Backup/Import busted - random 500 errors

Backup/Import busted - random 500 errors

by Rob Garren -
Number of replies: 3

Moodle 3.1.2+ (Build: 20161014)

 I'm trying to move some assignments and activities from one course to another and I've hit some serious road blocks. I was getting a generic 500 error until I turned on debugging, display IIS errors and not just the generic 500 page, etc. I've also been looking at ETW logging and Microsoft Message Analyzer, server logs in Event Viewer (There are none, so I'm doing something wrong), and the text log files and I can't find any more information than "500 error" and the following error page when I turned off the stock 500 error page:


instantiating backup controller be8e362a52d34460dc38f70d22badc0b

setting controller status to 100
loading controller plan
setting controller status to 300
applying plan defaults
setting controller status to 400
setting file inclusion to 1
checking plan security
setting controller status to 500
checking plan security
checking plan security
checking plan security
saving controller to db
calculating controller checksum 68261278b2e696ccce909d5878afd85b

The checksum and backup controller string always changes, but the rest is the same each time I try either the backup link, or choose a course to import from. I have no idea what's causing this. 

Background and other issues: I moved this site when it was still v2.9 from Ubuntu and Apache to Windows 2012 IIS 8.5 about 6 months ago. Initial performance was flawless. After upgrading to 3.0 users would sometimes get 500 errors when logging in, and now in 3.1.2 most users see at least one 500 error when logging in or taking a quiz, thus losing their work. 

Are there any steps I can take to root out the problem?

Can caching have anything to do with this? I was using WinCache according to the default instructions in the wincache moodle documentation until I just upgraded to 3.1.2 but I am not using it now (importing/backup still doesn't work).

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In reply to Rob Garren

Re: Backup/Import busted - random 500 errors

by Usman Asar -
Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Rob, How much is the size of  the typical course?

and also how did you set up your IIS Server? specifically pointing to the PHP, was it setup manually or using PHP Manager? As I did converted a school's Moodle from Apache to IIS, and their moodle's been running absolutely flawless, also write which PHP version is that you're using.
In reply to Usman Asar

Re: Backup/Import busted - random 500 errors

by Rob Garren -

There is one main course that I use with 190 students in it. My moodledata directory is 18GB, the database backup is in the neighborhood of 100MB. According to the "course size" plugin, the course is 40,990MB which seems a little far fetched but who knows. I have no idea how to actually manage the size of the site because I'm deathly afraid of deleting the wrong file and white screening Moodle. smile


PHP 7.0.6


I set PHP up manually by following a slew of tutorials to install the correct versions of VB2015, 2014, etc., Fast/CGI, the correct x86, x64 versions, etc. It really wasn't a simple installation. I did it that way so I could use wincache. At the time certain versions of PHP didn't work with wincache and it just wasn't point and click. Does that sound reasonable? 


IIS is running on a Windows 2012 VM and when my IT guy installed the VM he just said "Here you go" and I installed IIS through the server setup wizard.

In reply to Rob Garren

Re: Backup/Import busted - random 500 errors

by Usman Asar -
Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Rob,

WinCache should not effect site that it starts generating errors, as I had implemented both WinCache and Zend OpCache for the school, and with PHP 7.x, site works flawless. are you using the  correct version of WinCache for PHP 7.x? as they have updated versions for PHP 7 a few months ago.

I wonder if you MAY have been across the video tutorial in setting up Windows Server and IIS for Moodle, if not I do recommend going through it, another hour of your time, but it may be worth it.

http://blog.academictools.org/2015/12/installing-moodle-on-microsoft-windows.html

You'll find another video showing installation using PHPManager, I do recommend having a look at it as well. Also, have you converted your DB into Barracuda as well?