Failing when backing up emails

[Andreas Svensson]

We recently migrated to a new VPS, and at the same time we got upgraded from Plesk 9.2 to 9.3. However, since that migration we have been unable to complete any backups using the Plesk Backup utility. Backups always fail simply stating that "no backup error logs exists" or something very similar.

After some debugging I've found that we can successfully backup "content" but not "email" (domain-wise). Initially only the migrated domains where unsuccessful, however shortly after, all domains have started failing. We are currently unable to backup emails from any domain.

Today we also upgraded to the latest 9.5.2 and the problem still persists, for all domains.


Now I realize this isn't much to go on, but I'm not sure what else to present at this time. We really desire the backup functionality to work and have this resolved. I am willing to provide files and information if necessary (including a failed dump).

 

[IgorG]

The reasons of problem with email content backuping can be found in backup logs. Do you have any related errors in these logs?

 

[Andreas Svensson]

I just did a backup of the "email configuration and content" of a very basic site we have, backup failed as expected.
The backup manager has the comment "This file is not a valid backup file." and the "Error Log"-information says "Backup log information is not available".

I'm aware of the logs available in /var/log/sw-cp-server/error.log , is this the backup log you refer to or is there a dedicated log for the backup manager?

The error log at "/var/log/sw-cp-server/error.log" has NO mention of any backup errors at all, only some status information from yesterdays Plesk upgrade.

In case it is of any help, I've zipped down the XML-file from the failed backup (with private information **REMOVED**).
http://cetrez.com/backup_failed_xml.zip

 

[IgorG]

Backup logs should be in /usr/local/psa/PMM/

 

[Andreas Svensson]

Just got this in the mail "migration.results".

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<execution-result status="error">
<object name="backup" type="backupowner">
<message severity="error" code="msgtext">The dump have been invalidated by check-dump operation</message>
</object>
<object name="backup" type="backupowner">
<message severity="error" code="msgtext">Runtime error: The check dump failed with code '1'. The dump can contain invalid data! at /opt/psa/admin/bin/plesk_agent_manager line 658.
</message>
</object>
</execution-result>

Also, from /usr/local/psa/PMM/logs/pmmcli.log

7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,062 DEBUG --> <pmmcli.MakeDumpAction object at 0x1c94e050>
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,062 INFO stdin: <backup-task-description><misc owner-guid="8cc26a62-c3fc-4cf6-9e2e-e2cfeff648e0" owner-type="server" verbose-level="5"/><dumps-storage-credentials storage-type="local"><root-dir>/var/lib/psa/dumps</root-dir></dumps-storage-credentials><backup-specification><backup-options type="full" compression-level="standard" suspend="false" mail-to="" description="Domain backup.
Creation date: May 20, 2010 10:40 AM" filter="only-mail"/><object-to-backup type="domain" id="42" name="**REMOVED**.com"/></backup-specification></backup-task-description>
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,076 INFO Packet succesfully validated.
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,079 DEBUG <pmmcli.ActionRunner object at 0x1c940fd0>: doActivity
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,115 INFO Executing asynchronously <subprocess[7835] '/usr/bin/perl /opt/psa/admin/bin/plesk_agent_manager domains-id --owner-uid=8cc26a62-c3fc-4cf6-9e2e-e2cfeff648e0 --owner-type=server --description=Domain backup.\r\nCreation date: May 20, 2010 10:40 AM --only-mail -vvvv --session-path=/opt/psa/PMM/sessions/2010-05-20-104048.488 42'>
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,116 DEBUG Acquired session mutex: MainThread
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,116 DEBUG detecting running pmmcli daemon...
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,207 DEBUG starting pmmcli daemon...
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,240 DEBUG Executing asynchronously [7839] process
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,241 DEBUG Released session mutex: MainThread
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,242 DEBUG Acquired session mutex: MainThread
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,242 DEBUG Released session mutex: MainThread
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,242 DEBUG <pmmcli.MakeDumpAction object at 0x1c94e050>: response
7834: 2010-05-20 10:40:48,244 INFO Outgoing packet:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<response>
<errcode>0</errcode>
<data>
<task-id>7835</task-id>
</data>
</response>

Is this the information you were referring to?

 

[IgorG]

1. Try to enable debugging for backup logs - Add '--debug' argument for pmm-ras in sub checkDump - see /usr/local/psa/admin/bin/plesk_agent_manager:

$cmd .= " --session-path=$sessionPath --verbose --debug"

2. Then re-run backup and investigate log /usr/local/psa/PMM/sessions/2010-05-20-xxxxxxxx/migration.log

3. /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/backup_sign verify /var/lib/psa/dumps/backup_info_xxxxxxxx.xml

There is should be something like dump.xml

4. Try to validate it with

xmllint --noout --schema /usr/local/psa/PMM/plesk.xsd dump.xml

 

[Andreas Svensson]

Thank you so much for the help and quick answers, I resolved the issue.

For your reference clients started asking for spam-filter for their mailboxes, and rather than activate it for all we wanted them to have the option to do so themselves, but as far as I've found Plesk provides no easy way of giving all mailboxes the right to manage the spamfilter. So I found this guide: http://kb.mediatemple.net/questions/1587/Enable+user+management+of+spam+filtering+for+Plesk

However, it is now clear that it is flawed and that the value should not be assigned TRUE (becomes '1') but should actually be assigned 'true' to be compliant.