Q. How do I deal with failed backups?
There are a number of reasons why a backup can fail. You can check out some of the reasons.
1. Unspecific errors (Internal server error 500, Empty response, Failed to zip files, Upload to Amazon S3 failed, Upload to Dropbox failed, Upload to FTP failed…):
These kinds of errors most often occur when you’ve reached your server limits. You may have a large site, or not enough server resources to handle backup action. You can test this issue by running a database backup only. A database backup is much smaller than a full backup, so if it works then you can be almost sure, that your problem falls under this issue.
What can you do?
- Increase PHP execution time and memory limit
The best way is to ask your hosting provider to do this for you because a lot of providers won’t let you do it yourself. You can never be sure how much will be enough but 600s execution time and a 256M memory limit is a good start.
You can also try to do it yourself putting these lines in .htaccess file in your site root folder:
– php_value memory_limit 256M
– php_value max_execution_time 600
or edit those two values if you have access to your php.ini file:
– memory_limit = 256M
– max_execution_time = 600
- Allow access to “mysqldump” and “zip” commands on your server
This is probably the most important part of your server requirements for good backup performance. Check with your hosting provider and ask them to allow these commands unless already allowed.
- Check if the “safe_mode” is turned on, and turn it off
- Try with the “No Compression” option in the backup settings
This means that you will get a bigger backup file but it will require less time to perform backup. With this setting you may avoid the execution time problem.
- Consider excluding some files or folders from your backup
By default, we include wp-admin, wp-includes and wp-content folders, and all the files within your site root folder. Have a look at your site folder for any unnecessary files which may increase its size.
2. Failed to extract database:
The problem most probably occurs because you are not allowed to use the “mysqldump” command on your server.
What can you do?
- Allow access to “mysqldump” command on your server (ask your hosting provider)
- If “mysqldump” command is allowed and it still isn’t working, try repairing your database tables
3. Permission denied, make sure you have write permission to wp-content folder:
You need the correct folder permissions to backup your site. The correct permissions will depend on your hosting company. You can read more about write permissions on the WordPress Codex.
4. “pclZip” errors:
If you get a “pclZip” error, the best solution is to refer to the first item of this topic related to the server limits problem and how to optimize backup performance. Try asking your hosting provider to allow access to the “zip” command on your server.
If none of these solutions solve your backup problems, we welcome inquires in the ManageWP community forum.