Problems with Plugins Backup

Hi there,

Could you provide us a backup log file using Pastebin or similar?
It will help us to identify any other causes for email backup issues.

Best regards,

Nick

Good day,

Thank you for your prompt response. Here is the link to the back log file: https://pastebin.com/EHGmZQZ6. Please note is set as burn after read.

Thank you for your interest!

Hi there,

Thank you, and also thank you for providing the log file.

The log files provides the following info:

0425.424 (0) [Warning] Email: backup_2024-08-06-1929_redacted_d67eed421d68-plugins.zip: This backup archive is 37.5 MB in size – the attempt to send this via email is likely to fail (few email servers allow attachments of this size). If so, you should switch to using a different remote storage method.
0425.424 (0) Email: backup_2024-08-06-1929_redacted_d67eed421d68-plugins.zip: email to: redacted@…
0525.455 (0) An error occurred when sending a backup report email and/or backup file(s) via email (wp_mail_failed): Could not instantiate mail function.

You’ve mentioned the settings are configured to receive bigger files than the plugins backup, have you confirmed this recently? I’m just considering the possibility they may have been changed. Do you know what the current size permitted is? Is there an option to test by raising the permitted size further?

You could enable logging to get more specific info on wp_mail_failed. There’s an article here:
https://joshbrown-designs.com/wp_mail-function-not-working-but-everything-looks-right/

Lowering the split archive every setting to 25MB would reduce the size of the plugin backup files. You can do this in Settings >> Expert settings >> Show expert settings >> Split archives every:

Without having tested this I can’t confirm that the two resulting plugin backup files will be sent separately by email but the change to the split archives every setting will do no harm.

As a fallback while the problem is being resolved saving a backup copy on the local server would allow you to download the plugin file. Just uncheck Delete local backup in your Settings.

I hope this info is helpful and assists to identify a solution.

Best regards,

Nick

Howdy,

Thank you for getting back to us. We reviewed and adjusted again the parameter upload_max_filesize to 50MB and we tried to do a backup to test this out. However, the problem persists and we are getting the same message:

Errors encountered:
* Email: The attempt to send the backup via email failed (probably the backup was too large for this method)

Warnings encountered:

* Email: backup_2024-08-06-1929_company_xxxxxxxxxxxx-plugins.zip: This backup archive is 37.5 MB in size – the attempt to send this via email is likely to fail (few email servers allow attachments of this size). If so, you should switch to using a different remote storage method.

Please note we didn’t have this issue before, the file was the same size and even though we didn’t make any changes, we still got the backup.

Thank you for your help and interest!

Hi,

Your backup is simply to big to be sent by email. You will need to select a different remote storage.

Good day,

The backup size has been the same since the site implementation. We didn’t have any issues with that or your plugin sending the email with the backup before until now.

Perhaps the recent updates are somehow not working properly with our wordpress platform.

Now, where can we find previous versions of the plugin to make the testing?

What is the oldest wordpress version your plugin work with no issues?

We want to run this test as the last shot before deciding what to do with the use of your plugin.

Thank you for your help and prompt response!

Hi there,

Did you check the wp_mail_failed as suggested? It may help identify the problem.
When I refer to max size and settings it relates to your email service provider limits.

Normally, this would cause the issue. Max upload size for WordPress is unrelated.
The plugin version would make no difference. You should check on these two items.

Best regards,

Nick

Hello,

We did. That’s not the problem. We changed the parameter mentioned before just to rule out other potentials reasons for this behavior.

Based on what you mentioned, we will lower the split archive every setting to 25MB in a way to reduce the size of the plugin backup files and see how it goes.

We’ll keep you posted.

@copiaurbietorbi – How did you get along?

Howdy,

We just received the files based on the new configurations suggested. Now there are more zip files to download and indeed, the big file is now divided in two.

We hope that with these changes the backup do not present any issues later on. How can we check the integrity of the backup files once downloaded?

Thank you for your help.

Hi there,

I’m pleased to hear you overcame the issue with the files and email size.
Yes, there is the trade off with the amount of files with a lower split size.

There’s no reason there should be any integrity issues with size change.
However, you could try a restore from a set on a test server to be sure.

Best regards,

Nick

Howdy,

We will. Thank you for your help.