We have a serieus problem: our folder/moodledata/temp/backup is going crazy. In 24 hours it stores over 300 GB of data while the entire Moodle site is 120 GB of data.
I have search some topics and most of them had to do with automated course backup being enabled. On our site, automated course backup is disabled.
So what is happening here? Cron files look normal, no errors of any kind indicating any problems.
Moodle 3.4.1+ (Build: 20180228) Version 2017111301.07
I did find something now in one of the crons:
--------------------------
Adhoc task failed: core_course\task\course_delete_modules,Coding error detected, it must be fixed by a programmer: The course module 31804 could not be deleted. #0 /home/learn/public_html/backup/util/factories/backup_factory.class.php(65): file_logger->__construct(30, true, true, '/home/learn/moo...')
#1 /home/learn/public_html/backup/controller/backup_controller.class.php(109): backup_factory::get_logger_chain(false, 1, '3e35cb9eb8bf80b...')
#2 /home/learn/public_html/admin/tool/recyclebin/classes/course_bin.php(123): backup_controller->__construct('activity', '31804', 'moodle2', false, 10, '2')
#3 /home/learn/public_html/admin/tool/recyclebin/lib.php(151): tool_recyclebin\course_bin->store_item(Object(stdClass))
#4 /home/learn/public_html/course/lib.php(1185): tool_recyclebin_pre_course_module_delete(Object(stdClass))
#5 /home/learn/public_html/course/classes/task/course_delete_modules.php(66): course_delete_module('31804')
#6 /home/learn/public_html/lib/cronlib.php(181): core_course\task\course_delete_modules->execute()
#7 /home/learn/public_html/lib/cronlib.php(74): cron_run_inner_adhoc_task(Object(core_course\task\course_delete_modules))
#8 /home/learn/public_html/admin/cli/cron.php(61): cron_run()
#9 {main}
------------------------------
Any idea what's going on here? and why it generates 300 GB of temporary data?'a course module # cannot be deleted' is key ...
Please see: https://docs.moodle.org/34/en/Recycle_bin
Think I'd turn recyclebin off for now ... also the task related.
To investigate which module it is, check out what's in /moodledata/temp/backup/ to see if there is a directory whose name begins with 3e35cb9eb8bf80b ... see what's in there for a clue.
OR query the database tables related to modules .. mdl_course_modules or other looking for that module id to see what the course id is, go to course and see what's there.
You should be able to remove anything in moodledata/temp/backup/ manually.
'spirit of sharing', Ken
Thanks Ken!
Even though I have no automated course backup enabled, I also disabled it in 'scheduled tasks'.
For now, only log files are being created from zero bytes. So the ridiculous amount of data is no longer being created.
I will do a search on monday as to what is really causing the problem.
Hi Ken,
You were spot on, but this is a major Moodle bug.
It had to do with a big folder with photos. It had already been deleted from a course but was still in the recycle bin.
This /moodledata/temp/backup/ folder gets huge. I'm talking about 500 Gb in 2 days time. It just crashes your Moodle (the entire size of this Moodle installation is 120 Gb)
Should I report this bug somewhere?
Bugs: https://tracker.moodle.org/secure/Dashboard.jspa
But, when filing the issue, you have to provide a way to replicate the problem - description of MDL version + settings ... an since this involves one course, which it self might be large and contain users ... in this case teacher's files ... how does one do that?
I agree that something isn't working ... but bug? Could be ... but if it were wouldn't there be many 'me too's' posted?
I'll PM you with an offer (no $ so no one slap me around for offering assistance) on how we might solve.
'spirit of sharing', Ken
I replied to your PM...
I also found this: MDL-32547
Might be related, but don't know.
We upgraded from Moodle 3.1to 3.4 on February 19. Before then, this problem was not present. Which makes sense as M3.1 does not have a recylebin.
My best guess is that this happened:
What happened next is unknown... but somehow Moodle keeps trying to restore this course to moodledata/temp/backup.
Another scenario is this:
After that, Moodle started filling up moodledata/temp/backup with backups.
