Postfix is stuck in "Active: active (exited)" for identitatebrand.ro (Systemd issue)

Community Support Mail
1

Hello HestiaCP Team,

I am facing a critical issue where my Postfix MTA is failing to start and remains consistently in an Active: active (exited) state, blocking all incoming mail for the domain https://identitatebrand.ro. This issue started after an attempt to set up SendGrid, which I have since completely reverted and cleaned up.

The problem is confirmed to be at the Systemd level, not the application configuration.

Evidence of the Problem (Please see attached screenshots):

  1. Persistent Postfix Failure:

    • Status: Active: active (exited) (e.g., sudo systemctl status postfix)

    • Log Confirmation: The systemd journal shows code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS. This proves the service start script is exiting successfully, but Postfix is immediately dying/shutting down.

  2. System-Wide Failure:

    • The other MTA, Exim4, is also in a failed state (exited), confirming this is a system-wide issue affecting all mail services.

Troubleshooting Steps Already Taken (Unsuccessful):

  • Networking: Hostname is correctly set to mail.identitatebrand.ro and aligned in /etc/hosts.

  • Configuration: Cleaned and re-ordered /etc/postfix/main.cf to ensure proper syntax and removed all relay settings.

  • Hestia Tools: Ran both v-rebuild-mail-domains identitatebrand.ro and v-rebuild-user.

  • Reinstallation: Completely removed and reinstalled the Postfix package.

Request:

Since all configuration troubleshooting has failed, I suspect a corrupt Hestia-specific Systemd unit file or a deep-level permission conflict impacting the mail services. I need assistance diagnosing why the Postfix process exits immediately after systemd registers a successful start.

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Thank you for your help!

2

Hi,

I don’t know what you did but seems you messed it up. Hestia doesn’t use Postfix, uses Exim.

1 Like
3

Thank you for the reply! I’m aware Hestia uses Exim by default. The reason I switched to Postfix is that Exim was already failing with the exact same symptom: active (exited) or inactive (dead). The issue is systemic: both MTAs fail because Systemd reports SUCCESS when the process immediately dies.

Please advise on Systemd unit file debugging or Hestia permission resets, as all standard configuration checks have already been done.

4

As I don’t know what you did or what packages were removed when installing Postfix, etc. my advice is to back up all your users/data, reinstall Hestia on a fresh OS and restore your users from the backups. If you still have issues with Exim after that, come back and we will take another look.

1 Like
5

Thank you!

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