I upgraded my Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to 16.04.1 LTS and now I have a problem with my postgrey installation. When I (re)boot the server, the postgrey startup script is apparently called but postgrey does not launch correctly. Only after manually restarting the service is postgrey working correctly.
In more detail: After reboot the following lines appear in my syslog:
Dec 1 19:22:14 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Start/stop the postgrey daemon... Dec 1 19:22:14 postgrey[998]: * Starting postfix greylisting daemon postgrey Dec 1 19:22:15 postgrey[1050]: Process Backgrounded Dec 1 19:22:15 postgrey[1050]: 2016/12/01-19:22:15 postgrey (type Net::Server::Multiplex) starting! pid(1050) Dec 1 19:22:15 postgrey[998]: ...done. Dec 1 19:22:15 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Start/stop the postgrey daemon. When I then ps for postgrey, no process is found. However, a simple sudo systemctl restart postgrey makes it run properly. The launch is documented in syslog as follows:
Dec 1 19:25:54 systemd[1]: Stopping LSB: Start/stop the postgrey daemon... Dec 1 19:25:54 postgrey[1878]: * Stopping postfix greylisting daemon postgrey Dec 1 19:25:54 systemd[1]: postgrey.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=1 Dec 1 19:25:54 systemd[1]: Stopped LSB: Start/stop the postgrey daemon. Dec 1 19:25:54 systemd[1]: postgrey.service: Unit entered failed state. Dec 1 19:25:54 systemd[1]: postgrey.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. Dec 1 19:25:54 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: Start/stop the postgrey daemon... Dec 1 19:25:54 postgrey[1886]: * Starting postfix greylisting daemon postgrey Dec 1 19:25:54 postgrey[1886]: Pid_file "/var/run/postgrey.pid" already exists. Overwriting! Dec 1 19:25:54 postgrey[1893]: Process Backgrounded Dec 1 19:25:54 postgrey[1893]: 2016/12/01-19:25:54 postgrey (type Net::Server::Multiplex) starting! pid(1893) Dec 1 19:25:54 postgrey[1886]: ...done. Dec 1 19:25:54 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Start/stop the postgrey daemon. Dec 1 19:25:54 postgrey[1893]: Resolved [localhost]:10023 to [::1]:10023, IPv6 Dec 1 19:25:54 postgrey[1893]: Resolved [localhost]:10023 to [127.0.0.1]:10023, IPv4 Dec 1 19:25:55 postgrey[1893]: Binding to TCP port 10023 on host ::1 with IPv6 Dec 1 19:25:55 postgrey[1893]: Binding to TCP port 10023 on host 127.0.0.1 with IPv4 Dec 1 19:25:55 postgrey[1893]: Setting gid to "120 120" Dec 1 19:25:55 postgrey[1893]: Setting uid to "112" As you can see, this time postgrey documents its binding to the correct port. When I look through my ps output now, I can see the working process there. My question is: Why does the process not launch correctly when it is called at boot time? How can I pinpoint the error? I could not find any hints on what causes the error, so any advise regarding that might help me, too. Since it used to work in 14.04 and stopped working in 16.04, maybe it is related to upstart vs. systemd?
2 Answers
The postgrey project does not include in a systemd "service unit" file, nor does the Ubuntu package for it. The service is instead loaded by a shim that allows systemd to manage services that use the older sysv "init" scripts. This is supposed to work, but adds an extra layer of indirection and complication. I recommend you try putting the following in /etc/systemd/system/postgrey.service:
[Unit] Description=Postfix Greylisting Service Before=postfix.service [Service] Type=forking ExecStartPre=-/bin/rm -f /var/run/postgrey.pid PIDFile=/var/run/postgrey.pid ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/postgrey --inet=10025 -d --delay=150 --pidfile=/var/run/postgrey.pid Restart=always RestartSec=1 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target Then disable the sysv init versions from being run:
update-rc.d -f postgrey remove You'll need to enable the new systemd service to start at boot:
systemctl enable postgrey Now try again to start the service using systemd:
systemctl start postgrey If it still fails to start. Check the specific log for this service, journalctl -u postgrey and also the general systemd journal: journalctl.
I also recommend submitting a patch to postgrey project to add a systemctl unit file to their contrib directory so in the future an official systemd service file will be used to start the service on systemd-based systems and a shim layer will not be required.
I had a very similar issue on an IPV6 disabled Ubuntu 16 system, and it was related to postgrey's failed IPV6 binding on port 10025.
I fixed it by editing /etc/default/postgrey and changed the --inet parameter to:
--inet=127.0.0.1:10025 Of course a better solution would be to let systemd handle it like described in the first answer, and set the --inet parameter in the ExecStart= line to 127.0.0.1:10025
There was no trace in the logs, until I've run postgrey binary in console and saw the following:
ERROR: Can't connect to TCP port 10025 on ::1 [Cannot assign requested address] at /usr/sbin/postgrey line 776. 
