At times on a complex servers with 100s of domain, the PHP-FPM process might be stuck.
The solution is to rename files in the pools directory, start the server, and hope for the best. One by one.
Check if it’s running:
root@host:~/fpm-disabled# service php8.4-fpm status
Use the normal test command
# php-fpm8.4 -t [02-Feb-2026 11:30:58] NOTICE: configuration file /etc/php/8.4/fpm/php-fpm.conf test is successful
Yep, it’s successful, but Virtualmin’s FPM doesn’t start.
Check the log to get your day started. Make coffee:
tail -f /var/log/php8.4-fpm.log
The script
root@host:~# for f in /etc/php/8.4/fpm/pool.d/*.conf; do mv "$f" "$f.test" systemctl restart php8.4-fpm >/dev/null 2>&1 || echo "BAD: $f" mv "$f.test" "$f" done
Good luck.
Go examine this directory for *.test files:
/etc/php/8.4/fpm/pool.d/
Here is an example of looping and failures:
[02-Feb-2026 17:02:18] NOTICE: using inherited socket fd=547, "/run/php/17700199991472045.sock" [02-Feb-2026 17:02:18] NOTICE: using inherited socket fd=548, "/run/php/17700323372189503.sock" [02-Feb-2026 17:02:18] NOTICE: using inherited socket fd=549, "/run/php/17700433382786253.sock" [02-Feb-2026 17:02:18] NOTICE: using inherited socket fd=550, "/run/php/php8.4-fpm.sock" [02-Feb-2026 17:02:18] NOTICE: fpm is running, pid 2905146 [02-Feb-2026 17:02:25] NOTICE: ready to handle connections [02-Feb-2026 17:02:25] NOTICE: systemd monitor interval set to 10000ms [02-Feb-2026 17:02:51] ERROR: fork() failed: Resource temporarily unavailable (11) [02-Feb-2026 17:04:29] NOTICE: Terminating ... [02-Feb-2026 17:04:30] NOTICE: exiting, bye-bye! [02-Feb-2026 17:04:31] NOTICE: fpm is running, pid 2910989 [02-Feb-2026 17:04:36] ERROR: fork() failed: Resource temporarily unavailable (11) [02-Feb-2026 17:04:36] NOTICE: exiting, bye-bye! [02-Feb-2026 17:04:38] NOTICE: fpm is running, pid 2912060 [02-Feb-2026 17:04:47] ERROR: fork() failed: Resource temporarily unavailable (11) [02-Feb-2026 17:04:48] NOTICE: exiting, bye-bye! [02-Feb-2026 17:04:50] NOTICE: fpm is running, pid 2913533 [02-Feb-2026 17:04:58] ERROR: fork() failed: Resource temporarily unavailable (11) [02-Feb-2026 17:04:59] NOTICE: Terminating ...
You can go and read this ChatGPT output and start crying:
https://chatgpt.com/share/6980cba5-ad04-8005-81a6-ef9e75c77796