ELevate fails at stage 2 on a remote MySQL profile server: "Unable to activate a MySQL profile for localhost"

Symptoms

• The server uses a remote MySQL profile (for example, cpaneldb), and the local MySQL/MariaDB service is not running or is not installed.

• The ELevate process fails during stage 2 with errors similar to the following:

  CONFIG_TEXT: [INFO] Saving the currently active MySQL Profile (cpaneldb) to /var/cpanel/elevate-mysql-profile
  [INFO] Attempting to create new localhost MySQL profile...
  [INFO] Resetting password for local root database user...
  [INFO] Activating "localhost" MySQL profile
  [!] Validating profile ... Failed: (XID 254rxy) Unable to connect to the MySQL host "localhost". Connection failed with error: Can't connect to local server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)
  [!] MySQL profile activation failed.
  [ERROR] The elevation process failed during stage 2.
  [FATAL] Unable to activate a MySQL profile for "localhost"

Cause

During stage 2, ELevate saves the active remote profile, creates a temporary "localhost" MySQL profile, and then activates it. The activation fails because no local MySQL/MariaDB server is running and listening on /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock. Servers that use a remote MySQL profile commonly have the local database service disabled, stopped, or not installed.

Resolution

Warning: Upgrading the operating system can cause data loss or catastrophic system failures. Before continuing, take a server snapshot or backup, including a dump of the remote databases.

1. Log in to the server via SSH or WHM's Terminal as the root user.

2. Check the state of the local database server and the saved profile:

   # /scripts/restartsrv_mysql --status
   dpkg -l | grep -iE 'mariadb|mysql'
   systemctl status mariadb mysql --no-pager
   cat /var/cpanel/elevate-mysql-profile
   /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/manage_mysql_profiles --list

3. If a local MySQL/MariaDB server is not installed or is not running, install it and start it so that the localhost profile can be activated.

4. Activate the localhost profile in WHM / Home / SQL Services / Manage MySQL Profiles, or run:

   # /usr/local/cpanel/scripts/manage_mysql_profiles --activate localhost

5. Resume the ELevate process:

   # /scripts/elevate-cpanel --continue

6. After ELevate completes, reactivate the remote MySQL profile in WHM / Home / SQL Services / Manage MySQL Profiles.

Additional Information

• What systems can cPanel ELevate upgrade?
• Manage MySQL Profiles
• Related tickets: 96102615 (source), 95270737 and 95760640 (ELevate with a remote MySQL profile).