Existing Backups Show Backups – But They’re Not in Drive

So looking at the logs, it appears my DB backup is failing. This is resulting in nothing being backed-up. I used WP-Optimize to clean-up my DB, but my wp_postmeta table is still unbelievable large (over 700MB while my wp_posts is 3.5MB).

The end of my log:

3958.075 (9) The current run is resumption number 9, and there was nothing useful done on the last run (last useful run: 1) – will not schedule a further attempt until we see something useful happening this time
3958.080 (9) Creation of backups of directories: already finished
3958.082 (9) Saving backup status to database (elements: 8)
3958.093 (9) Resuming creation of database dump (WordPress DB)
3958.244 (9) Table wp_options: corresponding file already exists; moving on
3958.248 (9) Table wp_users: corresponding file already exists; moving on
3958.249 (9) Table wp_usermeta: corresponding file already exists; moving on
3958.250 (9) Table wp_commentmeta: corresponding file already exists; moving on
3958.252 (9) Table wp_comments: corresponding file already exists; moving on
3958.255 (9) Table wp_links: corresponding file already exists; moving on
3958.285 (9) Table wp_postmeta: Total expected rows (approximate): 81207

In the dashboard, my backups shows as “Not finished” until the next backups runs. Then, that one shows as “Not finished”.

Like I said, I ran WP-Optimize to get to this point. Thrive offered to clean-up my wp_postsmeta table, but want me to do a backup first. Obviously, backups are not working.

Please advise.

Hi,

Please could you send us a copy of the latest backup log? This can be found in the UpdraftPlus Existing Backups tab.

The contents will be too long to post here directly, but you can use an online service such as Dropbox or Pastebin, and post the link here.

Best Wishes,
Bryle

Thanks

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qiip3idfhi8l0vg/log.32b70ba7900f.txt?dl=0

Hi,

Do you have MySQL (specifically, mysqldump.exe) installed anywhere on the webserver? This can output MySQL backups quicker than a pure PHP script (like UpdraftPlus), which may help avoid whatever time limit on the server you are hitting. UpdraftPlus hunts for mysqldump.exe in some standard locations, but hasn’t found it on your server. If you can install it in a default location, that may fix it.

David

Just to be clear – if mysqldump.exe is installed, UpdraftPlus will use it to help generate its database backups. I’m not saying “use a different tool than UpdraftPlus”.

I’m unable to find that file in my /blog directory.

However, backups were working at one time, the last successful one was on 7/7/18.

Could it be that my DB is too big to backup? It’s currently at 755MB. If so, I may be in a catch-22 where the DB is too big to backup, but I can’t run queries to reduce the size because I need to perform a backup first.

When it mysqldump.exe supposed to be installed? During WordPress install? UpdraftPlug install? By my host?

Hi,

Apologies for the delay.

mysqldump.exe would be installed by your hosts. It is usually located somewhere in the MySQL installation.

I would recommend asking your hosts to check if it is installed, and where.

If it is in a non-standard location, you can configure UpdraftPlus to look in that location by adding the following to your wp-config.php file:

define('UPDRAFTPLUS_MYSQLDUMP_EXECUTABLE', '<mysqldump filepath>');

@bperniciaro

I believe the issue with your wp_postmeta table being so large is the way the url structure is set up on the site – if you are referring to the “after divorce” site?
I’d be willing to help you out with this and it should solve your problems…
Let me know ??
~Scott

Hi @bperniciaro,

Is this issue resolved?

Thanks Scott,

This is for my Cheat Sheet site.

I asked Thrive about the size of that table and they said the size of the table is due to old revisions of posts. They are supposed to be trimming this table for me.

My host said we’re only allowed to run auto backups through their tools. However, the backup process was working at some point, then stopped. So it’s entirely possible the size got too large for the process to work. I’m not sure if there are limits there.

I’d like to try one more time after they trim my DB size so if we could keep this ticket open until then I would appreciate that.