# Ngnix fails to start on VM with IPv6 disabled
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918
**Category:** Self-hosting
**Tags:** unsupported-install
**Created:** [March 29, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918 "2019-03-29T12:53:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chrisc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrisc)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/1 "2019-03-29T12:53:59Z")
A Discourse server I’m trying to upgrade is stuck restarting (and due to the constant restarts I can’t seem to be able to get a shell on it), this is what I have from `./launcher logs app`:
```plaintext
[Fri 29 Mar 12:51:47 UTC 2019] Run reload cmd: sv reload nginx
warning: nginx: unable to open supervise/ok: file does not exist
[Fri 29 Mar 12:51:47 UTC 2019] Reload error for :
nginx: [error] open() "/run/nginx.pid" failed (2: No such file or directory)
run-parts: /etc/runit/1.d/letsencrypt exited with return code 1
```
Done any have any suggestions regarding what I could try next?
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/2 "2019-03-29T12:58:34Z")
I’d check disk space and rebuild the container.
---
### Author:  [@chrisc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrisc)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 1:02pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/3 "2019-03-29T13:02:28Z")
The virtual server has one partition and it doesn’t seem too bad in terms of usage, do you think more space might be the issue here?
```bash
df -h | egrep '(/$|^Filesystem)'
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/vda2 64G 44G 17G 72% /
```
I have tried rebuilding the container several times already…
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 1:04pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/4 "2019-03-29T13:04:20Z")
Do you have plugins installed? What happens when you rebuild? (Space looks fine.)
---
### Author:  [@chrisc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrisc)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/5 "2019-03-29T13:09:09Z")
The rebuild seems to go OK but then the container keep restarting and I can’t get a shell on the container because of this — I want to see if `/run` exists — the error logs above appear to be saying that this directory doesn’t exist…
After a rebuild with all the plugins disabled it looks OK to start with:
```bash
docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
5185f5987314 local_discourse/app "/sbin/boot" 11 seconds ago Up Less than a second 0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp, 0.0.0.0:443->443/tcp app
```
But then get’s stuck in a loop that looks like this:
```bash
docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
5185f5987314 local_discourse/app "/sbin/boot" About a minute ago Restarting (100) 39 seconds ago app
```
I’m tried another rebuild with this to the end of `containers/app.yml`:
```yml
## Any custom commands to run after building
run:
- exec: echo "Beginning of custom commands"
- exec: ls -lah /run
- exec: df -h
- exec: file /run/nginx.pid
```
The results of this were:
```plaintext
I, [2019-03-29T13:29:39.736562 #14] INFO -- : total 36K
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.0K Mar 29 13:23 .
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.0K Mar 29 13:23 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Feb 22 10:06 initctl -> /run/systemd/initctl/fifo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Mar 21 00:43 init.upgraded
drwxrwxrwt 3 root root 4.0K Feb 22 10:06 lock
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 22 10:06 log
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 22 10:05 mount
lrwxrwxrwx 1 postgres postgres 20 Mar 29 13:23 postgresql -> /shared/postgres_run
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 22 10:06 sendsigs.omit.d
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Feb 22 10:06 shm -> /dev/shm
drwx--x--x 3 root root 4.0K Mar 21 00:42 sudo
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.0K Mar 21 00:42 systemd
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Feb 22 10:06 user
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root utmp 0 Feb 22 10:05 utmp
I, [2019-03-29T13:29:39.737355 #14] INFO -- : > df -h
I, [2019-03-29T13:29:39.742286 #14] INFO -- : Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
overlay 64G 45G 16G 74% /
tmpfs 64M 0 64M 0% /dev
tmpfs 1.5G 0 1.5G 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/vda2 64G 45G 16G 74% /shared
shm 512M 8.0K 512M 1% /dev/shm
tmpfs 1.5G 0 1.5G 0% /proc/acpi
tmpfs 1.5G 0 1.5G 0% /sys/firmware
I, [2019-03-29T13:29:39.743254 #14] INFO -- : > file /run/nginx.pid
I, [2019-03-29T13:29:39.755033 #14] INFO -- : /run/nginx.pid: cannot open `/run/nginx.pid' (No such file or directory)
```
So the issue does appear to be that `/run/nginx.pid` doesn’t exist and I expect that cause of this is a problem with the Nginx config? So perhaps I’ll check that now…
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 1:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/6 "2019-03-29T13:59:49Z")
Do you have anything in your yml that affects the nginx config?
---
### Author:  [@chrisc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrisc)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/7 "2019-03-29T14:20:56Z")
This plugin was enabled (but isn’t for now):
[https://github.com/muhlisbc/discourse-images-guardian](https://github.com/muhlisbc/discourse-images-guardian)
And I’m currently trying to work out if this commit broke the Nginx config:
[https://github.com/muhlisbc/discourse-images-guardian/commit/8a79b86d0a0f344504a75a38eb417c820787b3bb](https://github.com/muhlisbc/discourse-images-guardian/commit/8a79b86d0a0f344504a75a38eb417c820787b3bb)
I can’t see anything in the `app.yml` file that could affect the Nginx config, and the YAML appears to be valid, I just tested it with `yamllint containers/app.yml ` and the only issues were with whitespace and line length.
