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 Plesk license fails to update: what to do?

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Alexander Davydov
Updated
kb: technical ABT: Group B

Symptoms

  • The product license fails to update. The following errors may occur:

    PLESK_ERROR: Licensing Server Unreachable: Unable to connect with licensing server.
    Please make sure that your network allows communication to ka.plesk.com:5224.
    For more details check system help pages.

    PLESK_ERROR: Couldn't resolve host name

    PLESK_ERROR: Can't connect to ka.plesk.com:5224 (Timeout)

    PLESK_ERROR: Could not update the license. Make sure that connections to the license server ka.plesk.com on TCP port 5224/443 are not blocked. See how to do so.

  • The curl ka.plesk.com:443 command fails with one of the following errors in /var/log/plesk/panel.log:

    # cURL cannot communicate with license server https://id-X2.kaid.plesk.com:443/ (): Couldn't resolve host name(6)

    # cURL cannot communicate with license server https://id-X2.kaid.plesk.com:443/ (195.214.233.80): Timeout was reached(28)

    # cURL cannot communicate with license server https://id-X2.kaid.plesk.com:443/ (195.214.233.80): Couldn't connect to server(7)

Cause

Plesk tries to connect to the license server ka.plesk.com on TCP ports 5224 or 443 to update the license, but cannot establish a connection.

Since February 5, 2018, ka.plesk.com hostname will be resolved into 3 different IP addresses based on round-robin logic:

CONFIG_TEXT: 195.214.233.80 (old one)
195.214.233.81 (new)
195.214.233.82 (new)

Additionally, since the same date, the Key Administrator will accept connections from Plesk on two ports :

CONFIG_TEXT: 5224 (an old one, non-standard port)
443 (new, default HTTPS port)

Resolution

  1. Check whether ka.plesk.com resolves to one of the proper IP addresses:

    # nslookup ka.plesk.com
    Non-authoritative answer:
    Name: ka.plesk.com
    Address: 195.214.233.80

    If not, check that the /etc/hosts file (for Linux) or C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file has no records with ka.plesk.com.
    Specify one of the IP addresses for ka.plesk.com there, e.g.:

    CONFIG_TEXT: 195.214.233.81 ka.plesk.com

  2. Use the following command to check the connectivity:

    # telnet ka.plesk.com 443

    In case a connection is successful, the output is as follows:

    # telnet ka.plesk.com 443
    Trying 195.214.233.81...
    Connected to ka.plesk.com.
    Escape character is '^]'.
    ^]

    Note: Telnet client should be installed additionally for Windows.

    If ka.plesk.com resolves to the right IP address, but the connection still fails, check whether outgoing connections are blocked by firewall.
    Check the DNS resolver configuration.

  3. As a temporary workaround, upload a file with the license to the server and install it from a command line (command is applicable for both Windows and Linux):

    # plesk bin license -i path_to_license_file

Comments

3 comments

Sort by Date Votes
  • Avatar
    ladyben

    I need to update log file per alert message.   Just fishing around to get the right place

     

    NOT IMPRESSED WITH PLESK AT THIS POINT

    -2
  • Avatar
    Pastor, Daniel Baker

    Give them a Chance they got a lot going on I felt that way but they changed my life over time and my business and Ministry Trust me when I say "Second Chances work hope that Helps" 

     

    0
  • Avatar
    Mohammed Mohsin

    We are about to renew our Plesk web hosting license for 178.20.144.166, it is giving that it will renew automatically but we need to renew it now, it is about to expire on 11feb 2024, and we don’t want any interruption, kindly advice how to renew manually or check from your side to renew it.

    0

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