RoundCube webmail is not accessible on Plesk: DATABASE ERROR: CONNECTION FAILED

Anastasia Zyrianova

Updated September 23, 2022 16:07

Plesk for Linux kb: technical ABT: Group B

Applicable to:

Plesk for Linux

Symptoms

RoundCube webmail page is not accessible. The following error message is displayed:

PLESK_INFO: DATABASE ERROR: CONNECTION FAILED
DB Error: SQLSTATE[28000] [1045] Access denied for user 'roundcube'@'localhost' (using password: YES) (GET /roundcube/index.php)

PLESK_INFO: DATABASE ERROR: CONNECTION FAILED! Unable to connect to the database! Please contact your server administrator.

The same error may be shown in the log file /var/log/plesk-roundcube/errors
The following MySQL request shows the empty output:

MYSQL_LIN: mysql> select * from mysql.user where user='roundcube';
The following error occurs in a log /var/log/plesk/install/autoinstaller3.log during a Plesk upgrade:

CONFIG_TEXT: Trying to upgrade Roundcube Web Based mail client configs and DB from '1.2.7' to '1.3.6'... Executing database schema update.
ERROR: SQLSTATE[28000] [1045] Access denied for user 'roundcube'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
Error 500: Error connecting to database: SQLSTATE[28000] [1045] Access denied for user 'roundcube'@'localhost' (using password: NO)

Cause

MySQL roundcube user is either absent or has an invalid password or has not sufficient permissions.

Resolution

Click on a section to expand

Using Plesk interface

Log into Plesk.
Go to Tools & Settings > Updates.
Remove the component Roundcube and then install it again.

Using SSH connection

Note: The solution may be a bit complex. Contact server's administrator or hosting support if required.

Connect to the server via SSH.
Create Plesk database backup, for example:

# plesk db dump > backup.sql
Depending on the RoundCube version, check the database password in /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/config.inc.php or /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/db.inc.php:

# cat /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/config.inc.php
$config['db_dsnw'] = 'mysqli://roundcube:password@localhost/roundcubemail';
Copy the password;
Enter Plesk database:

# plesk db
Make sure that 'roundcubemail' database exists:

MYSQL_LIN: mysql> show databases like "%roundcube%";
+------------------------+
| Database (%roundcube%) |
+------------------------+
| roundcubemail |
+------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

If the database is missing, go back to the first solution via Plesk user interface and reinstall (remove/install) RoundCube component. If the database is present continue this guide.
Check whether the roundcube user is present. Empty output means that the user is absent:

MYSQL_LIN: mysql> use mysql;
mysql> select * from user where user='roundcube';
Create user and assign a password:

Note: If the user exists already, it is only needed to generate the password. There is no need for the CREATE USER sentence

For MySQL 5.0/5.1/5.5/5.6 and MariaDB 10.1

MYSQL_LIN: mysql> CREATE USER 'roundcube'@'localhost';
mysql> update user set password=password('<password_from_config.inc.php>') where user ='roundcube';

For MySQL 5.7

MYSQL_LIN: mysql> CREATE USER 'roundcube'@'localhost';
mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'roundcube'@'localhost' = '<password_from_config.inc.php>';

For MariaDB 10.5+

MYSQL_LIN: MariaDB [mysql]> CREATE USER 'roundcube'@'localhost';
MariaDB [mysql]> SET PASSWORD FOR 'roundcube'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('<password_from_config.inc.php>');

If the ERROR 1372 (HY000): Password hash should be a 41-digit hexadecimal number error occurs while trying to set the password for the roundcube user, it's needed to first encrypt the password obtained on step 3 with: select password('<password_from_config.inc.php>');, then use this output which is hexa and 41 long to set the password on step 8.
Grant the necessary privileges:

MYSQL_LIN: mysql> GRANT USAGE ON roundcubemail.* TO 'roundcube'@'localhost';
mysql> GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER ON roundcubemail.* TO 'roundcube'@'localhost';
mysql> flush privileges;

Note: if "Can't find any matching row in the user table" error appears when running Grant command, use command without the host:

MYSQL_LIN: mysql> GRANT USAGE ON roundcubemail.* TO 'roundcube';
mysql> GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER ON roundcubemail.* TO 'roundcube';
mysql> flush privileges;

Comments

9 comments

Micha Rozenhart May 08, 2018 17:49

So after the update of about a week ago, my Roundcube on a fully upgrade Plesk Onyx on Ubuntu started showing an empty Inbox.
After the latest update I hoped that would be fixed (but it wasn't).

I've removed Roundcube and reinstalled it: still empty Inboxes.
I then removed it again and noticed an error about /usr/lib/psa-roundcube folder not being removed because it wasn't empty.
I then manually deleted the folder and reinstalled, which cause the database connection error mentioned in this article.

I checked that the user was there and did everything is step 6.
On Step 7 I keep getting an error that the roundcube database doesn't exist (and I've re-installed Roundcube multiple times and it always results in a message that the install was successful).

I hope there's a fix for this, because I really dislike Horde.. :(

Server details:
OS: ‪Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS‬
Product: Plesk Onyx - Web pro edition
Version 17.8.11 Update #7, last updated on May 8, 2018 07:28 PM

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Lars-Erik H.Bergland June 21, 2018 07:50

Step 6 refers to setting priveliges on roundcubemail which I have, but 7 refers to testing if roundcube exits, which I dont have. Does roundcube use 2 databases?

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Ivan Postnikov June 22, 2018 21:01

Hello @Lars-Erik H.Bergland,

RoundCube uses one database. Step 6 is for creating the database user. Step 7 is for recreating RoundCube database in case it does not exist.

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Edwin C October 14, 2019 12:11 (Edited October 14, 2019 12:33)

For me after the system update the file /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/config.inc.php was renamed to config.inc.php.dpkg-old and replaced with new file which had empty password. I copied the password from config.inc.php.dpkg-old and pasted it in new file.

Also ran /usr/share/psa-roundcube/bin/update.sh to complete the roundcube update.

1

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Ivan Postnikov October 14, 2019 13:19 (Edited October 14, 2019 13:19)

Hello @Edwin C,

Thank you for sharing your user experience.

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Tushar Bhagat August 09, 2020 12:58

I have tried that, but it's not working for me. Apparently I have to tables in my database

show databases like "%roundcube%";

+------------------------+

| Database (%roundcube%) |

+------------------------+

| roundcube |

| roundcubemail |

+------------------------+

2 rows in set (0.000 sec)

I have imported a dump of my previous mySQL db. How can I resolve this?

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Anzhelika Khapaknysh August 13, 2020 06:33

@Tushar Bhagat,

The issue may be caused by various reasons.
I'd recommend contacting our Support Team directly, so they may investigate your particular case thoroughly.

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Tushar Bhagat August 19, 2020 15:58

I changed the user name and password to a known working set in /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/config.inc.php and voila :)

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Christian January 05, 2021 18:35
I could solve my problem for roundcube database connection error via same solution, but only by reading the configured password manually and then set it in mysql:
1. nano /usr/share/psa-roundcube/config/config.inc.php and look for the password before "@localhost"
2. plesk db to go to mysql
3. update user set password=PASSWORD('READ_FROM_STEP1') where user ='roundcube';
4. flush privileges;
done. could then enter webmail.DOMAIN.com.

It did not work with the provided solution above, despite I did not get any error!
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