Failed to contact licence server : HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable

SYSTEM INFORMATION
OS type and version Debian 12
Webmin version 7.20.2 Pro
Virtualmin version 2.202
Webserver version Apache something
Related packages SUGGESTED

Keep getting this error randomly lately. 3 times already.
A problem was detected with your Virtualmin license :
Failed to contact licence server : HTTP/1.1 503 Service Unavailable A renewal can be purchased at Virtualmin Shop

image

If I click Re-check license status, the error is cleared.
To me it looks like a problem on the remote server.

Anyone else seeing this?

Has this error gone away yet, if not maybe ask Joe for help to check.

I assume you have not made any changes with your firewall recently.

Still pops up from time to time.
No change in firewall.
The response is from the remote server. My firewall could only block it, not reply with 503.

@Joe or @Ilia Could you please check the license server for @inteq as there’s a possible issue with it. They’re getting connection issues - 503 Service Unavailable error as a response from it.

More likely to be an error on the OP’s server as no one else has reported the issue.

@jimr1 The user inteq is stating its coming in response from the remote server. The user wouldn’t only have to alter their firewall to have this issue. This status code as part of a response can only come from the remote computer not your computer.

They are saying that this is occurring on an intermittent basis, from the remote server. This error occurs if the remote server is overwhelmed or has maintenance occurring on it.

The HTTP status code 503 error occurs when the remote server from your device can be contacted, but is unable to service (handle) your request.

503 Service Unavailable - HTTP | MDN (mozilla.org)

Hello,

I just did! It works just fine for me!

It’s happening for @inteq intermittently, so given the 503 Service Unavailable error from HTTP response by the server. It must be when the server’s getting overwhelmed with requests, anything in the logs about it being overwhelmed by requests?

There’s a bug we haven’t fixed yet that could be causing this issue. I don’t have access to the server yet to confirm, but Joe should know the details.

I did not see the error in the last 3 days.
Hopefully the issue was fixed.

@jimr1 no comment m8

FWIW: I have a new system and this happens quite frequently. (Ubuntu 24.04)

I doubt it happens any more. We changed fcgiwrap over to socket activation on Saturday, and I haven’t seen a failure since.

@Joe It was there this morning, and it wasn’t there the last time I logged in (sometime this weekend). Is there a log file I could check to see if it was after Saturday?

I’m not sure where the logs appear for that. Maybe in miniserv.error.

But, I’m confident the shape of the problem is different, if it is still a problem. The problem previously required a restart of the fcgiwrap service to resolve it. I haven’t restarted fcgiwrap at all since the switch. So, if we still have a problem, it’ll be something different, and I’ll have to figure out a new way to reproduce it or find clues in our logs (maybe with the IP of someone who is experiencing the problem). But, I want to make sure we still have a problem.

Since we don’t want to chase ghosts I will wait to see if the error shows up again on any of my servers.

By the way, I didn’t see anything in the miniserv.error.

@Joe Update: Great news. I have NOT seen the failure to contact the license server on any of my servers in several days. :+1:

1 Like

@Joe I don’t know if you have been playing around with the licenses server, but I one of my servers did have the " A problem was detected with your Virtualmin license" errors just now.

If this is for the ****724 license, then you shouldn’t be using it on two different servers, as the Virtualmin Pro license is intended for use on only one server.

I have three licenses and three servers. Are you saying I am using one license twice?

Edit:
How can I verify the license number on each server?

@Ilia I just double checked with the virtualmin license-info command. All 3 servers have different licenses. (***786, ***980, ***724).

Edit: first number was wrong. Too early for me.