apache_php_fpm fails to start with "ERROR: [pool domain_tld] the chdir path '/home/username' does not exist or is not a directory"

Symptoms

The apache_php_fpm service fails to start and errors similar to the following appear in PHP-FPM error log.

[12-Aug-2022 09:47:51] ERROR: FPM initialization failed
[12-Aug-2022 09:49:59] ERROR: [pool domain_tld] the chdir path '/home/username' does not exist or is not a directory

Description 

The apache_php_fpm service will fail to start if a configured home directory is missing.

Workaround

To quickly get apache_php_fpm running, the missing folder will have to be recreated.

1. Recreate the missing folder, run the following command, ensuring to replace $username with the username whose home folder is missing.

   mkdir /home/$username;chown $username. /home/$username;chmod 711 /home/$username

2. Restart the apache_php_fpm service with the following command.

   /scripts/restartsrv_apache_php_fpm