Plesk Atmail open_basedir restriction: /etc/psa-webmail/atmail/ not within allowed path(s)

If you upgrade the Plesk control panel, the Atmail webmail client will display the “/etc/psa-webmail/atmail/.atmail.shadow open_basedir restriction” error message while accessing Atmail. The complete error message looks like follows:

Warning: fopen [function.fopen]: open_basedir restriction in effect.
File(/etc/psa-webmail/atmail/.atmail.shadow) is not within allowed
path(s): (/var/www/atmail:/var/log/atmail:/etc/psa:/tmp:/var/tmp)
in /var/www/atmail/libs/Atmail/Config.php on line 4

The error occurs when PHP is not allowed to access the /etc/psa-webmail/atmail/ directory due to open_basedir restriction in effect and thus any request to the /etc/psa-webmail/atmail/.atmail.shadow file is blocked by PHP.

The restriction is in place in the atmail configuration file located at /etc/httpd/conf.d/zzz_atmail_vhost.conf. To allow PHP to access the /etc/psa-webmail/atmail/ directory, open the Atmail configuration file

# nano /etc/httpd/conf.d/zzz_atmail_vhost.conf

look for the lines that state (there are 2 lines):

php_admin_value open_basedir "/var/www/atmail:/var/log/atmail:
/etc/psa:/tmp:/var/tmp"

and add the atmail directory at the end so the lines look like follows:

php_admin_value open_basedir "/var/www/atmail:/var/log/atmail:
/etc/psa:/tmp:/var/tmp:/etc/psa-webmail/atmail"

Save the file and restart the httpd service

# service httpd restart

PHP will now be able to access the atmail directory and Atmail webmail client will work without problems.

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