Upgrading from 12.0.18 to 12.5.30 Issue

[Skillful Concept]

I am trying to install the Let's Encrypt extension but I am getting the message stating that I must install to 12.5 before I can install the zip. So I went to to Server, Updates and Upgrades and attempt to upgrade to 12.5.30. It runs, but after 45 secs this message is shown:

Installation started in background
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror, priorities
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
* atomic: www6.atomicorp.com
* base: p3plmirror02.prod.phx3.secureserver.net
* extras: p3plmirror02.prod.phx3.secureserver.net
* updates: p3plmirror02.prod.phx3.secureserver.net
PHP_5_2_17-dist | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_2_17-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_3_29-dist | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_3_29-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_4_45-dist | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_4_45-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_5_30-dist | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_5_30-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_6_15-dist | 2.9 kB 00:00
PHP_5_6_15-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_12_5_30-dist | 2.9 kB 00:00
PLESK_12_5_30-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PMM_0.1.10-dist | 2.9 kB 00:00
PMM_0.1.10-thirdparty | 2.9 kB 00:00
PPB_12_5_29-dist | 951 B 00:00
PPB_12_5_29-thirdparty | 951 B 00:00
SITEBUILDER_12_5_29-dist | 951 B 00:00
SITEBUILDER_12_5_29-thirdparty | 951 B 00:00
180 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
atomic/filelists_db 16% [==- ] 0.0 B/s | 218 kB --:-- ETA atomic/filelists_db 64% [=========- ] 992 kB/s | 835 kB 00:00 ETA atomic/filelists_db | 1.3 MB 00:00
base/filelists_db | 6.1 MB 00:00
extras/filelists_db | 31 kB 00:00
updates/filelists_db | 1.5 MB 00:00
Attempt to remove 'policycoreutils' to resolve conflict has succeeded
No package matched to remove: mariadb-galera-libs
Attempt to remove 'mariadb-galera-libs' to resolve conflict has failed
Attempt to remove 'mysql-libs' to resolve conflict has succeeded
No package matched to remove: mariadb-galera
Attempt to remove 'mariadb-galera' to resolve conflict has failed
Attempt to remove 'mysql' to resolve conflict has succeeded
Exception: Failed to solve dependencies:
libcurl-7.19.7-40.el6_6.4.i686 requires libssh2.so.1
plesk-web-hosting-12.5.30-cos6.build1205150826.19.x86_64 requires httpd
awstats-7.4-centos6.15081814.noarch requires httpd
psa-mod_rpaf-0.6.1-centos6.15101516.x86_64 requires httpd
psa-mailman-configurator-12.5.30-cos6.build1205150826.19.x86_64 requires mailman >= 2.1
psa-mod_aclr2-14081815-centos6.15081418.9e86c2f.x86_64 requires httpd
plesk-web-hosting-12.5.30-cos6.build1205150826.19.x86_64 requires mod_ssl
plesk-web-hosting-12.5.30-cos6.build1205150826.19.x86_64 requires psa-proftpd >= 1.3.4d
psa-mod_sysenv-0.2-centos6.15081418.x86_64 requires httpd
plesk-core-12.5.30-cos6.build1205150826.19.x86_64 requires ntp
spamassassin-3.3.2-7.el6.art.x86_64 requires /sbin/service
mariadb-galera-server-5.5.39-18.el6.art.x86_64 requires initscripts
3sa-qmail-1.03-cos6.build1205150819.14.x86_64 requires xinetd
psa-php5-configurator-1.7.0-cos6.build1205150820.19.x86_64 requires httpd
php-5.4.45-51.el6.art.i686 requires httpd
plesk-core-12.5.30-cos6.build1205150826.19.x86_64 requires vixie-cron
libcurl-7.19.7-40.el6_6.4.i686 requires libssh2(x86-32) >= 1.4.2
plesk-core-12.5.30-cos6.build1205150826.19.x86_64 requires openssh-clients
php-5.4.45-51.el6.art.i686 requires httpd-mmn = 20051115
psa-mod_fcgid-2.3.9.1-centos6.15081418.x86_64 requires httpd
Error: The Yum utility failed to install the required packages.
Attention! Your software might be inoperable.
Please, contact product technical support.

So I did some minor trouble shooting by killing the processes, updating atomic, and even tryied to install by ssh, same issue. Is there a way I can install the Let's Encrypt zip file without an upgrade? (I tried the NAT Manager as well to bypass the upgrade) If not, anyone has any suggestions on how I can fix this issue to upgrade to 12.5.30?

 

[trialotto]

@Skillful Concept

The Let´s Encrypt extension only works in Plesk 12.5.30, not in older versions of Plesk.

Note that the LE extension is effectively in a "beta phase", given the status of the LE project and the fact that the extension only has it´s first release, with some known bugs.

