Issue Cannot access subscriptions/domains

[JECAS]

Hey,

Today when accesses the administration panel, I could not access any of the subscriptions/domains.
That is when going to the following url /smb/web/view

I get the following error on an otherwise blank page:
ERROR: syntax error, unexpected '?' (Helper.php:76)

I can log in to the admin panel, and access other parts such as Tools & Settings, Server information just fine.

This is through the admin panel only. The websites themselves seems to be unaffected.

This server is running Plesk Onyx - Version 17.5.3

I had no problem accessing the subscriptions yesterday.

Any idea where to look / how to fix?

 

[Peter Debik]

Can you find a corresponding error entry in /var/log/plesk/panel.log? For example something like
PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '?' in /some/path/mentioned/here ...
?

 

[JECAS]

That log file is only accessible through command line, correct?

I do not have sudo access myself, but if so I'll get our hosting provider on it.

 

[Peter Debik]

If you are not admin, it would be the task of your provider to get this issue solved. Because in that case probably he has applied some update or has an issue with the operating system that you cannot resolve anyway. You need to be "admin" in Plesk and have root access to your server to solve such issues.

 

[giovanni_it]

I have the same issue. A friend of mine ask for help. I don't know plesk, but I know a bit of linux administration.
I can access /var/log/plesk/panel.log. I extracted the following lines from log:

[2023-01-25 03:11:18] ERR [1] /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/autoinstaller '--select-product-id' 'plesk' '--select-release-current' '--upgrade-installed-components' failed with message: Unable to create compatibility symlink in /tmp for : /var/log/plesk/install/autoinstaller3.log
Doing restart of Plesk Installer...

[stuff removed]

ERROR: The Yum utility failed to install the required packages.
Attention! Your software might be inoperable.
Please contact product technical support.

[2023-01-25 03:11:19] ERR [panel] Task failed: id=4015, pid=12251, type=panel-update, error=Execution failed.
Command: autoinstaller
Arguments: Array
(
[0] => --select-product-id
[1] => plesk
[2] => --select-release-current
[3] => --upgrade-installed-components
)

Details: Unable to create compatibility symlink in /tmp for : /var/log/plesk/install/autoinstaller3.log
Doing restart of Plesk Installer...

[stuff removed]

[2023-01-25 03:13:35] ERR [1] ERROR: syntax error, unexpected '?' (Helper.php:76)
[25-Jan-2023 09:19:19 Europe/Berlin] PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '=' in /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/modules/notifier/library/CouponDealer.php on line 22
[2023-01-25 09:19:19] ERR [1] ERROR: syntax error, unexpected '=' (CouponDealer.php:22)
[25-Jan-2023 09:19:19 Europe/Berlin] PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '?' in /usr/local/psa/admin/plib/modules/pagespeed-insights/library/Helper.php on line 76
[2023-01-25 09:19:19] ERR [1] ERROR: syntax error, unexpected '?' (Helper.php:76)

I suppose autoupdate failed because yum failed. It is a centos7 vm.
Have any idea how to cope with this? Thank you

 

[Peter Debik]

In your case I'd think the error comes from extensions. What Plesk version are you using? Also what extensions do you have? # plesk bin extension --list. The closes "standard" solution in such cases that I know of is to disable all extensions, then try the update again, then reenable them one-by-one to find out which one is the culprit. From the output given above I'd say start with disabling the Pagespeed Insights extension. The the "CouponDealer" is I could not find out. Official Plesk support is always a good option in such cases.

 

[JECAS]

So update from my side.

Just disabling the PageSpeed Insights extension, from within the plesk panel, fixed the problem.

I got sudo access and was able to take a look at the Helper.php file.
And while the php file itself is encoded, meaning I could not troubleshoot the code itself, I could see that it had been updated recently.

The weird error, "unexpected ?", makes me think that perhaps a null coalescing operator (??) had been used. A feature introduced in php7.

Since I'm using Plesk Onyx 17.5.3, which supposedly has a target php version of 5.6 (where the operator is not supported), I must admit I'm a bit nervous that other stuff will be updated with incompatible php code.

Is there a way to disable Plesk updates all together?

At least according to this article, php5.6 is required for Onyx 17.5:

Choosing the PHP version

With new product versions, Plesk adapts current versions of PHP. Therefore, it is important to correctly choose the v...

docs.plesk.com

 

[Peter Debik]

Actually, I can only recommend to migrate to a new OS asap. You are missing out on a huge number of security fixes, bug fixes and new features and you cannot get full support for your installation any longer. Please migrate. There are so many great new features, and the overall "ease of use" is strongly improved with the latest Plesk versions. They are also faster, receive updates faster etc.

 

[giovanni_it]

Also I have disabled pagespeed-insights and plesk is working. I have also disabled notifier extension. I don't know what it is.

To avoid auto update I have done this:
# plesk bin server_pref -u -autoupdates false
# plesk bin server_pref -u -autoupdates-third-party false

My plesk version:
# plesk version
Product version: Plesk Onyx 17.5.3 Update #82
Update date: 2019/09/10 03:44
Build date: 2018/12/14 14:00
OS version: CentOS 7.7.1908
Revision: 55d1b49a272f44666e1920eca8b6e4da449a38cd
Architecture: 64-bit
Wrapper version: 1.2

Extension before I have disabled two of them.

# plesk bin extension --list
configurations-troubleshooter - Webserver Configurations Troubleshooter
heavy-metal-skin - Skins and Color Schemes
letsencrypt - Let's Encrypt
notifier - Notifier
pagespeed-insights - Google PageSpeed Insights
panel-migrator - Plesk Migrator
security-advisor - Security Advisor
watchdog - Watchdog

I have disabled extensions with:

plesk bin extension --disable pagespeed-insights
plesk bin extension --disable notifier

Anyway I am planning to update plesk in the next days.

 

[giovanni_it]

Actually, I can only recommend to migrate to a new OS asap. You are missing out on a huge number of security fixes, bug fixes and new features and you cannot get full support for your installation any longer. Please migrate. There is so many greate new features, and the overall "ease of use" is strongly improved with the latest Plesk versions. They are also faster, receive updates faster etc.

Will Centos 7 be supported by plesk? I know it is old. Centos 7 end of life is June 2024. I cannot decide os for the vm where it is installed plesk, but I may advice for a migration. For plesk point of view, it is better to migrate toward rocky 8 or ubuntu?
Thank you very much.

 

[JECAS]

Actually, I can only recommend to migrate to a new OS asap.

For this server it is not currently an option. The better option for now is disabling updates, until we're in a position to migrate.

For other servers we run we are indeed using the latest Plesk.

Anyway, thank you so much for the quick responses and for the help on how to troubleshoot.

To avoid auto update I have done this:
# plesk bin server_pref -u -autoupdates false
# plesk bin server_pref -u -autoupdates-third-party false

Thank you so much.
I also found there's an option in the Plesk panel under Tools & Settings > Update Settings.

 

[Peter Debik]

When you migrate, migrate to Alma 9. CentOS 7 is fully supported, but it is EOL in 2024. Plesk will very likely have an integration with ELevate for in-place upgrades from CentOS 7 to Alma 8, but not to Alma 9. When you migrate today, I'd migrate to Alma 9 to save the extra step. This can be done easily with the Plesk Migrator extension.