[Plugin: WordPress Backup to Dropbox] Backup Error

Gday scissorboy,

If you get this message its most likely due to something external killing the backup process.

After this message a new backup should be scheduled and resume where it left off. Is this the case?

Cheers,
Mikey

yes, another backup starts automatically but then gives the same error. This happens repeatedly. Any idea what external factor would cause it to stop externally so I can fix it?

In that case you can treat it as more of a warning rather then an error because that plugin is recovering and will eventually complete the backup.

The external factor will probably something that your host has setup to save memory. For example, my host kills any PHP script that runs for longer then around 8 minutes. My initial backup took around 25 mins to complete so I had 3 restarts recorded. All my subsequent backups, due to the fact that only a few files change, take around 2 mins and complete in one attempt.

What is the difference in time between the ‘Backup Started’ message and the ‘Gone Away’ message?

Here’s the backup log for one of the sites. I have 15+ set to backup but only 4 have actually shown up in my dropbox folder. This site didn’t actually having any files transferred to dropbox. I get the exact same message even on sites that have backed up (although I don’t really know if they have fully backed up or not because I’m getting the error).

Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 05:06:26: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:46:15
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:44:05: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:40:31
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:40:20: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:37:48
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:37:33: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:36:03
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:35:52: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:33:32
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:32:48: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:31:09
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:20:55: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:19:21
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:19:17: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:15:44
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:15:43: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:14:59
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:14:57: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:08:24
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:08:08: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 04:05:30
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 04:05:20: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:58:48
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:56:31: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:53:19
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:52:06: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:43:08
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:40:04: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:34:29
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:33:54: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:31:59
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:31:53: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:31:23
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:22:39: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:20:57
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:20:51: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:19:07
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:17:02: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:15:49
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:15:38: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:06:18
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:01:03: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 03:00:28
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 03:00:17: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 02:59:47
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 02:59:37: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 02:55:17
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 02:55:05: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 02:43:22
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 02:31:28: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 02:29:52
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 02:29:42: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 02:16:11
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 02:14:30: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 02:12:57
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 02:12:55: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 02:00:15
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 02:00:10: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 01:39:47
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 01:32:33: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 01:31:56
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 01:31:45: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 01:28:18
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 01:26:42: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 01:24:49
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 01:20:55: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 01:18:50
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 01:18:47: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 01:11:36
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 01:09:10: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 01:04:50
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 01:02:35: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 12:53:01
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 12:51:46: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 12:44:42
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 12:43:33: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 12:42:39
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 12:42:29: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 12:37:19
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 12:37:16: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 12:29:44
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 12:28:21: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 12:21:09
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 12:13:18: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 12:09:44
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 12:09:10: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 12:03:30
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 12:01:41: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 11:58:03
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 11:56:43: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 11:55:52
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 11:54:04: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 11:52:58
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 11:52:20: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 11:50:52
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 11:50:42: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 11:50:11
Backup error on 2011-06-11 at 11:44:05: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-11 at 11:38:53

Yep… Definitely something wrong there. Can you try deleting any Zip archives, if any, within ‘wp-content/backups’ and re installing the plugin.

What is the largest file within this installation?

There are no zip files in that folder. It has 2 files: .htaccess & tsw555_ab691-backup.sql

So far the biggest file I’ve seen is 18.6MB. I don’t think there is anything crazy large and 18.6 may be the biggest file. I just downlaoded the entire site and the whole thing is under 64MB total.

Deleted the plugin and did a clean re-install and asked it to “backup now”. Nothing showing up in dropbox yet and got the same error showing up again:

Backup error on 2011-06-13 at 09:29:16: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-13 at 09:28:22

Something is causing your backup to die unexpectedly.

Are any errors or warnings being raised in your server logs?
What is your PHP memory limit setting?

I’ve got the same issue as scissorboy.

One site, the backup works fine which is about 10mb and hosted on HostGator.

On my other site, which is about 70mb and hosted on GoDaddy, I keep getting the following error messages:

Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 12:16:10
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 12:14:25: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 12:12:58
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 12:10:52: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 12:09:46
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 12:07:43: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 12:05:03
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 12:02:40: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 12:01:31
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 12:00:31: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 11:59:13
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 11:56:53: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 11:55:39
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 11:53:55: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 11:52:21
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 11:49:56: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 11:48:40
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 11:47:05: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 11:46:02
Backup error on 2011-06-21 at 11:43:35: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-06-21 at 11:42:13

Gday Diego,

There are others with this issue too and I need more information to get to the bottom of it.

