New Install of Zabbix 4.0.4 but zabbix-server is not starting

[chaneysj]

After installing Zabbix 4.0.4 today. I issued the "systemctl start zabbix-server" command and a systemctl -l status zabbix-server to see these results:

● zabbix-server.service - Zabbix Server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/zabbix-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: active (running) since Thu 2019-02-21 16:53:17 EST; 46s ago
Process: 13430 ExecStop=/bin/kill -SIGTERM $MAINPID (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Process: 13433 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/zabbix_server -c $CONFFILE (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Main PID: 13435 (zabbix_server)
CGroup: /system.slice/zabbix-server.service
├─13435 /usr/sbin/zabbix_server -c /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf
└─13458 /usr/sbin/zabbix_server: poller #3 [connecting to the database

Feb 21 16:53:17 ####x33.XXXX.nasa.gov systemd[1]: Starting Zabbix Server...
Feb 21 16:53:17 ####x33.XXXX.nasa.gov systemd[1]: PID file /run/zabbix/zabbix_server.pid not readable (yet?) after start.
Feb 21 16:53:17 ####x33.XXXX.nasa.gov systemd[1]: Started Zabbix Server.

This is related to the /usr/lib/systemd/system/zabbix-server.service, see below.
[Unit]
Description=Zabbix Server
After=syslog.target
After=network.target

[Service]
Environment="CONFFILE=/etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf"
EnvironmentFile=-/etc/sysconfig/zabbix-server
Type=forking
Restart=on-failure
PIDFile=/run/zabbix/zabbix_server.pid
KillMode=control-group
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/zabbix_server -c $CONFFILE
ExecStop=/bin/kill -SIGTERM $MAINPID
RestartSec=10s
TimeoutSec=0

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

The line "ExecStop=/bin/kill -SIGTERM $MAINPID" is not correct as $MAINPID does not get defined and the systemctl complains like this.
Feb 21 16:53:17 ####x33.XXXX.nasa.gov systemd[1]: Starting Zabbix Server...
Feb 21 16:53:17 ####x33.XXXX.nasa.gov systemd[1]: PID file /run/zabbix/zabbix_server.pid not readable (yet?) after start.

Here are the zabbix-server proccesses trying to start:

ps -ef | grep zabb
zabbix 7178 1 0 16:30 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/zabbix_agentd -c /etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
zabbix 7179 7178 0 16:30 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/zabbix_agentd: collector [idle 1 sec]
zabbix 7180 7178 0 16:30 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/zabbix_agentd: listener #1 [waiting for connection]
zabbix 7181 7178 0 16:30 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/zabbix_agentd: listener #2 [waiting for connection]
zabbix 7182 7178 0 16:30 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/zabbix_agentd: listener #3 [waiting for connection]
zabbix 13435 1 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/zabbix_server -c /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf
zabbix 13458 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/zabbix_server: poller #3 [connecting to the database]
zabbix 13459 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13460 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13461 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13462 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13463 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13464 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13465 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13466 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13467 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13469 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13470 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13471 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
zabbix 13472 13435 0 16:53 ? 00:00:00 [zabbix_server] <defunct>
root 13621 6315 0 17:07 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto zabb

What is needed is a better systemctl script for zabbix-server or just start it in init.d.
Has anyone else resolved this issue? This appears to be a bug in the zabbix-server.service script.

[LenR]

Is selinux enabled?

Similar questions have been asked before. Search the logs, one topic seems to be the pid file in systemctl isn't the same as in zabbix_server.conf

[chaneysj]

If you are having the same issue with zabbix-server.service failing to start. Look at https://www.itzgeek.com/how-tos/linu...-debian-8.html as this fixed it for me.