New VPS fails to work out externally visible IP address

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#1 Mon, 11/04/2019 - 13:37
SurfBlue714
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New VPS fails to work out externally visible IP address

Hello all, I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04 on a VPS. I ran through the usual steps and assigned it a hostname (sub.domain.tld that I control), ran through the install script, and completed the post-install wizard. I go to create a new server and I get:

"Failed to create virtual server : Failed to work out externally visible IP address"

I want to note that I already (and purposely) trashed out a previous install from trying to troubleshoot, hence the fresh install of 18.04, and I notice that updates will no longer install either as they return:

Temporary failure resolving 'us.archive.ubuntu.com'

Therefore, any and all advice / suggestions / ideas are greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance to all those who reply!

-Scott White

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 13:51
Dibs

Does comment 2 - https://www.virtualmin.com/node/25374 - help you?

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 14:20 (Reply to #2)
SurfBlue714
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Hello Dibs, Thanks for your reply and the helpful link. Prior to posting this, I made sure to search through similar topics; however, none of the existing threads have been able to resolve my issue. "Virtualmin -> System Settings -> Virtualmin Configuration -> Network Settings" is set to detect automatically detect already and playing with it, restarting, and checking it seemed to have no effect. Admittedly, my attempts were not perfect, so I still welcome any and all advice.

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 14:26 (Reply to #3)
Dibs

I don't know what the last line in your post refers to or means.

Moving on - if you've tried setting it to auto detect and it doesn't work - have you tried setting it to the external IP? Have you checked the IP by using something like hostname -I (or a similar command) to see if it responds with what you expect?

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 14:52 (Reply to #4)
SurfBlue714
SurfBlue714's picture

Thanks again for your reply.

My upmost apologies... the last line is a signature that I totally forgot I had. I have now removed it to avoid any further confusion or mixed messages.

Anyways, I did try changing from auto detect to the external IP and hostname -I (and similar) responds as expected. Would there be any area specifically you could recommend. I tried installing my host's version of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (instead of the 18.04 LTS that I've been trying) and I was able to create a server. Is it possible that using all defaults that their image is mis-configured?

I will claim no expertise and I am admittedly not intimately familiar with 18.04 LTS by any means; however, I did notice that /etc/network/interfaces is configured to use /etc/netplan. When I checked, it didn't seem out of the ordinary though as it is configured for 8.8.8.8.

UPDATE Possibly related is that in my console ping 8.8.8.8 works fine; however, ping www.google.com does not. I feel like it is a DNS issue... just not sure where. Again, odd for a default setup that always worked in the past...at least on16.04 anyways.

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 15:02
scotwnw

Dns resolution error. It might be cause of all of it. Do you have 127.0.0.1, 1.1.1.1,8.8.8 or any other name servers you want to use listed in the net config? Can you ping the gateway or anything outside of the machine? Is your VPS using /etc/network/interfaces or /etc/netplan/50whatever-its-called.yaml?

Have you checked the actual name of your net interface and manually put it in? It wont be eth0 in ubuntu 18.04. cmd 'ifconfig' or 'ip address' to check name of interface. Then put it in the virtual setup.

Sorry, you replied same time as my post.

Post the netplan config. Spacing and hierarchy matters. Can change your Ip to x.x.x.x

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 15:09
Dibs

There are a few differences to entertain when moving to 18.04. I wonder if it is more aking to Debian 10 - which Virtualmin isn't quite ready for. I'm on 16.04 and won't be moving forward for a while. As long as the packages etc are upto date - I'd say go with 16.04.

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 15:11
scotwnw

Heres mine

network:
    version: 2
    ethernets:
        eth0:
            dhcp4: no
            dhcp6: no
            addresses: [x.x.x.184/28]
            gateway4: x.x.x.177
            nameservers:
              addresses: [127.0.0.1,1.1.1.1,8.8.8.8]

You most likely just need to be sure the nameservers and addresses lines are there and spaced (not tabed) properly.

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 15:13
Dibs

If you can ping by IP but not by name - you do need to look at the network configuration of your VPS\Server and see what the entries are and if they are correct.

It is entirely possible that Virtualmin is using your hostname to find the IP (much like pinging www.google.com) and failing, hence the error:

"Failed to create virtual server : Failed to work out externally visible IP address"

Mon, 11/04/2019 - 16:06
SurfBlue714
SurfBlue714's picture

Foremost... a HUGE thank you Dibs and Scotwnw.

I tried 16.04 and it works flawlessly so I think I am going to revert back to it until I am forced to move (aka: no longer supported).

I feel like it is a mis-configuration from my host's image because I tried to update right off the bat (no hostname, etc) and still got Temporary failure resolving 'us.archive.ubuntu.com' on 18.04 while 16.04 worked flawlessly.

I'll probably re-visit this again since I think that it is entirely possible that the /etc/netplan/whatever-the-flippin-heck-it-is-called.yaml that my VPS is configured to use over /etc/network/interfaces could contain extra spaces. Also it seems highly plausible that virtualmin is trying to use my hostname to use the IP.

For now, I'm going to take a break and try it again later on. If either theory leads to anything then I'll report back so that someone else searching for this same problem could have some more info :-D

Thanks again you both!

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