To try to shed some light on the problem:
```plaintext
## Any custom commands to run after building
run:
- exec: echo "Beginning of custom commands"
- exec: ls -lah /etc/nginx/
- exec: /usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
- exec: /usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf
- exec: /usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/fastcgi.conf
```
And this resulted in:
```plaintext
I, [2019-03-29T14:28:53.182369 #14] INFO -- : > /usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful
```
Which looks good, but then:
```plaintext
I, [2019-03-29T14:28:53.209517 #14] INFO -- : > /usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf syntax is ok
nginx: [emerg] socket() [::]:80 failed (97: Address family not supported by protocol)
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf test failed
I, [2019-03-29T14:28:53.218977 #14] INFO -- :
...
FAILED
--------------------
Pups::ExecError: /usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf failed with return #
Location of failure: /pups/lib/pups/exec_command.rb:112:in `spawn'
exec failed with the params "/usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf"
f42e20c75dda3fa8b80905d1ad3159a30ca16aea69bc2a7f392cf566f33e02da
**FAILED TO BOOTSTRAP** please scroll up and look for earlier error messages, there may be more than one
```
So the issues is with the IPv6 address? The server does have the following in `/etc/sysctl.conf` — the VM isn’t setup for IPv6:
```plaintext
# https://serverfault.com/a/660985
net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6 = 1
net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6 = 1
```
So perhaps I need to disable IPv6 for Nginx and or Docker?
Or perhaps `sed` can save the site?
```yml
## Any custom commands to run after building
run:
- exec: echo "Beginning of custom commands"
- exec: sed -e 's/listen \[::\]:80;/#listen [::]:80;/' -i /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf
- exec: /usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf
```
---
### Author:  [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/8 "2019-03-29T14:58:04Z")
Don’t disable IPv6 support. From the SF answer you linked:
---
### Author:  [@chrisc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrisc)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 3:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/9 "2019-03-29T15:00:20Z")
But this virtual server don’t have IPv6 configured and it appears that as a result the IPv6 line in `/etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf`:
```nginx
listen [::]:80;
```
Is the thing that is stopping Nginx from starting — I’m not sure what solution you are suggesting, my solution appears to work:
```plaintext
I, [2019-03-29T14:57:26.021690 #14] INFO -- : Beginning of custom commands
I, [2019-03-29T14:57:26.023075 #14] INFO -- : > sed -e 's/listen \[::\]:80;/#listen [::]:80;/' -i /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf
I, [2019-03-29T14:57:26.030390 #14] INFO -- :
I, [2019-03-29T14:57:26.030529 #14] INFO -- : > /usr/sbin/nginx -t -c /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf
nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf test is successful
I, [2019-03-29T14:57:26.045517 #14] INFO -- :
```
---
### Author:  [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 3:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/10 "2019-03-29T15:01:46Z")
There’s no reason to disable IPv6 in the VM, you’re just setting yourself up for trouble.
---
### Author:  [@chrisc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrisc)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/11 "2019-03-29T15:06:33Z")
I agree that ideally the VM server and the DNS would be configured for IPv6, but this isn’t the case with this server and I might not be the only person still running a server using IPv4 so it appears fairly reasonable to me to disable IPv6 in the Nginx config in the Docker container, it is a simply one line solution in `containers/app.yml` and it does the job for now:
```yml
## Any custom commands to run after building
run:
- exec: echo "Beginning of custom commands"
- exec: sed -e 's/listen \[::\]:80;/#listen [::]:80;/' -i /etc/nginx/letsencrypt.conf
```
As far as I’m concerned this _“solution”_ is good enough for now…
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/12 "2019-03-29T15:28:51Z")
FWIW, I just did an install on a DigitalOcean droplet that does not have ipv6 configured and there is no problem.
Here’s this from an install from a couple days ago:
```plaintext
root@forum:~# grep ipv6 /etc/sysctl.conf
#net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding=1
#net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_redirects = 0
#net.ipv6.conf.all.accept_source_route = 0
```
This stuff doesn’t’ hurt anything even though the droplet does not have ipv6 routed to it.
---
### Author:  [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 3:30pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/13 "2019-03-29T15:30:15Z")
But IPv6 LLAs, localhost, and other addresses are still turned on – that’s the difference.
---
### Author:  [@chrisc](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrisc)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/14 "2019-03-29T15:34:33Z")
Note that the lines you quoted from `/etc/sysctl.conf ` appear to all be commented out — they start with a `#`.
I do need to get my head around IPv6 and start using it, I have been putting it off until I have no choice and perhaps that day is almost here…
---
### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/15 "2019-03-29T15:36:03Z")
Oops! No. I failed to note that! I think that the take-home message is that if you don’t want to deal with ipv6 (I’ve not learned much about it myself) you can leave out anything to do with ipv6 in /etc/sysctl.conf and you’ll be fine. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ngnix-fails-to-start-on-vm-with-ipv6-disabled/112918/16 "2019-04-28T15:36:07Z")
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