Ok After several months of trying this I've made no progress. My install of zimbra cannot be upgraded. I'll thanks everyone who has told me to regenerate the SSL certs.
I've tried both the instructions in posts
Problem with Certificate can cause MTA Failure - Zimbra :: Wiki and
Huge problem after upgrade: TLS init def ctx failed: -1
without success.
I've regenerated the SSL certs before upgrading - this just fail as if i didn't regenerate the certs so this methods the worse one although it's the one i keep getting told to do.
I've regenerated the SSL certs after a failed upgrade - even worse since all the settings are now wrong from the failed upgrade so everything just blows up.
The only one that even remotely works in regenerating the SSL certs WHILE the upgrade is taking place, however this results in mysql failing to start during the upgrade ( see above where it's stalls then just quits with an error about root user not being able to start mysql with password - generate mysql error ) - although this sounds like the worse thing i should be doing as i'm sure only some of the settings are getting set.
So, Can anyone provide anymore insight ? Should I keep going down this path of regenerating the SSL certs while upgrade is in progress? Somehow I maybe need to freeze the install process before any settings are being set so I can re-generate the certs so nothing gets missed being set. maybe check the mysql password? make sure zimbra sets it correctly on the new install?
any ideas?