PHP-FPM service fails to start on Plesk: An another FPM instance seems to

Started by Suhitha, Oct 21, 2025, 04:11 AM

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Suhitha

Question: PHP-FPM service fails to start on Plesk: An another FPM instance seems to already listen on php-fpm.sock


Applicable to:

  • Plesk Obsidian for Linux


Symptoms

1.PHP-FPM service fails to start on Plesk Onyx 17.8.

2.Error in /var/log/plesk-phpXX-fpm/error.log:

ERROR: An another FPM instance seems to already listen on /var/www/vhosts/system/subdomain.example.com/php-fpm.sock
ERROR: An another FPM instance seems to already listen on /var/www/vhosts/system/subdomain.example.com/php-fpm.sock
ERROR: FPM initialization failed
ERROR: FPM initialization failed

3.Subdomain was created via XML API.

4.Non-system PHP handler is assigned to the subdomain mentioned in the error message. But configuration file from system PHP handler presents:

# find /etc /opt -name subdomain.example.com.conf
/etc/httpd/conf/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/subdomain.example.com.conf
/etc/nginx/plesk.conf.d/vhosts/subdomain.example.com.conf
/etc/php-fpm.d/subdomain.example.com.conf


Cause

Incorrect PHP configuration file was generated during subdomain creation via XML API.

Plesk bug PPPM-10022 which will be fixed in future updates.


Resolution

Apply one of the workarounds below:

1.Log in to Plesk server via SSH

2.Remove the excessive configuration file:
# rm -f  /etc/php-fpm.d/subdomain.example.com.conf

OR

1.Log in to Plesk

2.Go to Domains > subdomain.example.com > PHP Settings

3.Switch to FPM by OS vendor and back to the desired PHP version