Database Backup Errors (again) with Version 5.6.9/5.6.10

  • Resolved ElsieBlogger

    (@elsieblogger)


    6 days, 19 hours ago

    About 3 months ago a problem occurred with database backup errors. The error message displays immediately after the connection to the database. Here is the excerpt from the log:

    [Monday, June 1, 2026 9:25 am] ERROR: Allowed memory size of 96468992 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 3311240 bytes)

    The problem appears exactly the same as happened with the introduction of version 5.6.6, which was resolved with version 5.6.9. Today the error has reappeared with version 5.6.9. I updated to version 5.6.10, but it too has failed. In desperation, I reverted back to version 5.6.5 (the last version to never have had the error). Now even that version is failing!

    Nothing has changed in my “setup”. Last week things were fine, this week things are broken. 🙁

    I’m hoping that whatever caused the issue in the first place will aid in tracking what is broken now. Thanks!

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • andyhenderson2

    (@andyhenderson2)

    6 days, 18 hours ago

    FWIW, it appears you haven’t allocated a lot of memory to WordPress. If your backup size has been growing, you might have hit that limit. I use IONOS and I’ve increased the allowed memory to 512Mb with these two commands in wp_config.php (it’s in the root folder of your site):

    define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '512M');
    define('WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT', '512M');

    The commands go before the following line:

    /* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */

    Your ISP will have also set a memory limit via PHP.ini. Worth checking if you have access. If that figure is lower than your new, requested limit nothing will go wrong. WordPress will use the lower value it finds in the two places.

    Andy

    Thread Starter ElsieBlogger

    (@elsieblogger)

    6 days, 16 hours ago

    Andy, I have followed your suggestion, and am happy to report that the backups appear to be working correctly. I have no idea what the default memory limit was set to, but increasing to 512Mb did the trick.

    Thanks for this suggestion and also for providing a detailed explanation on how to do it. As it happens, IONOS is my provider as well.

    -Jack

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

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