It is not adviceable to use or test the LE extension in a production environment.

Your particular problem is one that is related to the upgrade of the Plesk panel.

One of the main issues is the current OS, being CentOS 6.

It is adviceable to upgrade to CentOS 7.x, given the fact that Plesk 12.5.30 packages for CentOS 6 can result in a myriad of related or other issues.

With an OS upgrade, you can still have the following:

- atomic related issues: there have been some issues with ModSecurity (WAF), but these should be resolved now (note that these issues can persist occassionally),
- php related issues

and so on.

An upgrade to CentOS 7.x will result in a better alignment of the OS and the desired Plesk version 12.5.30, but you should check the Plesk instance for errors afterwards.

After you have upgraded to CentOS 7.x, it will be (more) easy to upgrade to Plesk 12.5.30 AND to install the LE extension (for testing purposes).

Regards....

 

[trialotto]

@Skillful Concept

By the way, if you do not want to upgrade the OS, a work-around exists, with this work-around being (fairly abbreviated and simplified):

a) installing the letsencrypt binary (see the official documentation for hints),

b) run the letsencrypt command without the autoconfiguration option,

and that is all (except that a cron task definition would come in handy).

Regards.....

 

[Skillful Concept]

@trialotto

Thank you. To all that view this post, please back up everything on your server if you decide to follow this route. Just for my testing, I chose not to upgrade to CentOS 7 and Plesk 12.5. I downloaded the LetsEncrypt zip file from https://ext.plesk.com/. I unzipped and opened the meta.xml. I change the following:

From:
<plesk_min_version>12.5</plesk_min_version>

To:
<plesk_min_version>12</plesk_min_version> (Since 12 was the version of my choice, not for sure if this will for for older brands)

I zipped the file back up and logged back into Plesk and went back to the Server Tab and clicked on Extensions Tab ---> Add Extension
Added the new zip that I made with the change and clicked "ok". This seemed to have done the trick.

I opened the Lets Encrypt extension I noticed that the two websites that I requested for beta testing where in the list so that was a good sign. So I clicked on Website & Domains and added the SSL that I requested and all is working. I did see one error that was related, "Internal error. ERROR: Class 'pm_Log' not found (Executor.php:85)". After I refreshed the page, the error was gone. This beta testing so I assume that this will get fix down the line.

 

[trialotto]

@Skillful Concept

Nice! Compliments that you found this work-around.

In the past, I have suggested this work-around one or two times, since (in general) it does work.

However, you should be aware of the fact that this can (and often will) result in error notifications (of various nature): most of the times, you safely can ignore the notifications.

In short, be careful and keep an eye on your logs....

One reminder though: check thoroughly that

- your "old" CentOS system has all the required packages and/or resolves package dependencies properly, since that can become a PITA (pain-in-the-***), when using letsencrypt binary
- API versions (since your are using 12.0.18 AND the letsencrypt extension injects the certificate with API calls) do not interfere
- GUI for the letsencrypt extension is working properly (i.e. be aware that some GUI changes have been applied AND the letsencrypt extension is intended for the 12.5.30 GUI)

and some other minor checks should have been done.

If you ask me, it would be more easy to download, install and run the letsencrypt binary AND not using the extension: after all, the letsencrypt extension is simply running the letsencrypt binary and injecting the resulting certificates into Plesk API, in order to apply it to a domain.

One should imagine that there is a more easy method of applying the letsencrypt certificates (i.e. obtaining them and storing them into a directory, that´s all there is to it).

One final warning: I am not sure, but it can be the case that domain templates (for Apache and Nginx) will not be altered or altered properly, implying that it can be the case that the letsencrypt certificates are not activated for Nginx.

Regards.....

 

[Skillful Concept]

@trialotto

I forgot to mention that I installed the letsencrypt binaries as suggested before making this step a few days before. The GUI is working properly and no issues in the logs so far!

If I have any issues I will post to the forum. Thanks for your help and guidance in this process!

 

[trialotto]

@Skillful Concept,

Interesting, you stated:

I forgot to mention that I installed the letsencrypt binaries as suggested before making this step a few days before.

Do you mean that you have installed the letsencrypt binaries separately, before installing the plesk extension?

If so, I am rather curious whether the Plesk Letsencrypt extension interferes (i.e. overwrites) with the existing binaries and/or that the existing letsencrypt binaries are used.

If the previously installed letsencrypt binaries are being used, than it is good news:

1 - independent update of letsencrypt binaries is then possible (no need to update or re-install the Plesk Letsencrypt extension)
2 - the GUI from the Plesk Letsencrypt extension also works fine (or should work fine) for existing letsencrypt installations

and, in essence, point 2 (if true) is implying that a full backward compatibility (to Plesk 12.0.18) should be possible or easy to achieve (with some minor GUI changes).

Can you respond to the above? I would be much obliged.

Regards....