Hello,
I'm encountering serious issues with my PacketFence installation where
multiple services are failing to start in cascade, preventing the captive
portal from functioning properly.
When I run systemctl status packetfence-httpd.portal.service, I get a
series of failure messages showing that services are failing to start in a
chain reaction. Below is the output of my terminal commands and the failure
messages:
root@pfvrtcs:# systemctl status packetfence-httpd.portal.service
● packetfence-httpd.portal.service - PacketFence Captive Portal Apache
HTTP Server...
Active: activating (start-pre) since Fri 2025-04-18 14:14:45 MST; 6s ago
Cntrl PID: 13034 (perl)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 9410)
Memory: 33.4M
CPU: 1.076s
CGroup: /packetfence.slice/packetfence-httpd.portal.service
└─13034 /usr/bin/perl -I/usr/local/pf/lib
-I/usr/local/pf/lib_perl/lib/perl5
-Mof::services::manager::httpd_portal -e
of::services::manager::httpd_portal->new()->run()
avril 18 14:14:45 pfvrtcs systemd[1]: Starting
packetfence-httpd.portal.service - PacketFence Captive Portal Apache
HTTP Server...
root@pfvrtcs:# systemctl status packetfence-httpd.portal.service
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-radiusd-acct.service -
PacketFence FreeRADIUS multi-protocol accounting server.
root@pfvrtcs:# systemctl [FAILED] Failed to start
packetfence-haproxy-portal.service - PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer
for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-radiusd-auth.service -
PacketFence FreeRADIUS authentication multi-protocol authentication
server.
root@pfvrtcs:# [FAILED] Failed to start
packetfence-httpd.portal.service - PacketFence Captive Portal Apache
HTTP Server.
systemctl status packetfence-httpd.portal.service
root@pfvrtcs:# systemctl enable packetfence-httpd.portal.service
Created symlink
/etc/systemd/system/packetfence.target.wants/packetfence-httpd.portal.service
→ /lib/systemd/system/packetfence-httpd.portal.service.
root@pfvrtcs:# [FAILED] Failed to start
packetfence-httpd.webservices.service - PacketFence Webservices Apache
HTTP Server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-httpd.webservices.service -
PacketFence Webservices Apache HTTP Server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-httpd.webservices.service -
PacketFence Webservices Apache HTTP Server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-httpd.webservices.service -
PacketFence Webservices Apache HTTP Server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-httpd.aaa.service - PacketFence
AAA Apache HTTP Server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-radiusd-auth.service -
PacketFence FreeRADIUS authentication multi-protocol authentication
server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-httpd.portal.service -
PacketFence Captive Portal Apache HTTP Server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-radiusd-auth.service -
PacketFence FreeRADIUS authentication multi-protocol authentication
server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-httpd.portal.service -
PacketFence Captive Portal Apache HTTP Server.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-haproxy-portal.service -
PacketFence HAProxy Load Balancer for the captive portal.
[FAILED] Failed to start packetfence-httpd.aaa.service - PacketFence
AAA Apache HTTP Server.
System information:
- PacketFence version: 14.1.0
- OS: Debian12 (based on systemd usage)
I've tried enabling the service but it still fails because of this
dependency chain. The main issues appear to be with:
1. packetfence-radiusd-acct.service
2. packetfence-haproxy-portal.service
3. packetfence-radiusd-auth.service
4. packetfence-httpd.portal.service
5. packetfence-httpd.webservices.service
6. packetfence-httpd.aaa.service
Could someone provide guidance on:
1. How to properly diagnose the root cause of these failures?
2. Which specific configuration files in /usr/local/pf/conf/ I should
check first?
3. Any common issues that might cause this cascade of failures?
I haven't been able to find detailed logs as the cascade of failures is
flooding my terminal. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
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