No db backup possible / 9 domains affected

Hello @avantart and thanks for reaching out to us!

Let’s try to run Updraft with our Learning Mode to allow it to operate.

From the Wordfence Dashboard click on Manage WAF. Then you will see Basic Firewall Options > Web Application Firewall Status. Change the option to Learning Mode. Now perform the actions that were causing issues. This will help Wordfence learn that these actions are normal and it will allow them in the future. After you have finished performing the actions, switch the WAF from Learning Mode back to Enabled and Protecting. Now test to see if these actions work correctly.

https://www.wordfence.com/help/firewall/learning-mode/ is an amazing resource for learning more about the WAF and learning mode.

Let me know how it goes!

Thanks!

thank you, I will try!

sorry, your suggestion does not help.
WF is not blocking an action, WF tables are affected!

Here is again an excerpt from the database backup which I tried to run using Updraft Plus:

0000.507 (0) Error (table=gr98_wfTrafficRates, type=BASE TABLE) (table_details_error): (Table ‘blablvla.gr98_wfTrafficRates‘ doesn’t exist in engine)
0000.507 (0) Errors occurred during backing up the table; therefore the open file will be removed
0000.508 (0) Table gr98_wfls_2fa_secrets: Total expected rows (approximate): 0
0000.509 (0) Table gr98_wfls_2fa_secrets: Rows added in this batch (next record: -1): 0 (uncompressed bytes in this segment=693) in 0.00 seconds
0000.510 (0) Table gr98_wfls_2fa_secrets: finishing file(s) (2, 0.4 KB)
0000.511 (0) Table gr98_wfls_settings: Total expected rows (approximate): 18
0000.512 (0) Table gr98_wfls_settings: Rows added in this batch (next record: 1000): 19 (uncompressed bytes in this segment=1602) in 0.00 seconds
0000.513 (0) Table gr98_wfls_settings: finishing file(s) (2, 0.8 KB)
0000.513 (0) Errors occurred whilst backing up the tables; will cease and wait for resumption

so WF has some broken tables or invisible tables or whatever in my database which hinder the backup

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Avantart.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Avantart.

I notice that the error mentions wfTrafficRates which is the old variant we used with capital letters. We might want to clear the tables and let them rebuild again.

A complete re-install of Wordfence might be a good step. It’s always best to make a backup of the site and database before installing/removing plugins, just to be safe.

Additionally, you can backup your Wordfence settings via the Export option. Navigate to Wordfence > Tools > Import/Export Options and click Export. You can also take note of the current Whitelisted URLs you have in Wordfence > Firewall > All Firewall Options > Whitelisted URLs as these are NOT included in the Import/Export, and will be lost during the re-install.
Here is what is exported: https://www.wordfence.com/help/tools/import-export/
During the export, you will be given a long string of text. Keep this safe, you’ll need it in a few minutes.

After that, enable the option to Delete Wordfence tables and data on deactivation in All Options > General Wordfence Options. You will want to remember to disable this after you reinstall Wordfence again.

After you enable that option, you can deactivate Wordfence from the Plugins area of your site, then delete it. Next, from the plugins area, search for and re-install Wordfence like normal.

It will be like setting Wordfence up for the first time. You will need to enter an email address, and then go into Tools > Import/Export Options and paste that string of text into the Import Wordfence Options field and click the button there.

The firewall will be in Learning Mode by default for 7 days. I would recommend switching this to Enabled and Protected as soon as possible.

This should resolve the issue, but let me know what happens!

Thanks!

I want to know how it can happen that in at least 9 domains which I know of this phenomen happens?

What went wrong with the Update-Process?
What went wrong with your programm?

I think these are far too much steps to regain a working environment

will the “Wordfence ASsistant” help in this case?

I am getting angry. First my problem is not understood and now I get this waytoolong todo-list without any explanation why this could happen????

The message Table ‘databasename.tablename‘ doesn’t exist in engine means that there is something wrong with MySQL/MariaDB itself. This issue can’t be caused by a plugin, but rather something like the server losing power or crashing while in the middle of writing data to the DB, a problem in upgrading, or migrating MySQL/MariaDB.

Generally, the host will need to fix MySQL, so the affected table names can be used again or possibly export the whole database, create a new database, and import there.

If all 9 sites are using the same MySQL server, or even the same database (with different WP prefixes), that would likely be the reason that they were all affected at once.

These are some examples of other users having similar issues, not necessarily with WordPress. I would NOT recommend trying any of the recommended fixes if you haven’t fixed MySQL installations before:
https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/217963/recovering-mysql-5-7-tables-in-mariadb-10
https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/196315/table-doesnt-exist-in-engine
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25039927/database-corruption-with-mariadb-table-doesnt-exist-in-engine

Hope this helps!

Thanks!

I now did all these steps, and cleaned the database (there are some plugins who don’t delete their tables after deinstallation)

I saw that even after deleting WF with the option to delete all tables upon deinstallation 2 tables survived: gr98_wfls_2fa_secrets + gr98_wfls_settings
I had to delete these manually in PHPMyAdmin

I re-installed Wordfence and configured it. Now Backups are working.

The problem: this took me 1,5 hours for one website, there are 8 websites more to clean…

but ok now. Cheers, Connie