Resolved Backup - This is not a valid backup - Resolved

[ianCP]

Linux Centos 6.10.

I have not been able to make a server backup under Plesk Obsidian - Backup Manager

The backup runs but just ends with a 'cross' icon which when hovered over says

"This is not a valid backup. Data cannot be restored from this file. Click the backup name to see the details."

I click the backup name and get:

"Error: Unable to restore the backup: the file contains wrong formatting. "

and

the error log box says:

"backup_info_2002030514.xml:
Line 136 error: Element 'user': Missing child element(s). Expected is ( preferences ).

Line 203 error: Element 'user': Missing child element(s). Expected is ( preferences )."

In the console I have run a plesk repair and have no errors.

Command line pleskbackup produces the same problem. I suspect the issue is in the 'server' section because the 'Full' backup has produced valid subscription backups and I still get the error message when I only select 'Domain Configuration'

I have plenty of disk space.

I have run successful backups in previous versions of plesk on this server.

Any thoughts?

 

[Bitpalast]

Same as in

Issue - plesk backup error

Hello, my backup get this error: backup_info_2002031357.xml: Line 76 error: Element 'user': Missing child element(s). Expected is ( preferences ). then i can´t open. i get this error: Error: The backup cannot be restored: the file has the wrong format. some ideas?

talk.plesk.com

 

[Bitpalast]

Please contact official Plesk support on this.

 

[ianCP]

I would contact Plesk support but I have my system through a reseller.

The reseller is asking for root access and my Admin panel credentials because they say that Plesk will need them and they cannot raise the ticket without.

For some strange reason I am very reluctant to allow unknown users root/admin access to a system....

 

[Bitpalast]

Yes, Plesk support requires root access to the machine.

If you do not trust the reseller, you can sign up for a support contract with Plesk directly for approx. 10 €/month. There is a 30 days test period for that. My experience with Plesk support is that they will solve every problem, no matter how difficult it is, so I can only recommend this. To create a ticket, simply start off from Plesk Help Center and select "Submit a request" from the upper right corner. Enter your license key first in the form. The system will then prompt you with a link where you can buy support. After you signed up for the support, return to the form, now your license will be accepted for support.

 

[ianCP]

It's not that I don't just not trust the reseller, I don't trust *anyone* unknown with root credentials.

In these kind of situations I would expect a request for logs. Or to run package 'xzzz' and provide its feedback.

I don't expect a support issue to be treated as 'let us in, we'll have a tinker around and see what we can find...'!

 

[solucionesuno]

I have the same problem! so seems that it is a generalized issue!

 

[solucionesuno]

searching in the backup log, i can see that the error repeate a lot of times, for differents clients!

[2020-02-04 13:05:00.387|23445] INFO: ReadDescription
[2020-02-04 13:05:00.387|23445] INFO: Transport: get local file 'clients/asdgasdfasd/backup_info_2002041230.xml'
[2020-02-04 13:05:00.389|23445] INFO: ValidatePleskXsd. Backup version is 18.0.23
[2020-02-04 13:05:00.410|23445] INFO:
Line 76 error: Element 'user': Missing child element(s). Expected is ( preferences ).

[2020-02-04 13:05:00.410|23445] INFO: Repository '/nfsbkp/host01/dumps': Create item 'status_WRONG-FORMAT' for discovered 'backup_info_2002041230' at path clients/asdgasdfasd
[2020-02-04 13:05:00.411|23445] INFO: Repository '/nfsbkp/host01/dumps': Put info to clients/asdgasdfasd/.discovered/backup_info_2002041230/status_WRONG-FORMAT
[2020-02-04 13:05:00.411|23445] INFO: Transport: Put file clients/asdgasdfasd/.discovered/backup_info_2002041230/status_WRONG-FORMAT

 

[solucionesuno]

@ianCP i think that i can solve the problem.

check in the log of the backup.

cd /var/log/plesk/PMM/backup-**** (replace * by the date of your backup)

cat backup.log |grep Missing -C4 |grep Transport:

here check in the output wich clients are generating the error.

then check in the panel plesk if this clients in the info, has an email informed.

