ERROR: Step aborted: too many attempts!

In Settings:
Maximum number of retries for job steps: 3
Maximum script execution time: 30 Seconds

Hello Admins, any suggestion about how to fix this problem? Thank you!

@pabho
I see in your server info: Maximum execution time: 0 seconds
please show me values of BackWPUp-> Settings -> Infomation tab ->Maximum execution time and BackWPUp -> Settings -> Jobs -> Maximum script execution time.

[Just a note]
We have a beta testing program now, please subscribe in here to become a beta tester if you want:
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The beta version comes with automatically restore and many other enhancements.
Thank you!

@pabho,

since we haven’t heard back from you, I’m going to mark it as resolved.
If you’re still having problems, feel free to let us know ;),

Btw, If you find BackWPUp is useful for you, we would really appreciate if you leave a positive review and rating.
This would encourage us to develop new free features and provide free support ??
https://www.ads-software.com/support/plugin/backwpup/reviews/

Hi @duongcuong96,

I have been facing the same problem for a couple of weeks.
Nothing changed on the FTP server. I just kept updating WP and BackWPup (now 4.9.3 and 3.4.4). The backup file is around 400 MB. It used to backup fine on FTP, and still does it fine on localhost and Dropbox

BackWPup settings:
Maximum execution time 600 seconds

Job settings:
Timeout for FTP connection : 300s (maximum value)
Use explicit SSL-FTP connection: yes
Use passive mode: yes

Log:

[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] 1. Try to send backup file to an FTP server …
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] Connected via explicit SSL-FTP to server: 123.123.123.123:21
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] FTP client command: USER <backwpup user>
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] FTP server response: User <backwpup user> logged in.
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] FTP client command: SYST
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] FTP server reply: UNIX
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] FTP current folder is: /mydomain/
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] FTP client command: PASV
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] FTP server reply: Entering passive mode
[18-Mar-2018 22:50:50] Starting upload to FTP  …
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:11] Restart after 23 seconds.
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:12] Connected via explicit SSL-FTP to server: 123.123.123.123:21
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:12] FTP client command: USER <backwpup user>
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:12] FTP server response: User <backwpup user> logged in.
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:12] FTP client command: SYST
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:12] FTP server reply: UNIX
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:12] FTP client command: PASV
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:12] FTP server reply: Entering passive mode
[18-Mar-2018 22:51:12] Starting upload to FTP  …
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:12] WARNING: ftp_nb_fput(): Restart position accepted (262652475).
[18-Mar-2018 21:56:12 UTC] PHP Warning: mysqli_ping(): MySQL server has gone away in /home/mydomain/www/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1690 [18-Mar-2018 22:56:12] ERROR: Cannot transfer backup to FTP server!
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:12] Restart after 301 seconds.
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] 2. Try to send backup file to an FTP server …
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] Connected via explicit SSL-FTP to server: 123.123.123.123:21
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] FTP client command: USER <backwpup user>
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] FTP server response: User <backwpup user> logged in.
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] FTP client command: SYST
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] FTP server reply: UNIX
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] FTP client command: PASV
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] FTP server reply: Entering passive mode
[18-Mar-2018 22:56:13] Starting upload to FTP  …
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:13] WARNING: ftp_nb_fput(): Restart position accepted (262652475).
[18-Mar-2018 22:01:13 UTC] PHP Warning: mysqli_query(): MySQL server has gone away in /home/mydomain/www/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1924 [18-Mar-2018 22:01:13 UTC] PHP Warning: mysqli_query(): Error reading result set's header in /home/mydomain/www/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1924 [18-Mar-2018 23:01:13] ERROR: Cannot transfer backup to FTP server!
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:13] Restart after 301 seconds.
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] 3. Try to send backup file to an FTP server …
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] Connected via explicit SSL-FTP to server: 123.123.123.123:21
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] FTP client command: USER <backwpup user>
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] FTP server response: User <backwpup user> logged in.
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] FTP client command: SYST
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] FTP server reply: UNIX
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] FTP client command: PASV
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] FTP server reply: Entering passive mode
[18-Mar-2018 23:01:14] Starting upload to FTP  …
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] WARNING: Job restarts due to inactivity for more than 5 minutes.
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] 3. Try to send backup file to an FTP server …
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] Connected via explicit SSL-FTP to server: 123.123.123.123:21
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] FTP client command: USER <backwpup user>
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] FTP server response: User <backwpup user> logged in.
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] FTP client command: SYST
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] FTP server reply: UNIX
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] FTP client command: PASV
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] FTP server reply: Entering passive mode
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] Starting upload to FTP  …
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] WARNING: ftp_nb_fput(): Restart position accepted (268652475).
[18-Mar-2018 22:06:14 UTC] PHP Warning: mysqli_query(): MySQL server has gone away in /home/mydomain/www/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1924 [18-Mar-2018 22:06:14 UTC] PHP Warning: mysqli_query(): Error reading result set's header in /home/mydomain/www/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1924 [18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] ERROR: Cannot transfer backup to FTP server!
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:14] Restart after 301 seconds.
[18-Mar-2018 23:06:37] ERROR: Step aborted: too many attempts!

Sometimes I end up with a bit of the 400 MB file on the server (up to 250ish MB).
When I first set that backup up (on 2016-09-13), the job finished successfully in 36 seconds with a 420 MB file.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by jbd7.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by jbd7.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by jbd7.

@jbd7 You’ll want to lower that maximum execution time to 30 seconds or so. That’s likely your issue. Please let us know if that works for you.

@cocreation Thanks! Unfortunately, I can’t find where to change it.

However, my php7 installation shows a max_execution_time of 300, so how does BackWPup fetches 600 from admin.php?page=backwpupsettings#backwpup-tab-information ?
When I output <?php phpinfo(); ?> there’s no value set at 600

And how does that explain, from the log posted above, that BackWPup restarts every 5 minutes (300 seconds), with either of:
– WARNING: Job restarts due to inactivity
– WARNING: ftp_nb_fput(): Restart position accepted (262652475)
?

The only settings I can change in BackWPup settings panel is the timeout for FTP connection. I’ve set it to 30, and it prevents the transfer to complete after 30 seconds. So, how come the FTP timeout cuts the connection during the transfer? How can I make it happen, considering the max value of 300 seconds is not enough today (even if it completed in less than a minute with previous versions of BackWPup) ?

Thanks

Hello, and thank you for your time. I’ve also been encountering the following… “Error: Step Aborted: Too many attempts!”

I have the Maximum number of retries for job steps at 3 and Maximum script execution time at 30 seconds. Do I need to raise this? Are there other settings I should examine? I followed the videos on the webpage for guidance on running the backup jobs, but I still am having these issues. I know several images have file names that are too long and generate warnings, but don’t know if this is the problem. Thank you very much for your support.

Hi @allanwood18,
Maybe you can switch from Tar backup to Zip backup to avoid long file name warning, also, Please go to BackWPup > Settings > Jobs, try to set Maximum Script Execution Time setting to about 25 seconds and increase max try times to about 5 ( BackWPUp -> Settings -> Jobs -> Maximum number of retries for job steps -> set to 5 )