130]
Updating: sw-collectd-5.11.0-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.x86_64 [12/130]
Updating: plesk-control-panel-18.0-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.noarch [13/130]
Installing: plesk-libboost-locale1.74-1.74.0-1centos.7.211102.1122.x86_64 [14/130]
Updating: plesk-lmlib-0.2.5-1centos.7.211118.1959.x86_64 [15/130]
Updating: sw-engine-3.40.1-1centos.7.211118.1959.x86_64 [16/130]
Updating: psa-mod_sysenv-0.2-2.centos.7+p18.0.40.0+t211117.1912.x86_64 [17/130]
Error: Cannot open file /var/cache/yum/x86_64/7/cloudlinux-x86_64-server-7/packages/zstd-1.4.2-1.el7.x86_64.rpm: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/var/cache/yum/x86_64/7/cloudlinux-x86_64-server-7/packages/zstd-1.4.2-1.el7.x86_64.rpm'
TypeError: an integer is required
FATAL ERROR: python callback <bound method RPMTransaction.callback of <yum.rpmtrans.RPMTransaction instance at 0x7f27ea08ea28>> failed, aborting!
Launching component and product checkers...
Downloading file report-update: 0%
Downloading file report-update: 100% was finished.
Downloading file pool/PSA_18.0.40_7609/examiners/py_launcher.sh: 0%
Downloading file pool/PSA_18.0.40_7609/examiners/py_launcher.sh: 100% was finished.
Error: The Yum utility failed to install the required packages.
Attention! Your software might be inoperable.

I am not sure whether this was because of the installer attempting to get stuff from a mirror, rather than the default Plesk autoupdate servers...