Troubleshooting "Agent Cannot Be Reached" or "Inactive Agent" Status in AutoInstall SSL
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If your AutoInstall SSL installation shows the status "Agent Cannot Be Reached" or "Inactive Agent", it means that the AutoInstall SSL agent is no longer communicating properly with the service.
This issue usually indicates that the agent is not reporting back to the platform or is unable to perform scheduled checks and renewals.
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Common Causes
The most common reasons for this status include:
- The server is offline or unavailable
- The AutoInstall SSL agent was removed or corrupted
- Cron jobs are not running properly
- Firewall or network restrictions are blocking communication
- The website was migrated to another server without reinstalling the AutoInstall SSL agent
- DNS or connectivity issues preventing outbound communication
Below are several common causes and recommended troubleshooting steps:
Troubleshooting Step Solution Check whether the server is offline or experiencing operational issues. A simple restart may resolve temporary connectivity or service-related problems. Have you tried turning the server off and back on again? Has the website been migrated to a new server where the AutoInstall SSL agent has not yet been installed or configured? You can verify this by running runautoinstallssl.sh (Linux) or AutoInstallSSL.exe (Windows) on the server. Open the SSL order page and review the AutoInstall SSL installation instructions. Follow the provided steps to install the agent on the new server and reinstall the SSL certificate. Was the AutoInstall SSL agent removed from the server? Verify its presence by running runautoinstallssl.sh (Linux) or AutoInstallSSL.exe (Windows). Open the order page and follow the AutoInstall SSL installation instructions to reinstall the agent and reconfigure the SSL certificate. Verify whether the AutoInstall SSL cron jobs are missing, disabled, or failing. Export the diagnostic logs to help identify the root cause of the issue. -
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Tips for Troubleshooting Cron Jobs on Linux Servers
On Linux systems, AutoInstall SSL relies on cron jobs to execute scheduled tasks, including certificate monitoring and automatic renewals. If cron jobs are not running correctly, the agent may become inactive.
Consider the following checks:
- Review your server logs to confirm that the AutoInstall SSL cron jobs are being executed. Relevant logs are typically located in:
- /var/log/syslog
- /var/log/cron
- Verify that the cron daemon is running on the server (cron or crond). More information: https://askubuntu.com/questions/85558/verify-if-crontab-works
- Check whether the system has restrictions that may prevent cron jobs from executing, such as:
- blocked users listed in /etc/cron.deny
- SELinux policies
- AppArmor restrictions
- Review the contents of:
/etc/cron.d/
to ensure that the AutoInstall SSL cron jobs have not been manually removed or disabled (for example, by renaming files with extensions such as .bak or .disabled).
- Review your server logs to confirm that the AutoInstall SSL cron jobs are being executed. Relevant logs are typically located in:
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