Are any errors or warnings being raised in your server logs?
What is your PHP memory limit setting?
Are any files being uploaded to dropbox at all?

Cheers,
Mikey

Hi, I’m having the same problem. I used to have a free hosting service for my multi-author blog and it got canceled a couple of months ago due to some “slow querries”. I don’t really understand what that means so I moved to a new host with a full backup I had. I also had a plugin that would mail me everyday a database backup, and today I realised that It hasn’t sent me a backup for almost 3 months (about the same time my blog got canceled).

Now I’m trying out your plugin and the same error depicted above happen to me.. maybe this little story helps. Good luck.

Hi Michael,

I have your plugin installed on one subdomain on my MediaTemple dv server and it’s running great. I have it installed on another subdomain on the same server and I’m having the same problem as mentioned above by the OP. The backup will run for a small amount of time and then stop. It is actually copying files, but it has yet to fully backup the site that I’m having issues with. I don’t have any files that are over the maximum upload limit and it looks like all of my permissions are the same between the two sites.

From my php.ini file:

max_execution_time = 3600 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds
max_input_time = 60 ; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data
memory_limit = 256M ; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (16MB)

In my error log I’m getting a lot of “File does not exist” errors as well as the following:

[Mon Jul 04 12:43:01 2011] [warn] mod_fcgid: stderr: PHP Warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, ‘AWP::give_credit’ was given in /var/www/vhosts/badwooddigital.com/subdomains/xxxxxxx/httpdocs/wp-includes/plugin.php on line 395

This is my latest history log:

Backup error on 2011-07-04 at 02:52:03: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-04 at 02:46:18
Backup error on 2011-07-04 at 02:44:36: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-04 at 02:39:51
Backup error on 2011-07-04 at 02:37:57: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-04 at 02:24:09
Backup error on 2011-07-04 at 02:21:14: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-04 at 02:10:54
Backup error on 2011-07-04 at 02:09:46: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-04 at 07:05:15
Backup started on 2011-07-04 at 02:04:13
Backup error on 2011-07-04 at 02:04:13: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-03 at 11:09:42

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Bryan

Gday Bryan,

Thanks for the feedback. I would like to get to the bottom of this before releasing 0.9.

Can you please post one of the ‘File does not exist’ error dumps?

Cheers,
Mikey

I’m having the same problem, here is what mine says:

Backup error on 2011-07-01 at 11:29:22: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-01 at 11:28:18
Backup error on 2011-07-01 at 11:27:13: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-01 at 11:26:13
Backup error on 2011-07-01 at 11:25:11: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-01 at 11:24:11
Backup error on 2011-07-01 at 11:23:04: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-01 at 11:22:04
Backup error on 2011-07-01 at 11:21:04: The backup process appears to have gone away. Resuming backup.
Backup started on 2011-07-01 at 11:19:36
Backup started on 2011-07-01 at 11:19:36
Backup started on 2011-07-01 at 11:19:36

Hi Michael,

Here is the latest set of errors from just a few minutes ago. I put the x’s in to replace my domain:

[Wed Jul 06 16:42:42 2011] [error] [client 66.249.72.179] File does not exist: /var/www/vhosts/xxxxxxxxx/httpdocs/robots.txt
[Wed Jul 06 16:42:42 2011] [error] [client 66.249.72.179] File does not exist: /var/www/vhosts/xxxxxxxxx/httpdocs/hilton_rec
[Wed Jul 06 17:26:27 2011] [error] [client 208.115.111.66] File does not exist: /var/www/vhosts/xxxxxxxxx/httpdocs/robots.txt
[Wed Jul 06 17:41:06 2011] [error] [client 76.237.93.154] File does not exist: /var/www/vhosts/xxxxxxxxx/subdomains/xxxxxxxxx/httpdocs/favicon.ico
[Wed Jul 06 17:41:06 2011] [error] [client 76.237.93.154] File does not exist: /var/www/vhosts/xxxxxxxxx/subdomains/xxxxxxxxx/httpdocs/favicon.ico
[Wed Jul 06 17:46:40 2011] [error] [client 205.186.147.70] Premature end of script headers: wp-cron.php

Hi

I am new to your backup to dropbox. Please explain how to restore one’s website if it crashes on the server or problems on the server. How to restore from the backup we did with your program.
Thanks