Moodle seemed to be stuck in a loop. Somehow it looks like it's making backups of backups of backups. The folders in moodledata/temp/backup look like this:
Folder PATH listing
├───2b506a5343aa6d14e0d9d6cea5f25b8f
│ ├───activities
│ │ └───folder_26628
│ └───files
│ ├───00
│ ├───02
│ ├───04
│ ├───05
│ ├───06
│ ├───09
│ ├───0a
│ ├───0b
│ ├───0d
│ ├───0f
│ ├───17
│ ├───1b
│ ├───1d
│ ├───1e
│ ├───1f
│ ├───20
│ ├───25
│ ├───26
│ ├───27
│ ├───28
│ ├───29
│ ├───2c
│ ├───2e
│ ├───31
│ ├───37
│ ├───39
│ ├───3a
│ ├───3c
│ ├───3d
│ ├───46
│ ├───49
│ ├───4b
│ ├───4d
│ ├───54
│ ├───5b
│ ├───5c
│ ├───64
│ ├───66
│ ├───68
│ ├───69
│ ├───6a
│ ├───6b
│ ├───70
│ ├───72
│ ├───76
│ ├───78
│ ├───81
│ ├───83
│ ├───88
│ ├───8b
│ ├───8e
│ ├───92
│ ├───93
│ ├───94
│ ├───9a
│ ├───9b
│ ├───9d
│ ├───a1
│ ├───a5
│ ├───a7
│ ├───aa
│ ├───ac
│ ├───af
│ ├───b0
│ ├───b6
│ ├───ba
│ ├───bb
│ ├───bd
│ ├───bf
│ ├───c0
│ ├───c1
│ ├───ca
│ ├───cd
│ ├───d0
│ ├───d4
│ ├───dc
│ ├───dd
│ ├───df
│ ├───e0
│ ├───e2
│ ├───e4
│ ├───ea
│ ├───eb
│ ├───ec
│ ├───ed
│ ├───f0
│ ├───f3
│ ├───f4
│ ├───f5
│ ├───f9
│ └───ff
└───ffb68b5cbd31fc3679bd665ddcd21395
├───activities
│ └───folder_26628
└───files
├───00
├───02
├───04
├───05
├───06
├───09
├───0a
├───0b
├───0d
├───0f
├───17
├───1b
├───1d
├───1e
├───1f
├───20
├───25
├───26
├───27
├───28
├───29
├───2c
├───2e
├───31
├───37
├───39
├───3a
├───3c
├───3d
├───46
├───49
├───4b
├───4d
├───54
├───5b
├───5c
├───64
├───66
├───68
├───69
├───6a
├───6b
├───70
├───72
├───76
├───78
├───81
├───83
├───88
├───8b
├───8e
├───92
├───93
├───94
├───9a
├───9b
├───9d
├───a1
├───a5
├───a7
├───aa
├───ac
├───af
├───b0
├───b6
├───ba
├───bb
├───bd
├───bf
├───c0
├───c1
├───ca
├───cd
├───d0
├───d4
├───dc
├───dd
├───df
├───e0
├───e2
├───e4
├───ea
├───eb
├───ec
├───ed
├───f0
├───f3
├───f4
├───f5
├───f9
└───ff
The file structure in a backup kinda mimics what's in filedir ...
This: ffb68b5cbd31fc3679bd665ddcd21395 is the only file there ... it's in files/ff/
It might be linked to in another course. Search mdl_files table for 'contenthash' or other to see if ffb68b5cbd31fc3679bd665ddcd21395 actually exist in another course.
You might check also what it a.
cd moodledata/filedir/
find ./ -name ffb6ro8b5cbd31fc3679bd665ddcd21395
Probably in ff/b6/
file -b ffb6ro8b5cbd31fc3679bd665ddcd21395 will give a clue as to mimetype.
'spirit of sharing', Ken
Hi Richard,
We have the same problem and with the same version of Moodle (3.4.1), but we use Oracle as a database.
We have performed the steps you mentioned (the 1st was already), and everything solved:
1. Disabled the backups in the Moodle scheduled task (Site administration Server Scheduled tasks)
2. Disabled the Recycling Bin (Site administration Plugins Admin tools Recycle bin)
Likewise, we would need to have activated the "Recycling Bin"... have you finally been able to solve the issue or is there some MDL- that has solved it?
Thanks for everything.
Hi Iván,
We upgraded to Moodle 3.5. After that, I turned on the recycle bin again (not automated backups) and things got normal.
I didn't do anything special. Might have been fixed in 3.5?
Hope it will fix your problem to!
I'm using the same version, 3.5.1 and I have the same problem
We're turn off recycle bin today...
