Configuration changes for mail server are not applied in Plesk because of empty mail authorization database

Symptoms

Mail server does not work on the Plesk server with one/several or the following symptoms: 

• Unable to send/receive messages.
• mail_auth_view utility does not show any mail accounts.
• SPF checking of incoming emails is not triggered.
• greylisting is still applied even if it is disabled for a domain
• any mailbox settings are not getting applied

Cause

Mail authorization database is empty and/or mail server misconfiguration. 

Resolution

It is possible to use plesk repair utility in order to re-create mail users and configs. It is possible to perform this action via Plesk interface and via SSH/RDP.

Using Plesk interface

If you don't have SSH/RDP access to the server, execute the commands below in Plesk > Tools & Settings > Scheduled Tasks > Add New - Run Now

For Plesk 12.5 and Onyx: 

CONFIG_TEXT: /sbin/plesk repair mail

For Plesk 10.x, 11.x and 12.0:

CONFIG_TEXT: /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/mchk

Using SSH/RDP connection

Connect to the server using SSH or RDP and execute the commands below: 

For Plesk Onyx/12.5

CONFIG_TEXT: plesk repair mail

Note: All the accounts on Windows created not through Plesk interface will be removed. Additional information can be found below. 

For Plesk 12.0, 11.x and 10.x

Use the mchk utility in order to repair/rebuild the mail server configuration and to restore the settings for all mailboxes created in Plesk.

For Linux:

# /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/mchk --help
Restore settings for all mailboxes.
Usage: /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/mchk [OPTION]

OPTIONS:
--without-spam restore all settings except for SpamAssassin configuration
--with-spam restore all settings
--spam-only restore only SpamAssassin settings

Usage example:

# /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/mchk --with-spam

For Windows:

Warning: Only the settings that were applied to mailboxes through the Plesk interface or command-line utilities will be restored by mchk . Any custom configuration options applied by other means (e.g., through your mail server's configuration console) will be lost. Since Plesk 12.5, option --not-sync-password is available. For more details, please read the What does mchk command do article.

C:\>"%plesk_bin%\\mchk" --help
usage: mchk [options] ...

--all [--fix=all|local] [--not-sync-password]
--domain --domain-name= [--fix=local] [--not-sync-password]
--domains --domain-names=<dom1[;dom2;...]>| [--via-file] [--fix=local] [--not-sync-password]
--all-domains [--fix=local] [--not-sync-password]
--mailbox --domain-name= --mail-name= [--not-sync-password] --global-settings
--normalize-disabled-domains

Usage example:

C:\>"%plesk_bin%\\mchk" --all --not-sync-password