Resolved Full server scheduled backup shows "Backup to Cloud Pro" message

[Ahmed]

Username:

TITLE

Full server scheduled backup shows "Backup to Cloud Pro" message

PRODUCT, VERSION, OPERATING SYSTEM, ARCHITECTURE

Plesk 18.0.56 Update #1, Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

When trying to schedule a daily incremental server backup to be stored on remote storage (Custom (Minio, OpenStack, etc.) in my case), with a weekly full backup, I'm shown a poup titled "Backup to Cloud Pro" asking me to purchase that extension. I checked on another server with Plesk 18.0.52 and this works without any issue. Is this yet another case of a feature that used to work getting paywalled?

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Go to Tools & Settings > Backup Manager and try to schedule a backup as explained to be stored in remote storage.

ACTUAL RESULT

A popup appears requesting you to buy "Backup to Cloud Pro".

EXPECTED RESULT

The backup is scheduled.

ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

(DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION)

YOUR EXPECTATIONS FROM PLESK SERVICE TEAM

Help with sorting out

 

[Ahmed]

I just upgraded the server that was at 18.0.52 version to 18.0.56 and I can confirm that between those two versions they just silently paywalled the ability to set up a scheduled server backup to remote storage. I went to the schedule config screen, and tried to save without changing anything of what was previosly configured, and the popup asking to buy the pro extension appeared.

 

[Robert S Tucker]

I migrated my server to a new install and also have now to pay to do what was working perfectly well on the old server. I totally disagree with this. What else will you stick behind a paywall? Sending email?
You cant simply make people pay for perfectly sound functionality. I can see the additional benefit for value added options like single file restore etc, but just to do the back up seems a bit rich to me.

My old server was and still is on the same version as the new one. It appears that only if you havent created a backup scheduled job before that version do you have to pay. The old server still backs up to external storage no problem and is on the most up to date version of plesk.

 

[Robert S Tucker]

I migrated my server to a new install and also have now to pay to do what was working perfectly well on the old server. I totally disagree with this. What else will you stick behind a paywall? Sending email?
You cant simply make people pay for perfectly sound functionality. I can see the additional benefit for value added options like single file restore etc, but just to do the back up seems a bit rich to me.

My old server was and still is on the same version as the new one. It appears that only if you havent created a backup scheduled job before that version do you have to pay. The old server still backs up to external storage no problem and is on the most up to date version of plesk.

Ok, so without hacking anything, I have now a setup which doesn't require the Backup Pro licence certainly in my case for OneDrive Personal. So far it appears to work with some small cosmetic errors only. I will try and restore elements of the install including a full install to validate its a working approach. PM me if you would like details. Clearly I cant provide any guarantees here so any info you get off me treat with the suspicion it deserves...
Please Note: I have already paid for the Backup Pro version but this paywall thing is annoying so I looked for a way around this particular instance of it.

 

[Peter Debik]

When trying to schedule a daily incremental server backup to be stored on remote storage (Custom (Minio, OpenStack, etc.) in my case), with a weekly full backup, I'm shown a poup titled "Backup to Cloud Pro" asking me to purchase that extension. I checked on another server with Plesk 18.0.52 and this works without any issue. Is this yet another case of a feature that used to work getting paywalled?

Normal FTP or FTPS backups do not need an extension, but for other services you need to have a license. It's always been that way.

 

[Peter Debik]

My old server was and still is on the same version as the new one. It appears that only if you havent created a backup scheduled job before that version do you have to pay. The old server still backs up to external storage no problem and is on the most up to date version of plesk.

Please check the backup settings. If you are using FTP or FTPS, you do not need any additional license. For other backup types there have always been extensions that were required. The "Backup to Cloud Pro" is one possible extension that covers all, e.g. SFTP and several cloud based storage solutions.

 

[Ahmed]

Normal FTP or FTPS backups do not need an extension, but for other services you need to have a license. It's always been that way.

This is not true. A license was required to schedule backups for a specific subscription, but not for entire server backups. After updating to the latest version, server backups that where working fine can no longer be scheduled to remote storage, at least with the Amazon S3 extension. I tried reverting to a previous version and it works without any problem.

