moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Jay Melton -
Number of replies: 9
Hello all:

I just found this area of the help forums, so I am reasking my question here. I apologize profusely for asking it previously in a wrong area...

The subject of this message is the subject of the email messages that I have been getting for the past 5 weeks on my weekly backups. Here is the output of the error message in the email:

Summary
==================================================
Courses: 9
OK: 7
Error: 0
Unfinished: 2
Some of your courses weren't saved!!
Please take a look to your backup logs in:

Detailed execution log
Course: Basic English II
Sunday, March 13 2005, 01:20 AM
01:20 AM:15
Start backup course Basic English II
01:20 AM:15    Phase 1: Checking and counting:
01:20 AM:15        checking parameters
01:20 AM:15        calculating backup name
01:20 AM:15        calculating modules data
01:20 AM:15            assignment
01:20 AM:15            chat
01:20 AM:15            choice
01:20 AM:15            forum
01:20 AM:15            journal
01:20 AM:15            quiz
01:20 AM:16            resource
01:20 AM:16            survey
01:20 AM:16            workshop
01:20 AM:16            glossary
01:20 AM:16            label
01:20 AM:16            lesson
01:20 AM:16            scorm
01:20 AM:16            wiki
01:20 AM:16        calculating users
01:20 AM:18        calculating logs
01:20 AM:18        calculating user files
01:20 AM:18        calculating course files
01:20 AM:18    Phase 2: Executing and copying:
01:20 AM:18        checking temp structures
01:20 AM:18        cleaning current dir
01:20 AM:18        creating backup file
01:20 AM:18            general info
01:20 AM:18            sections info
01:20 AM:18            user info
01:20 AM:20            categories & questions
01:20 AM:21            logs

I checked the previous successful backup (January 23, 2005); it had 29 more processes. I have checked the MySQL database using C-Panel and it shows everything OK. I have repaired it several times in the past few weeks using C-Panel, but still no luck.

I went into the db with phpMyAdmin and discovered the table log has these fields and potential problem (please excuse the formatting):


Keyname               Type       Cardinality     Action  Field



PRIMARY               PRIMARY         98712                    id

timecoursemoduleaction  INDEX      98712                  time            

                                                        course

                                                        module

                                                         action



coursemoduleaction         INDEX     385                  course

                                                          module

                                                          action



courseuserid                    INDEX      411                course

                                                          userid


This message in particular may be telling:

More than one INDEX key was created for column `course`

Should one or more of these INDICES be deleted? Are there other possibilities?

Jay
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In reply to Jay Melton

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Hi Jay,

perhaps your mdl_log table is growing a lot and your server is killing your process due to some max_execution_time timeout? Can you view the httpd error files you see if you can find anything related there? What happens if you execute the backup manually (enabling logs backup)?

Ciao smile
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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Dennis Daniels -
I'm experiencing similar problems though I don't have the same detail as above.

While doing a manual backup moodle 'times out' or rather our dedicated server gives up after awhile... I don't have access to the logs unfortunately but a backup that went fine three days ago, fails today.

In working through the problem, I've found that if I don't backup the WHOLE course I can get the backup to proceed... though the

backup/backup.php

could probably use a command line echo so that users can see what is hanging up the backup.

The course is about 17M in size.

Any tips or tricks to offer?

Any chance that in future packaging models for moodle the courses can be broken down into smaller bits?

best and thanks!
Dennis
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In reply to Dennis Daniels

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Dennis Daniels -
I let the manual backup run and run... I never got a "complete" message... I went to the files some minutes later and found the backup.zip there...

Do the changes in 1.5 moodle > backup reflect some of the usability issues and solutions offered in this forum?

many thanks!
Dennis
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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Jay Melton -
Hi Eloy,

Thank you for the response. Yes, you're correct, the mdl_log table has 98,719 records (my students and I have been busy big grin ). Should I clear it? I really do not need it any more. I have access to phpMyAdmin. Is the 'Empty' command appropriate?

Where can I view the httpd error files? I am using a hosted service for my moodle services.

I just ran a manual backup of all the courses and it seems to have worked, but this backup had less than 1/4 of the data as the automated backups:

backup-moodle-20050313-0020.zip
212.7Kb
13 Mar 2005, 12:20 AM

backup-moodle-20050320-0020.zip
212.8Kb
20 Mar 2005, 12:20 AM

backup-moodle-20050322-0934.zip
42.5Kb
22 Mar 2005, 09:34 AM

A manual backup of one of the problematic courses was successful (it took a long time with 55,000+ log records). However, the 'course_files' directory is empty, the 'moddata' and 'assignment' have assignment numbers, but no data.

Any more suggestions greatly appreciated. I will be using moodle to collect data for my doctoral dissertation, so getting these things worked out is essential.

Jay
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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Jay Melton -
Hello all:

For those of you keeping score at home, I ended up crossing my fingers and emptying the log table. With 98,000+ entries in that table, it seems the backup was taking too long and timing out. The backup was successful last weekend, so clearing the logs seems to have done the trick.

Thanks, Eloy, for pointing me in the right direction.

Jay
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In reply to Jay Melton

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Luis Cañas Díaz -
Hi Jay, I've been read your trick to get the backups running. But, I'm wondering if you didn't found any problem with memory or time limit.

I'm having the same problems these days. The daily backup reports an error in a few courses and there are more errors day by day.

I feel I will delete the content of the mdl_log table if I do not found any other solution.

Cheers smile
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In reply to Luis Cañas Díaz

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Eloy Lafuente (stronk7) -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Hi Luis,

you can find some useful information about potential causes of problems (error & unfinished scheduled backups) here:

http://docs.moodle.org/wiki/BackupFAQ#Some_of_your_courses_weren.27t_saved.21.21

Hope it helps...ciao smile
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In reply to Eloy Lafuente (stronk7)

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Luis Cañas Díaz -
Hi again Eloy.

I've already seen that information (you sent this link a few days ago in the spanish users forum wink . I tried to find out what is happening but I'm still having the same ERROR.

The log in my Moodle site ends in the line which belongs to logs
...
05:54 PM:37 sections info
05:54 PM:37 user info
05:54 PM:38 categories & questions
05:54 PM:38 logs



I've read mdl_log table causes some troubles if its size is too big. I'm not sure if my table [1] is so big but I dont find any other solution.

[1] mdl_log table :

Space usage:
Type Usage
Data 18,483 KB
Index 13,346 KB
Total 31,829 KB
Row Statistics:
Statements Value
Format dynamic
Rows 262,351
Row length ø 72
Row size ø 124 Bytes
Next Autoindex 265,191
Creation Aug 25, 2005 at 12:52 AM
Last update Dec 05, 2005 at 11:32 AM
Last check Oct 18, 2005 at 08:02 PM
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In reply to Luis Cañas Díaz

Re: moodle: [ERROR] Scheduled backup status

by Luis Cañas Díaz -
Finally I've deselected the LOG option in the backup configuration and now it works successfully (but it do not save logs sad )


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