Symptoms
The PHP FPM service can not start:
systemctl status php5-fpm.service
...
ERROR: [pool example.com] cannot get uid for user 'john.doe'
ERROR: FPM initialization failed
php5-fpm.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=78/n/a
Failed to start The PHP FastCGI Process Manager.
Unit php5-fpm.service entered failed state.
Cause
The required system user is missing, because php-fpm
pool was not updated properly.
Resolution
-
Re-generate PHP settings for the domain mentioned in the error message by navigating to Domains > example.com > PHP Settings and click on OK
Note: If the domain has "No web hosting" type, change the domain's hosting type to "Website" and specify username
john.doe
from the error message.
To re-generate PHP settings of all domains
-
Connect to the server using SSH
-
Run this command:
# /usr/local/psa/bin/php_settings -u
To decrease risk of the issue re-occuring in future, consider switching the most critical domains to Dedicated FPM.