Why docker stop Fails (and how to fix it properly).

At first glance, the HPE Axis Connector looks like a simple Docker-based agent. In reality, it installs a full local Kubernetes environment. This often causes confusion, especially during uninstallation.

In this blog post I explain:

• Why the official HPE Axis uninstaller may report success but leave everything running
• Why Docker containers keer coming back after you stop them
• How to fully and cleanly remote the HPE Axis Connector

THE PROBLEM

After running the official uninstaller for Ubuntu:

curl -s https://download.axissecurity.com/scripts/uninstaller_ubuntu.sh | bash

The following message appeared in the terminal window:

Axis Connector Uninstaller
----------------------------------
> Supported OS: Ubuntu

Uninstalling Connector..
Uninstalling: 1/7 completed
permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket at unix:///var/run/docker.sock: Head "http://%2Fvar%2Frun%2Fdocker.sock/_ping": dial unix /var/run/docker.sock: connect: permission denied
Uninstalling: 2/7 completed
Uninstalling: 3/7 completed
Uninstalling: 4/7 completed
Uninstalling: 5/7 completed
Uninstalling: 6/7 completed
Uninstalling: 7/7 completed

----------------------------------
Connector Uninstalled Successfully!

I still wasn’t able to delete the Connector from the management dashboard, since it still appears to be running on the Ubuntu machine. This is a very common HPE Axis Connector uninstall case, and the output for the terminal actually tells us exactly what’s going on.

What the error means

The HPE Axis Connector runs inside Docker containers. The uninstall script was executed without sufficient privileges to talk to Docker. What happend is:

• The uninstall script did run
• It could not stop / remote the Docker containers
• The connector never sent a clean disconnect to the HPE Axis management portal

That’s why:

• The script says “Connector Uninstalled Successfully”
• But the connector still shows as online in the portal

Why it still shows “online” in the management portal

HPE Axis considers the connector “online” as long as:

• The Docker container is still running OR
• The last heartbeat hasn’t timed out yet

Because Docker access failed:

• Containers may still be running
• Or the portal hasn’t aged out the last session yet

How to fix this properly

The first thing I tested was running the uninstall script with the sudo option at the beginning, but that didn’t help. I choose the manual cleanup. First I checked in the Axis containers are still running:

sudo docker ps | grep axis

Next I stopped and removed them:

sudo docker stop $(sudo docker ps -q)
sudo docker rm $(sudo docker ps -aq)

Optionally you can choose to remove the Axis images and restart the Docker

sudo docker images | grep axis
sudo docker rmi <image-id>
sudo systemctl restart docker

After a few minutes the connector was going offline in the management portal and I was able to remove the connector from the configuration.

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• Bio
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René Jorissen

Co-owner and Solution Architect at QMonkeys

René Jorissen works as Solution Architect for QMonkeys in the Netherlands. Network Infrastructures are the primary focus. René works with equipment of multiple vendors, like HPE Networks, FortiNet, SentinelOne, Phished, Holm Security, Microsoft services and many more. René is Aruba Certified Edge Expert (ACEX #26), Aruba Certified Mobility Expert (ACMX #438), Aruba Certified ClearPass Expert (ACCX #725), Aruba Certified Design Expert (ACDX #760), CCNP R&S, FCNSP and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEF) certified. You can follow René on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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