Dovecot fails to start on Plesk server: Fatal: Error in configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/14-plesk-sni-example.com.conf

Symptoms

• Dovecot service is unable to start with the following error message that can be found in /var/log/syslog:

CONFIG_TEXT: Nov 13 22:59:55 hostname systemd[1]: Starting Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server...
Nov 13 22:59:55 hostname dovecot[16857]: doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file /etc/dovecot/conf.d/14-plesk-sni-example.com.conf line 7: ssl_cert: Can't open file /opt/psa/var/certificates/scfXrWfUa: No such file or directory
Nov 13 22:59:55 hostname systemd[1]: dovecot.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=89/n/a
Nov 13 22:59:55 hostname systemd[1]: dovecot.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Nov 13 22:59:55 hostname systemd[1]: Failed to start Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server.

Cause

The certificate file name in Dovecot configuration differs from the actual certificate file configured for the domain in the Plesk psa database:

# plesk db "select ca_file from certificates where name like '%example%';"
+-----------+
| ca_file |
+-----------+
| scfOagbej |
+-----------+

Resolution

1. Connect to a Plesk server via SSH.

2. Open the file from the error /etc/dovecot/conf.d/14-plesk-sni-example.com.conf in a text editor. In this example, we are using the vi editor with the command:

   # vi /etc/dovecot/conf.d/14-plesk-sni-example.com.conf

3. Modify the line that identifies the certificate file to match the one from the Plesk psa database:

   CONFIG_TEXT: /opt/psa/var/certificates/scfOagbej

4. Save the file and restart the dovecot service:

   # systemctl restart dovecot