Issue WP Toolkit Cloning/Copying Fails to Isolate Scheduled Tasks (Cron Job Conflict)

[RegioOnline]

Server operating system version

Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS

Plesk version and microupdate number

Plesk Obsidian 18.0.73 Update #3,

Hi Plesk Support Team,

We are experiencing a critical failure in task isolation when cloning WordPress installations using the WP Toolkit. This issue leads to immediate interference with the scheduled tasks (cron jobs) of the original live site, specifically affecting critical backup routines.


Steps to Reproduce the Issue:

1. Ensure the Live Site (e.g., example.nl) has active custom scheduled tasks configured (e.g., a daily backup script running via crontab).
2. Go to the WP Toolkit and click Clone or Copy the Live WordPress installation.
3. Choose to clone the site to a new webspace/subdomain within the same subscription (e.g., staging.regioonline.nl).

Observed Malicious Behavior:

• Upon completion of the cloning process, the custom scheduled tasks (cron jobs) belonging to the Live Site are either deleted, overwritten, or propagated to the staging environment, causing the Live Site's critical backups to immediately fail.
• This suggests that the automatic cloning process fails to assign a truly unique and isolated UNIX System User to the new webspace, leading to a shared or incorrectly linked crontab environment between the two installations.

Workaround (Confirming Diagnosis):We confirmed that manually copying the files and database to the new subdomain (without using WP Toolkit's Clone/Copy function) prevents the cron job conflict. This isolates the failure point specifically to the WP Toolkit's automated process of configuring the new webspace and its Web Hosting Access/System User.

Could you please investigate why the automated cloning process fails to ensure absolute isolation of the underlying UNIX System User and associated scheduled tasks (crontab) between the two WordPress installations?

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,
Egbert van den Bosch (Netherlands)

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

Hello, @RegioOnline . Thank you for the report. Unfortunately, I was unable to replicate the behavior. I tried cloning the website under a subdomain associated with the same domain and with a different one (under the same subscription). In both cases, the cron task remained unaltered. I would also like to point out that if both websites (original and clone) are located under the same webspace, it is expected for the system user to be the same.

Workaround (Confirming Diagnosis):We confirmed that manually copying the files and database to the new subdomain (without using WP Toolkit's Clone/Copy function) prevents the cron job conflict. This isolates the failure point specifically to the WP Toolkit's automated process of configuring the new webspace and its Web Hosting Access/System User.

Was the manual cloning in this case performed under the same subscription or under a different one?

 

[RegioOnline]

Hi Sebahat.hadzi,
Thanks for your fast response. The manual cloning was under the same subscription but tried to chance that with a new webspace, I found the possible cullprit. I think that the real reason of this behaviour is because I am using Plesk web admin edition. I learned that this version does not allow using seperate workspaces. I was not aware of that and bought a subscription for WP Toolkit for cloning. Although the cloning part works great, it seems the Plesk version does not allow the seperation of workspaces. I have my own (unmanaged) VPS and installed Ubuntu with Plesk from the account of my vendor (STRATO). I made sure everything is updated and set with optimal settings. I think I need to upgrade to Plesk Web Admin Pro (or something like that) to enable seperate workspaces. WP Toolkit full version is a part of that subscription. I run 1 site, highly dynamic (newssite with over 52.000 posts and 20 new every day) on on Apache VPS with 16cpu, 60GB RAM and 2TB storage. I want to run one or two more sites in the future and ofcourse use staging for testing purposes. Would upgrading Plesk solve my issues? And what plan would be the right one for my situation you think.