Error when adding server

Question:

Q: When attempting to add a back-end server (eg: CPanel, Plesk, etc.) to iPanel/iHost, I receive the following error:

A connection to your server could not be established using the settings you provided.
Please check your settings and try again.

What does this mean, and how do I correct this?

Answer:

Two potential issues could cause this error message.

Solution 1

Whenever you setup a new server, iPanel/iHost automatically attempts to contact the new server, perform a simple test, and verify that successful communication is possible between iPanel/iHost and the server.

The error message above usually indicates one of the following:

  • The connection to the server is being blocked by a firewall on the local machine running iPanel/iHost. Many datacenters block outbound connections from web servers for security reasons. If this is the case on your server, you will need to contact your hosting company to have this firewall restriction removed.
  • The connection to the server is being blocked by a firewall on the remote machine running CPanel/Plesk/etc. Verify that there is no firewall on the remote machine, and/or that the correct ports have been opened for your web server's IP address.
  • The remote server (running CPanel/Plesk/etc.) is not responding. Verify that the server is up and running and that the control panel is working properly.
  • You specified an invalid IP address, username, or password for the server. Double-check your settings and try again.
  • You specified an incorrect Use SSL setting for your server. Note that for DirectAdmin, if you've configured DirectAdmin to use SSL for its control panel, you MUST enable Use SSL in iPanel/iHost. If you've configured Directadmin to NOT use SSL for its control panel, you MUST disable Use SSL in iPanel/iHost.

If you need help determining the cause of the problem, check the following:

  • Check the event log for any error messages. In most cases, a descriptive error message will be included in the error log which indicates the nature of the connection problem.
  • For CPanel servers, use the testcpanel.php script in the diagnostics folder to test your connection to your CPanel server. This will attempt to connect to the CPanel server in realtime and display a step-by-step report of the connection progress.

Solution 2

If this is a CPanel server, under WHM >> Server Configuration >> Tweak Settings, disable this option:

Only permit cpanel/whm/webmail to execute functions that have a referrer. This will
help prevent XSRF attacks, but may break integration with other systems, login
applications, and billing software.

If you still cannot determine the cause of the problem, please contact the support department and provide the relevant entries from your event log along with your iPanel/iHost and server login information so that we can try it ourselves. Note that we will be unable to diagnose the problem without the relevant entries from your event log and/or the relevant login information.