backups not archiving databases correctly

I had a client have a problem with their website and I engaged the backup system. When the restore was completed even though the backup said it was run last night as midnight..the content came back as 4 days ago...aka march 16th. This means the backups have been silently failing for 4 days. I then tried to restore the 19th's backup. it came back with the 17th's content. this means the backups have not made a proper backup in 4 days despite me having them set to run daily. The log says everything is peachy...they obviously are not. Any ideas?

Status: 
Active
Virtualmin version: 
6.15
Webmin version: 
1.973

Comments

If you check the Backup Logs page in Virtualmin, does it show any failures?

nope it says everything worked fine...

Are you running an incremental backup, or a full one?

Also, is it only the database contents that are not up to date?

for wordpress if the database is out of date the entire site is out of date as that's where the posts are kept. I only host wordpress. I run daily full backups.

any ideas? I have a copy of the entire 14 day archive set just in case you want to look through it.

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Thu, 03/25/2021 - 03:45

any ideas? I have a copy of the entire 14 day archive set just in case you want to look through it.

Considering you have database feature enabled for virtual server and scheduled backup page doesn't exclude backups for Contents of server's MySQL databases - it should work. At least it worked for me over the past night on one of my test servers, for both incremental and non-incremental backups.

If you look inside of a backup file do you find .backup directory there (might be hidden by default in standard file managers). Under that directory you should find gzipped databases.

the database was there..but the contents were 4 days old instead of the current days contents..

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Fri, 04/02/2021 - 19:00

the database was there..but the contents were 4 days old instead of the current days contents..

Please double check that you're looking at the right backup file? A database gets always backed up disregard of full or incremental backup.

yeppers..it was the correct date according to the timestamp of the backup file i told it to restore.
I am getting ready to move to a new server. usually weird stuff like this is virtualmin getting old(kinda like windows does) and it starts doing weird stuff. once i move machines i'll check into it again. for right now i just manually do the db backups in addition to the virt scheduled backups.

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Mon, 04/05/2021 - 12:02

weird stuff like this is virtualmin getting old(kinda like windows does) and it starts doing weird stuff.

Virtualmin is nothing like Windows. Virtualmin is using existing system commands. mysqldump command should be used to perform MySQL database backups. If it fails it should be logged one way or another.

once i move machines i'll check into it again.

Please do, thanks!

My experience tells me otherwise. Some of my biggest problems have been when i either try to actually use virtualmin within the boundaries of what it says it can do(ipv6 issues..which still exist..which have forced me to offer a single shared ipv6 to all accounts instead of each one getting an address of their own..and restores going much slower with ipv6 enabled...both are tickets already in the system)...or if i let the install grow more than a year old..because then weird things like this sql backup issue pop up. In some ways..for me..virt IS much like windows in that it requires an annual reinstall cycle(at the minimum..sometimes more often) in order to continue to work properly. Virt..fortunately and unfortunately...is the only panel that can do what I have identified as my business model correctly without other hoop jumping. It's something I've come to accept...at least for the short to mid term future of my company..:)

Why don't you restore the database?

Read the original post please.