FIX: Automated ISPConfig 3 Installation - [WARN] dovecot seems not to be running!

Hello Community,
Thank you for posting the amazing script Perfect Server Automated ISPConfig 3 Installation on Debian 10 and Ubuntu 20.04^
Once I finished the setup I only had one problem - the dovecot would not start.

Code:

[INFO] dovecot: FAILED
[WARN] dovecot seems not to be running! (/lib/os/class.ISPConfigDebianOS.inc.php:1364)

In my case this error occurred because I force disabled IPv6:
nano /etc/sysctl.d/60-custom.conf

Code:

net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.eth0.disable_ipv6 = 1

sudo sysctl -p
sudo systemctl restart procps
source: https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/disable-ipv6-on-ubuntu
If you do #systemctl status dovecot
It's actually quite obvious what's happening:

Code:

# systemctl status dovecot
● dovecot.service - Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dovecot.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2021-04-27 00:57:26 UTC; 5min ago
       Docs: man:dovecot(1)
             http://wiki2.dovecot.org/
    Process: 200506 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/dovecot -F (code=exited, status=89)
   Main PID: 200506 (code=exited, status=89)

Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 dovecot[200506]: Error: service(imap-login): listen([::], 143) failed: Address family not supported by protocol
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 dovecot[200506]: master: Error: service(imap-login): listen([::], 143) failed: Address family not supported by protocol
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 dovecot[200506]: Error: socket() failed: Address family not supported by protocol
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 dovecot[200506]: Error: service(imap-login): listen([::], 993) failed: Address family not supported by protocol
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 dovecot[200506]: Fatal: Failed to start listeners
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 dovecot[200506]: master: Error: socket() failed: Address family not supported by protocol
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 dovecot[200506]: master: Error: service(imap-login): listen([::], 993) failed: Address family not supported by protocol
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 dovecot[200506]: master: Fatal: Failed to start listeners
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 systemd[1]: dovecot.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=89/n/a
Apr 27 00:57:26 server1 systemd[1]: dovecot.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

The fix is to disable listening on IPv6 address:
nano /usr/local/ispconfig/server/conf-custom/install/dovecot_custom.conf.master
add one line:

Code:

listen = *

afterwards run:
ispconfig_update.sh --force
Credit goes to: @Etcetera (see last post)
Old method (does not survive ISPConfig upgrade) - not recommended:
# nano /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
Change line:

Code:

listen = *,[::]

To the following:

Code:

listen = *

Save and quit
Now start dovecot again:
# systemctl start dovecot
And check the status:
# systemctl status dovecot
Dovecot now works fine:

Code:

# systemctl status dovecot
● dovecot.service - Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dovecot.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2021-04-27 01:04:36 UTC; 2s ago
       Docs: man:dovecot(1)
             http://wiki2.dovecot.org/
   Main PID: 333013 (dovecot)
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 2286)
     Memory: 3.7M
     CGroup: /system.slice/dovecot.service
             ├─333013 /usr/sbin/dovecot -F
             ├─333030 dovecot/anvil
             ├─333031 dovecot/log
             └─333032 dovecot/config

Edit1: Updated method to disable IPv6 on Ubuntu 22.04
Edit2: Added to OP better method by Etcetera

 

Because I don't need it and and couple of ipv6bingo scenarios actually apply for me.

 

@curiousadmin, thanks, this just helped me after a failed attempt of setting up a new server with the automated script.
Just one addition: by creating a new file /usr/local/ispconfig/server/conf-custom/install/dovecot_custom.conf.master with just the one line

Code:

listen = *

and then running
# ispconfig_update.sh --force
the entry in /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf is overridden, and this survives ISPConfig updates.