Repository error

E: Failed to fetch http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/pool/updates/main/d/dovecot/dovecot-pop3d_2.3.4.1-5+deb10u2_amd64.deb Temporary failure resolving ‘deb.debian.org
E: Failed to fetch http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/pool/updates/main/d/dovecot/dovecot-imapd_2.3.4.1-5+deb10u2_amd64.deb Temporary failure resolving ‘deb.debian.org
E: Failed to fetch http://deb.debian.org/debian-security/pool/updates/main/d/dovecot/dovecot-core_2.3.4.1-5+deb10u2_amd64.deb Temporary failure resolving ‘deb.debian.org

buster/main Yes Index of /debian
buster/updates/main Yes Index of /debian-security
buster-updates/main Yes Index of /debian
buster-backports/main Yes Index of /debian
virtualmin-buster/main Yes Index of /vm/6/gpl/apt
virtualmin-universal/main Yes Index of /vm/6/gpl/apt

**ping -n 8.8.8.8** PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=0.736 ms 64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=0.754 ms 64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=56 time=0.732 ms 64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=56 time=0.799 ms 64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=56 time=0.745 ms 64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=56 time=0.735 ms 64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7 ttl=56 time=0.676 ms 64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=8 ttl=56 time=0.869 ms

Also, I note that nano /etc/resolv.conf looks like the following
# Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND – YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
nameserver 127.0.0.1

Is this how it should be?

I also note that it cannot even find the virtualmin repositories either. Same error for those too.

ok so I followed some advice online and changed the /etc/resolv.conf

added 
namserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 8.8.4.4

The updates now run successfully.

now in virtulamin it tells me this file I have manually edited will be over written…so where in virtualmin do I fix this problem in a way that my changes won’t be over written?

why is this doing this from a default virtualmin install (using the virtualmin installer script for Debian 10)

also, I have a Debian 9 system where etc/resolv.conf has the 127.0.0.1 entry too. It doesn’t have any problems running updates. What is going on here?

It’s not a Virtualmin thing. If your resolv.conf is generated by DHCP, or generated some other way, by your hosting provider…you may have to do something extra. Virtualmin, during installation, tries to detect DHCP configuration and adds something like prepend domain-name-servers 127.0.0.1, but it can’t always detect it and can’t always make the change. It’s historically rare, but with cloud providers making dynamic IPs the norm, it is becoming more common…and the ways it gets set gets weirder and more diverse, too. We do the best we can, but it’s complicated and varied.

So…I guess figure out how your network settings happen, and make sure you change it in the place where it needs to happen. It might even be outside of the virtual machine itself (i.e. in your hosting providers management console or tools). But, if it’s pulled in by DHCP, that prepend line should do the trick.

I generally prefer to setup my local DNS server to query other servers (so the local DNS server is both a caching name server and a recursive server for locally hosted zones), instead of doing it in resolv.conf (i.e. resolv.conf is just 127.0.0.1, and the local bind instance queries one or more upstream DNS servers, like 8.8.8.8). There are advantages/disadvantages to either. I think if the installer detects a “normal” static network, it’ll set all that up for you, but I think if it detects DHCP it won’t try to change DNS servers, it’ll just prepend localhost and hope for the best.

Here’s the Virtualmin::Config code where that happens.

I have heard there are cases where it fails to detect or fails to update, but I haven’t reproduced it, so I don’t know what those cases are, and nobody ever gave enough information to try to repro it.

Hi Joe,
my server is a static ip address with Vultr (same as my virtualmin pro system)

So in virtualmin control panel, how should i change the dns resolution such that i dont get this error? I am assuming i need to do this on my pro virtualmin system as well? (even though updates on that system are working no problem…although the virtualmin pro system is the one where dovecot monitoring is playing up)

EDIT,
ah i have figured out how to set this in virtualmin.

goto dashboard>click on “serverhostname” on dashboard screen. its all in there.


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That hostname link is a shortcut to Webmin->Webmin->Networking->Network Configuration->Hostname and DNS Client. System-related stuff, things that aren’t Virtualmin’s area, are generally in the Webmin menu.

gotcha. I had just worked this out after i posted the images above (mine was inadvertantly showing it as being accessed from virtualmin>administration tab, which is not in fact where i had go to it from.

anyway, its easy to access from the dashboard as one can simply click on the system hostname link.

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