 

[Ahmed]

Please check the backup settings. If you are using FTP or FTPS, you do not need any additional license. For other backup types there have always been extensions that were required. The "Backup to Cloud Pro" is one possible extension that covers all, e.g. SFTP and several cloud based storage solutions.

I've always been using the Amazon S3 extension, but now with the latest Plesk version you can't schedule a server backup like you used to, because you silently added a paywall in the schedule backup form. The shady business practices are getting out of hand honestly.

 

[Peter Debik]

Let me check with staff whether there was a change. As far as I know there wasn't, but I'll try to find out more about it.

 

[Peter Debik]

@Ahmed, @Robert S Tucker according to Plesk product managers and a developer nothing was changed with the license or extensions. We'd like to ask both of you to please open a support ticket an grant SSH access (through the free Plesk SSH support extension) so that support engineers can examine why the S3 license no longer lets you create server backups when logged in as "admin". According to our docs here, this should still be possible.

To sign-in to support please go to https://support.plesk.com

If you experience login issues, please see this KB article:
https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/...rt-plesk-com-and-password-reset-does-not-work

If you bought your license from a reseller, your reseller should provide support for you. If the reseller does not provide support, here is an alternative:
https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/12388090147095-How-to-get-support-directly-from-Plesk-
Please use the 30 days free trial option. You can cancel the support subscription without further obligation.

 

[Ahmed]

This is the backup schedule form.


This is the popup shown when you try to either Save or Apply.


I don't think there's a lot more to say/show. Before updating to the latest version this worked fine.

 

[Kaspar]

@Ahmed, @Robert S Tucker according to Plesk product managers and a developer nothing was changed with the license or extensions.

@Peter Debik, are you saying that Plesk's policy regarding remote backups hasn't changed? Meaning that the option to store full server scheduled backups remotely should still be possible without the additional "Backup to Cloud Pro" license?

Because that's currently (with Plesk version 18.0.56) just not possible. @Ahmed described the issue pretty well in his report and it's not hard to replicate/test. It's not related to S3 backups either. Any of the remote backup types are prohibited (for scheduled full server backups), without the "Backup to Cloud Pro" license.

 

[Peter Debik]

@Peter Debik, are you saying that Plesk's policy regarding remote backups hasn't changed? Meaning that the option to store full server scheduled backups remotely should still be possible without the additional "Backup to Cloud Pro" license?

Because that's currently (with Plesk version 18.0.56) just not possible. @Ahmed described the issue pretty well in his report and it's not hard to replicate/test. It's not related to S3 backups either. Any of the remote backup types are prohibited (for scheduled full server backups), without the "Backup to Cloud Pro" license.

Yes, it should still be possible. We have another issue on file with the S3 backup extension that touches the same topic, but is not exactly the same. It needs to be investigated, because the behavior is not aligned with how the product was defined.

 

[Peter Debik]

@Ahmed We need access to the affected servers, else it cannot be verified appropriately. That the issue exists is clear from your posts, but developers need to see it on a system that is affected to being able to determine the root cause and to eventually fix it.

 

[Ahmed]

@Ahmed We need access to the affected servers, else it cannot be verified appropriately. That the issue exists is clear from your posts, but developers need to see it on a system that is affected to being able to determine the root cause and to eventually fix it.

Spin up a VM with the Ubuntu 22.04 + Plesk image on Google Cloud, make sure Plesk is updated to the latest version, install the Amazon S3 extension, configure the remote storage for the backups to Google Cloud Storage (as Custom (Minio, OpenStack, etc.)) and then try to configure the scheduled server backup. I just tried it and the paywall popup still appears.

I can't give you SSH access due to coporate policy. It will cost you maybe $1.

 

[Peter Debik]

The issue has been filed as PPP-62939 and will be fixed in the nearest update. Thank you to all who helped us to reproduce it.

 

[Peter Debik]

Workaround: In panel.ini add a line to the [pmm] section:

[pmm]
showCompleteBackupSolutionPromo=false

 

[Peter Debik]

Fixed in Plesk 18.0.56 #3, published November 1st, 2023.