Zabbix server wont start. Can't create pid file.

[phoeneous]

New install of Zabbix 2.0.4 on CentOS 6.3 from yum packages (epel repo). All seemed to be working well until I had to reboot the server. Now the zabbix-server daemon wont start, I assume because zabbix_server.pid cannot be created for whatever reason.

[root@server zabbix]#service zabbix-server start
Starting Zabbix server:[ OK zabbix_server [3108]: cannot open [/var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log]: [13] Permission denied

From the log file /var/log/zabbix_server.log

zabbix_server [2959]: cannot create PID file [/var/run/zabbix/zabbix_server.pid]: [13] Permission denied

[root@server zabbix]# pwd
/var/run/zabbix
[root@server zabbix]# ls -la
total 12
drwxrwxr-x. 2 zabbix zabbix 4096 Jan 26 05:16 .
drwxr-xr-x. 32 root root 4096 Jan 26 05:16 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 zabbix zabbix 4 Jan 26 05:16 zabbix_agentd.pid
[root@server zabbix]#


[root@server zabbix]# pwd
/var/log/zabbix
[root@server zabbix]# ls -la
total 72
drwxrwxr-x. 2 zabbix zabbix 4096 Dec 8 05:40 .
drwxr-xr-x. 15 root root 4096 Jan 26 05:16 ..
-rwxrwxrwx 1 zabbix zabbix 4322 Jan 26 05:16 zabbix_agentd.log
-rw-rw-r--. 1 zabbix zabbix 51870 Jan 26 05:41 zabbix_server.log
[root@server zabbix]#


[root@server zabbix]# ps -A | grep zabbix
2145 ? 00:00:00 zabbix_agentd
2156 ? 00:00:00 zabbix_agentd
2157 ? 00:00:00 zabbix_agentd
2158 ? 00:00:00 zabbix_agentd
2159 ? 00:00:00 zabbix_agentd
2160 ? 00:00:00 zabbix_agentd
[root@server zabbix]#

From /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf

### Option: PidFile
# Name of PID file.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Default:
PidFile=/var/run/zabbix/zabbix_server.pid

[Fullmetal8ender]

zabbix say "cannot open /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log"
and you read /var/log/zabbix_server.log.
They're not the same!
If zabbix cannot open file, it would not be able to write error in this file, so i think the reason is in /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log permission.

Why server name is different in
[root@server zabbix]# pwd
and
[root@gjlsrvlvsnmp1 zabbix]# ls -la ?
Is it 1 server "server" or two servers "server" and "gjlsrvlvsnmp1"?

Check "Option: LogFile" in zabbix_server.conf and permission once again.

Maybe file is open and blocked in other program? Try to move it.

ЗЫ sorry for my bad English

[f.koch]

do you install zabbix from the epel repo?

if you do, run these commands and try starting again

chown root:zabbixsrv /var/run/zabbix/zabbix_server.pid
chown root:zabbixsrv /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log

[phoeneous]

zabbix say "cannot open /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log"
and you read /var/log/zabbix_server.log.
They're not the same!
If zabbix cannot open file, it would not be able to write error in this file, so i think the reason is in /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log permission.

I know theyre not the same, it was a typo.

I posted both /var/run/zabbix and /var/log/zabbix from same server.

[phoeneous]

do you install zabbix from the epel repo?

if you do, run these commands and try starting again

chown root:zabbixsrv /var/run/zabbix/zabbix_server.pid
chown root:zabbixsrv /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log

Yes, from epel repo. I will try this suggestion.

Is the group zabbixsrv supposed to already exist? I didn't see anywhere in documentation to create it.


EDIT

I ran:

chown root:zabbixsrv /var/run/zabbix/zabbix_server.pid
chown root:zabbixsrv /var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log

And still get:

[root@server zabbix]#service zabbix-server start
Starting Zabbix server:[ OK zabbix_server [2549]: cannot open [/var/log/zabbix/zabbix_server.log]: [13] Permission denied

[f.koch]

can you show

 ls -l /var/log

and

 egrep zabbixsrv /etc/group

[phoeneous]

can you show

 ls -l /var/log

and

 egrep zabbixsrv /etc/group

See below.

