That is really weird, is there a backup being made despite the error?
You will need to do some debugging on your server, https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-dbmanager/faq/ (1st Q).
Thread Starter
acekin
(@acekin)
No Lester, there is no file being created in the backup folder. Additionally, when WP DBManager is active, my login time becomes exceedingly long on this site, something like 1.5-2 minutes. If it is disabled, it is quite normal, in 10-15 seconds.
I will follow the instructions in the FAQ and see if I can find other information. I may also try disabling other plugins and see if it makes any difference. Strangely, I have no difficulty running the backup on the servers of the same hosting provider, perhaps the same server.
Thanks for the pointer,
Cewmal
Thread Starter
acekin
(@acekin)
Lester, I have found a possible clue that may mean more to you than me. In the php.error.log file there are lines that refer to a specific line in the wp-dbmanager.php file. Here is the line, the domain name is replaced with xxx:
[14-Jan-2017 22:14:25 UTC] PHP Warning: passthru() has been disabled for security reasons in /home/xxxxxxx/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-dbmanager/wp-dbmanager.php on line 265
On a few occasions the line number reference is to line 251 in the same file.
I hope it gives you enough ammo to get it going again.
Thank you,
Cemal
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This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by
acekin.
Thread Starter
acekin
(@acekin)
Although I have not gone through the entire process in FAQ question 1, I am reporting as follows:
- The line number indicated for check_backup_files() is wrong, it is on line 245
- The resulting line seems to read the db name, user name, password, character set, and the backup path; they all seem to be accurate as I compared to the config file and the WP DBManager settings
- After running the backup once more, it has added another error warning as in the previous message referring to line 265
- I have not yet inquired about running SSH from my hosting provider, I am reporting the results of what I could do on my own
Thanks,
Cemal
It seems that your host disable passthru() which means you can’t use this plugin. I think you found a bug in the way the plugin checks whether the passthru() is enabled.
Yea the line number is approx as it will keep changing from versions to versions as new code is pushed. I will fix that.
I have make the fix, you can try to download https://github.com/lesterchan/wp-dbmanager/archive/master.zip and overwrite the files. It should say passthru is disabled.
Thread Starter
acekin
(@acekin)
Thank you Lester, I have downloaded the files and wrote them over the ones in the plugin folder. When I go to DB Backup all three show as disabled: passthru() disabled, system() disabled, exec() disabled. But then the next line says: Excellent. You Are Good To Go. You may consider changing that line when one or more of these fail to pass the test to read something like “Without these functions DB Backup will not function. You may consider contacting your hosting company and ask them to enable them.” Which is what I will do. Now that I understand what is going on, I remember facing the same issue on another site but the functions showed as disabled. My hosting company enabled them and I was good to go.
I will update this post after I contact my provider to close the loop, stay tuned.
Thank you,
Cemal
Thanks for the bug report. I have fixed that =)
Thread Starter
acekin
(@acekin)
I asked my hosting provider to enable those functions. Although they enabled them on another site for me, they are now saying it is a security breech for the server. They are doing some internal conversation as to how the original enabling was done, or was it done against the policies.
Does it really pose a security threat to the server if these functions are enabled?
Cemal
Hmm depends, but for a shared hosting, they normal disable it because they rather be safe than sorry.
For VPS, normally is enabled =)
Thread Starter
acekin
(@acekin)
Well, I may need to find a different backup option if these functions are not available to me. I do like your plugins, this one and WP-Sweep.
Since you are intimately familiar with the innards of the databases, I have a suggestion for a plugin. After installing and removing various plugins, and for other reasons I’m sure, the database tables end up with excessive crud. I have not found a robust and easy to use method to clean up the gunk in especially the wp_options table. Do you think this can be done?
Thank you for your help, I will let you know when I hear from my hosting provider.
Cemal
The next backup plugin would be https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-db-backup/, I always recommend users who can’t use my plugin to use that. The plugin uses PHP to generate the backup rather than relying on the native mysqldump to do it. There are pros and cons of course.
wp_options table can’t be cleaned up because the plugin will never know what meta key is in used and what is not.
The only way around in, is perhaps WP should maintain a registry of wp_options row to a plugin so there is a central way of checking what plugins you are using and not using against the wp_options rows.
Thread Starter
acekin
(@acekin)
Thanks Lester, I was using wp-db-backup and switched to wp-db-manager. If the need be, I will revert to that.
Too bad about the clutter not being possible to clean in the options table. I did some manual cleaning by tracing the option name through Google searches to plugins I once tried. Since I no longer used them I deleted those rows, I hope I did not do a boo-boo! That was a while ago and my site is still functioning with no ill effects.
Thank you for your feedback on backup substitutes and the options table clutter.
Cemal
Thread Starter
acekin
(@acekin)
Lester, good news! My hosting provider enabled those functions and the backup works like a charm. While at it, I asked the same functions be enabled on several other sites I maintain.
All is good, thank you for your guidance and feedback. I am marking this ticket as resolved.
Cemal