I solve it removing this clients, but i think that filling the email information for thi clients, must solve the problem.

Hope it helps!
Regards

 

[ianCP]

I will have a good look and let you know - thank you in advance!

 

[ianCP]

@solucionesuno - thank you - it was similar to what you described but required a bit more surgery than using the plesk panel.

Basically I had a domain (and files for it) and a client but there was no entry for the domain in the psa.domains table.

I examined the backup log and found the lines containing 'Missing' - looking around these lines showed me that there was a problem with DomainX or VendorX

I made a backup of the plesk database:

> plesk db dump psa > /root/psa_dump-Fri1200-07-02-2020.sql

then opened up the database:

> plesk db

And looked for the entries:

> select * from psa.domains where name like '%DomainX';

> select * from psa.clients where name like '%VendorX%';

There was a vendor but no domain.

Domainx was a simple website (mail was redirected at a higher level) so I made a file copy of the web files:

> cd /var/www/vhosts
> tar -zcf /home/backups/DomainX-files.tgz DomainX

At this point I could have gone back in to the database and deleted the client to see if that would resolve issues but I was concerned I might leave orphaned records in other tables so I used the Plesk web interface and deleted VendorX from Customers (after checking that I had all the details) and checked to see if there was a corresponding entry in Subscriptions (there wasn't). I guess I'm lucky that most of the items on my server are my own domains and accounts and I don't have to try to rebuild something for an actual customer.

So basically, the database was corrupt in that I had a domain on the system but it didn't have an entry in psa.domains. I'm surprised that the plesk repair tool didn't find this.

 

[sebgonzes]

No luck in our case, I review both solution, and get client error with

cat backup.log |grep Missing -C4 |grep Transport:

but, information of these reseller error are correct in plesk (no empty email field), we can't remove these clients as they are correct accounts.
In case of ianCP, domains are correctly in database plesk, and in plesk panel. We have also repair database and still have the same bugs....

Hope plesk team can review and give us an solution to this problem, the last update is quite bad, we have backup incompatibility with old cloudlinux package (solved with plesk team support help), now problem with plesk backup format (both things don't fail with previuous update, just with the last update), also other bugs as header problem mail on notification and now, recieve all notification as html attachment... A lot of problem for an small and normal MU of plesk.

 

[ianCP]

No luck in our case, I review both solution, and get client error with

cat backup.log |grep Missing -C4 |grep Transport:

but, information of these reseller error are correct in plesk (no empty email field), we can't remove these clients as they are correct accounts.
In case of ianCP, domains are correctly in database plesk, and in plesk panel. We have also repair database and still have the same bugs....

Hope plesk team can review and give us an solution to this problem, the last update is quite bad, we have backup incompatibility with old cloudlinux package (solved with plesk team support help), now problem with plesk backup format (both things don't fail with previuous update, just with the last update), also other bugs as header problem mail on notification and now, recieve all notification as html attachment... A lot of problem for an small and normal MU of plesk.

Have you tried the control panel option 'Login as Customer' and then backing up the failing domains individually? Even if the main server backup still gives you errors, you MAY have some peace knowing that the domain information is secure

 

[sebgonzes]

Have you tried the control panel option 'Login as Customer' and then backing up the failing domains individually? Even if the main server backup still gives you errors, you MAY have some peace knowing that the domain information is secure

Bugs have been confirmed by plesk team and suppose will be solve in the next release. It's strange, even the resellers affected by the status_WRONG-FORMAT error in backup.log have apparently correct subscription backups when go to backup subscription section... So I am not sure where is the problem... if it's an backup content problem (that is very critical) or only about (wrong?) warning (no critical)....

 

[solucionesuno]

It is known bug #PPPM-11564 which will be included to the hotfix 18.0.23.4

To be able to create a backup update the Plesk database using the query below to set an email like noreply@user_login_name for users with an empty email set.

mysql> update smb_users set email=concat('noreply@',login) where email='';