[root@server /]# ls -la var/log
total 2200
drwxr-xr-x. 15 root root 4096 Jan 26 10:52 .
drwxr-xr-x. 22 root root 4096 Jan 24 10:11 ..
-rw-------. 1 root root 5467 Jan 24 10:16 anaconda.ifcfg.log
-rw-------. 1 root root 22670 Jan 24 10:16 anaconda.log
-rw-------. 1 root root 99455 Jan 24 10:16 anaconda.program.log
-rw-------. 1 root root 236855 Jan 24 10:16 anaconda.storage.log
-rw-------. 1 root root 80665 Jan 24 10:16 anaconda.syslog
-rw-------. 1 root root 27431 Jan 24 10:16 anaconda.xlog
-rw-------. 1 root root 113387 Jan 24 10:16 anaconda.yum.log
drwxr-x---. 2 root root 4096 Jan 25 14:43 audit
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3011 Jan 26 10:52 boot.log
-rw-------. 1 root utmp 1920 Jan 26 04:44 btmp
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Jan 24 10:31 ConsoleKit
-rw-------. 1 root root 44840 Jan 26 12:40 cron
drwxr-xr-x. 2 lp sys 4096 Nov 20 16:09 cups
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 43462 Jan 26 10:51 dmesg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 43462 Jan 26 05:16 dmesg.old
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 229707 Jan 24 11:34 dracut.log
drwxrwx--T. 2 root gdm 4096 Jan 26 10:52 gdm
drwx------. 2 root root 4096 Jan 24 12:02 httpd
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 145708 Jan 26 10:56 lastlog
-rw-------. 1 root root 4595 Jan 26 10:52 maillog
-rw-------. 1 root root 803359 Jan 26 12:01 messages
-rw-r-----. 1 mysql mysql 29292 Jan 26 10:52 mysqld.log
drwxr-xr-x. 2 ntp ntp 4096 Nov 28 2011 ntpstats
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 89 Jan 26 10:52 pm-powersave.log
drwx------. 2 root root 4096 Aug 22 2010 ppp
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Jan 24 11:10 prelink
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Jan 26 00:00 sa
drwx------. 3 root root 4096 Jan 24 10:05 samba
-rw-------. 1 root root 46024 Jan 26 11:00 secure
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Dec 7 2011 spice-vdagentd
-rw-------. 1 root root 0 Jan 24 10:05 spooler
drwxr-x---. 2 root root 4096 Jun 22 2012 sssd
-rw-------. 1 root root 0 Jan 24 09:59 tallylog
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 0 Jan 24 10:18 wpa_supplicant.log
-rw-rw-r--. 1 root utmp 72960 Jan 26 10:56 wtmp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 38666 Jan 26 10:52 Xorg.0.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 40581 Jan 26 10:51 Xorg.0.log.old
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 60315 Jan 25 15:07 Xorg.1.log
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 26663 Jan 24 10:29 Xorg.9.log
-rw-------. 1 root root 12291 Jan 26 04:50 yum.log
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root zabbixsrv 4096 Dec 8 05:40 zabbix

[root@server /]# egrep zabbixsrv /etc/group
zabbixsrv:x:502:root,zabbix
[root@server /]#

[f.koch]

ok please

ls -l /var/log/zabbix

sestatus

[phoeneous]

ok please

ls -l /var/log/zabbix

sestatus

See below. I disabled selinux earlier during my troubleshooting.

[root@server /]# ls -la /var/log/zabbix
total 72
drwxrwxr-x. 2 root zabbixsrv 4096 Dec 8 05:40 .
drwxr-xr-x. 15 root root 4096 Jan 26 10:52 ..
-rwxrwxrwx 1 root zabbixsrv 5424 Jan 26 10:52 zabbix_agentd.log
-rw-rw-r--. 1 root zabbixsrv 51870 Jan 26 05:41 zabbix_server.log

[root@server /]# sestatus
SELinux status: disabled

Also just noticed this:

[zabbix@server /]$ ./etc/init.d/zabbix-server start
Starting Zabbix server: runuser: cannot set groups: Operation not permitted
[FAILED]

[f.koch]

have you modified the permissions of /var/log after the installation , except my chown suggestion?

[zabbix@server /]$ ./etc/init.d/zabbix-server start
Starting Zabbix server: runuser: cannot set groups: Operation not permitted
[FAILED]

you are not root

ok and my chown suggestion is not correct, sorry, the correct one is

chown -R zabbix:zabbix /var/log/zabbix
chown -R zabbix:zabbix /var/run/zabbix
chmod -R 775 /var/log/zabbix/
chmod -R 775 /var/run/zabbix/

and try to remove zabbix-server, and install again

[phoeneous]

have you modified the permissions of /var/log after the installation , except my chown suggestion?



you are not root

ok and my chown suggestion is not correct, sorry, the correct one is

chown -R zabbix:zabbix /var/log/zabbix
chown -R zabbix:zabbix /var/run/zabbix
chmod -R 775 /var/log/zabbix/
chmod -R 775 /var/run/zabbix/

and try to remove zabbix-server, and install again

Before your suggestions, I only made chown changes to fping per the manual.

Should I only remove zabbix-server related packages or all of these?

zabbix20.x86_64 2.0.4-1.el6 @epel
zabbix20-agent.x86_64 2.0.4-1.el6 @epel
zabbix20-server.x86_64
zabbix20-server-mysql.x86_64
zabbix20-web.noarch 2.0.4-1.el6 @epel
zabbix20-web-mysql.noarch

[f.koch]

you can remove all

[phoeneous]

I ended up removing all zabbix packages, deleting every directory and file related to zabbix, dropping zabbix database, then starting from scratch...

Thanks for your help though.

[DanielB]

I ended up removing all zabbix packages, deleting every directory and file related to zabbix, dropping zabbix database, then starting from scratch...

Thanks for your help though.

Sorry for re-open an old thread, but if anyone have this issue, this is the solution:

I have had the same problem than you. I have updated and after reboot zabbix-server didn't start. The problem is SELinux, so you have 2 options:

1- Put SELinux in "Permissive" mode using setenforce 0 (only for running state) or edit the /etc/selinux/config and change the mode from enforcing to permissive (persists after reboots).
2- Use sealert in /var/log/audit/audit.log or /var/log/messages and check the way to fix it (the same tool let you know how to fix it).

In my case i set selinux in permissive mode (because is a lab environment) and everything works fine now.