Scheduled Backup / Domain Down

[networkthinking]

Hello,
I'm noticing that on some of the scheduled backups, they complete succesfully but the web site is then down. I have to stop/start the domain and restart apache.

Any idea what is causing this? Fix anyone?

Thanks,
Wally

 

[davidmd]

Domain down after backup

this definately happens a lot. I have had a long and tedious conversation with swsoft regarding this issue.

the last time i looked at this issue i discovered various problems during the auto backup process. during the backup process the domain is stopped. this means the domain is removed from the named.conf file and apache is restarted. also the httpd.include file is renamed to httpd.include.bak

after the backup completes several possible scenarios arise.

1) the domain does not get added back to the named.conf file.
2) the http.include file in /home/httpd/vhosts/domainname.com/conf / does not get regenerated.
3) apache is not restared.

the state of your domain can include one, two or all of the above problems after the auto backup is completed.

although i had these problems back in july/aug 2004 i thought i would sit and wait to see if an update would resolve these issues.

however today 17th mar 2005 i attempted the auto backup again on one of my domains and again this time apache did not get restarted leaving the domain down.

i need the backup to work as i need inidividual domain backups but the built in plesk backup in 7.x reloaded is not reliable. we need a command console version that does not have to go theough the torturous process of removing domains form named.conf and regenerating the httpd.include file. this approach is riddled with problems as i have experienced many many times since upgrading to plesk reloaded in july 04.

if sw-soft are listening / reading this posting please can we resolve this issue. it is real!!

 

[Krisj]

the auto-backup issue is probably one of the biggest one i have with plesk....

 

[justyxxxx]

I also do a full backup by doing the following commands:

service psa stop1 (to stop the psa administration interface)

/usr/local/psa/bin/psadump -f - --nostop --nostop-domain --tar-ignore-failed-read --force | split -b1000m - /misc/bak/psadump

(the above will keep all domains turned on and will backup all domains)

service psa start1 (to turn back on the control panel interface)

Using the above commands, you should be able to backup all domains and then if only one is needed to be restored, you should be able to restore it using the created backup and the restore commands for a single domain.

Of course, this isn't a fix for your problem, but it is a work-around.

 

[davidmd]

/usr/local/psa/bin/psadump

the nostop options are a problem. have you restored any of the backups using this solution?

the psadump utility even gives a warning that you may have problems restoring if you use the --nostop switches.

i would want to know what are the problems you will have when restoring.

has anyone done a restore from a backup using the --nostop options and what were the results?

 

[justyxxxx]

I talked to a member of support about this and he said that they'd never had a problem, but that it's wise to stop the Plesk interface so that changes wouldn't be made that might cause the restore to fail.

I haven't personally restored using the nobackup option, but I have restored single domains using complete backups.

On a side note, the 4PSA backup also doesn't stop the domains when they're backing up.

 

[BroadAndElmwood]

Re: Domain down after backup

I have this same problem. One thing I noticed is that it's happening to me on just one site.

That site's nottherealdomain.com
I have nottherealdomain.org/net both forwarding to the .com domain.

Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but just wanted to add more info the the problem.

Originally posted by davidmd
this definately happens a lot. I have had a long and tedious conversation with swsoft regarding this issue.

the last time i looked at this issue i discovered various problems during the auto backup process. during the backup process the domain is stopped. this means the domain is removed from the named.conf file and apache is restarted. also the httpd.include file is renamed to httpd.include.bak

after the backup completes several possible scenarios arise.

1) the domain does not get added back to the named.conf file.
2) the http.include file in /home/httpd/vhosts/domainname.com/conf / does not get regenerated.
3) apache is not restared.

the state of your domain can include one, two or all of the above problems after the auto backup is completed.

although i had these problems back in july/aug 2004 i thought i would sit and wait to see if an update would resolve these issues.

however today 17th mar 2005 i attempted the auto backup again on one of my domains and again this time apache did not get restarted leaving the domain down.

i need the backup to work as i need inidividual domain backups but the built in plesk backup in 7.x reloaded is not reliable. we need a command console version that does not have to go theough the torturous process of removing domains form named.conf and regenerating the httpd.include file. this approach is riddled with problems as i have experienced many many times since upgrading to plesk reloaded in july 04.

if sw-soft are listening / reading this posting please can we resolve this issue. it is real!!

 

[jamesyeeoc]

As with any backup, if you don't prevent the data from changing during the backup process, then when you go to restore the data, you may not be restoring what you thought you backed up.

From the start of the backup job, if site data or SQL data changes before the backup job ends, then you don't really have a good backup of the server.

By using the nostop, ignore, and force options, you are telling the backup to continue no matter what adverse conditions may exist or changes to data that may occur. Personally, when I do a backup, I like to feel safe that the backup file is actually the data I wanted to backup.

If you have a server where there is any possibility that the data will change at some point during the backup job, then you should really check into other backup strategies which deal with realtime fluctuating data changes. Hmmm, this forum uses Acronis to keep the mirrored sites all up to date, without having down time. Sure it costs some money, but aren't you making money on hosting? And doesn't your hosting business deserve a proper backup strategy?

 

[ringersma]

Hi,
We're in the plesk for unix forum.
Acronis supports only windows as far as I can tell.
So that's not an option.

regards,
Edwin
P.S. We're also suffering from stopped domains after using psadump. Quite annoying, and more-over... we can't explain it to our customers. They demand a proper backup and also that their domains keep running.

 

[jamesyeeoc]

Regarding Acronis, if you go to the Corporate Products menu, the 5th product down is for Linux:

http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/ATISLin/

And, yes I do know we are in the Linux forum....

Regarding 4PSA Total Backup product, the only time I have ever had a problem resulting in domains going offline after a backup is if the backup volume ran out of space. Other than that, I have found it to be *much* more reliable than Plesk's backup utils.

 

[ringersma]

Ok, thanks for the pointer.
We however use FreeBSD.

So still no option.

Strange that a backup utility that comes with the software (psadump) is doing worse than a third party version 4PSA backup.
I guess we'll have to whip out some more cash to get the backup software running. Nice to have to explain that the software was complete en yes has a backup tool, but we have to purchase a third party one.

 

[jamesyeeoc]

Sort of like Windows comes with a backup program included for free, but it is very limited, so to get a more flexible, more featured backup program, you have to buy a 3rd party backup program....

The software companies have us where they want us...

 

[robtbs]

having exactly the same issue with my plesk on freebsd.

I do a backup and the domain never comes back on.
Do swsoft acknowledge this is an issue?
im not too good with the command line unix stuff so plesk is my only help.

The only way i cant get my domain online again is to change the FTP password... then restarting apache.
im guessing it re-writes the config files i broke during backup.
The domain then works again!!!

I hate plesk :'(

 

[shultis]

I hate plesk :'(

I am having the same problem with the backups. I put in a cron job to do a graceful restart (service httpd graceful), but sometimes even that doesn't work.

Funny thing is I just inherited an ensim server, and while it too has it's limitations, the backup appears to work flawlessly. We did a series of restores, and they were 100%.

I don't hate plesk, (most of the time) it's a very nice interface, and my customers like it, but when I have a disk issue, or something critical fails, I'm going to hate it alot. I'm really considering moving my plesk customers to my ensim box and decommissioning the plesk box all together.

Heck for the price of the backup software, I can buy another low end server. sigh...


-- Scott Shultis
Uncomplicated.net

 

[SherlockH]

End of 2010, Plesk 9.5 and still the problem of apache crashing sporadically after backup because of http.include missing. Are there any new findings?