sw-cp-server dead after enabling Plesk Firewall on Ubuntu 18 or Debian 9

Symptoms

• Server is running on Ubuntu 18 or Debian 9

• After enabling or adjusting Plesk Firewall under Tools & Settings > Firewall > Enable Firewall Rules Management, the sw-cp-server service is marked as inactive(dead):

  # systemctl status sw-cp-server
  ● sw-cp-server.service - Startup script for Plesk control panel server
  Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/sw-cp-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
  Active: inactive (dead) since Tue 2019-01-22 14:06:28 CET; 7s ago
  Main PID: 25640 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Cause

A bug in Plesk with id #PPPM-9966 which is planned to be fixed in future updates.

Note: Consider subscribing to this article in order to get notified when the fix is released or check for the ID in our changelog

Resolution

As a workaround, follow these steps:

1. Log in to Plesk

2. Go to Tools & Settings > Firewall

3. Enable Firewall Rules Management

4. Connect to the server via SSH

5. Run the following commands:

   # pkill sw-cp-server

   # systemctl restart sw-cp-server