Can't prevent automatic updates with /etc/cpupdate.conf

[ST-Nathan]

When cpanel performs automated updates, if there is a mysql/mariadb update, it automatically restarts the database server, which causes an outage of our services. For this reason, and because sometimes other updates break services, we need to install updates manually. We have edited /etc/cpupdate.conf to the following:

CPANEL=release
RPMUP=manual
SARULESUP=daily
STAGING_DIR=/usr/local/cpanel
UPDATES=manual

But the upcp cron is still performing RPM updates and restarting MariaDB. Why are these settings being ignored, and how can we prevent this?

 

[ST-Nathan]

Actually from looking at the update log, it appears the specific problem is the script /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services, which is called by the update script. For some reason this is detecting and restarting most services on the machine, including mariadb, php-fpm, and redis. Why is it restarting services if updates are manual and therefore nothing is updated?

 

[ST-Nathan]

Here's the relevant part of the update log:

=> Log opened from /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/maintenance (1481585) at Sun Jun 11 22:01:02 2023
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] Processing: Assuring needed symlinks in 3rdparty/bin are in place.
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Processing command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/link_3rdparty_binaries`
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Finished command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/link_3rdparty_binaries` in 0.007 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] 21% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] Processing: Setting clock
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] 22% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Processing command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/rdate`
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Finished command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/rdate` in -0.659 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] 23% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Finished in 0.001 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] Processing: Setting up resolver workarounds
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Finished in 0.012 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] 24% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Finished in 0.012 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] 25% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Finished in 0.005 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] Processing: Checking RPM DB for corruption
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] - Processing command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues`
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues] glibc-2.28-211.el8.x86_64
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues] Testing if rpm_is_working RPM is installed
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues] Testing if it's possible to install a simple RPM
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues] Verifying... ########################################
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues] Preparing... ########################################
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues] Updating / installing...
[2023-06-11 22:01:02 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_and_fix_rpm_issues] rpm_is_working-1.0-0 ########################################
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] - Finished in 1.765 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] 26% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] - Finished in 0.000 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] 27% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] - Finished in 0.092 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] Processing: Purging cpupdate.conf of invalid entries
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] 28% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] - Finished in 0.001 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] Purging upcp logs older than 45 days.
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] 29% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] - Finished in 0.000 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] Processing: Updating cPanel signing keys.
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] 30% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:03 -0700] - Processing command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/updatesigningkey`
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] - Finished command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/updatesigningkey` in 0.358 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] Processing: Updating system packages: sysup
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] - Processing command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/sysup`
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/sysup] checkyum version 22.3 (excludes: bind-chroot)
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/sysup] All Needed Packages are already installed.
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] - Finished command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/sysup` in 0.391 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] 31% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] - Finished in 0.391 seconds
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] Processing: Restarting any outdated services
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] 32% complete
[2023-06-11 22:01:04 -0700] - Processing command `/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services --auto`
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] Looking for outdated services …
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] 146 files removed
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services]
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] The system found 36 outdated services:
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] atd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] sshd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] rsyslog
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] containerd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] systemd-logind
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] docker
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] tailwatchd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] polkit
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] lfd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] nscd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] irqbalance
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] redis
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] ea-php81-php-fpm
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] getty@tty1
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] smartd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] queueprocd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] cpanel_php_fpm
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] exim
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] systemd-udevd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] mariadb
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] pdns
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] p0f
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] rpcbind
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] wp-toolkit-scheduled-tasks
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] cpanellogd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] dovecot
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] user@0
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] crond
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] snmpd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] systemd-journald
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] chronyd
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] wp-toolkit-background-tasks
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] sw-engine
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] user@1001
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] gssproxy
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] docker-compose-elasticsearch
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services]
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] Restarting “atd” …
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] The system has restarted “atd”.
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services]
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] Restarting “sshd” …
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] The system has restarted “sshd”.
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services]
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] Restarting “rsyslog” …
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] The system has restarted “rsyslog”.
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services]
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] Restarting “containerd” …
[2023-06-11 22:01:45 -0700] [/usr/local/cpanel/scripts/find_outdated_services] The system has restarted “containerd”.


etc. What could have caused these services to be outdated?

 

[vanessa]

The services can become outdated if the underlying service files are changed on the operating system. Easy mode to disable automatic updates is to remove the upcp cron from your system.

 

[ST-Nathan]

The services can become outdated if the underlying service files are changed on the operating system. Easy mode to disable automatic updates is to remove the upcp cron from your system.

Thanks. I figured cpanel would recreate it if I did that, but if removing the cron works, that's what we'll do.
I'm not sure how basically all the service files on our system would have changed in a day.