Renew the credentials of a target

A target is disconnected when the plugin can no longer use the stored credentials. This is how you enter them again so that the target accepts backups again. A target in Google Drive or Dropbox has no credentials in the form: you connect it again.

How you recognise a disconnected target

• The status tile of the Targets page is yellow and reports The storage target “…” is disconnected.
• The status tile of the Overview page reports the same, as long as no failed and no overdue backup takes precedence there.
• In the list of targets, the target carries the label Disconnected and a yellow dot.
• The target stays in its backup plan. The row of the plan also shows it as Disconnected.

Until you have renewed the credentials, backups skip this target. Without another usable target, no backup is made. The backups that are already stored at the target stay there and stay in the list.

Why a target is disconnected

When the status tile of the Overview page reports the disconnected target, it also names the cause:

1. The title names the disconnected target.
2. Below it is the cause.
3. The line names the next step: enter the credentials again on the Targets page.
4. Renew credentials leads to the Targets page.

The cause 2 is one of three messages:

Message	Meaning
The stored credentials can no longer be read; the database password was probably changed.	The plugin encrypts passwords and keys with a key derived from the database password of the website. If the database password changes, for example after moving to another hosting provider, the stored values can no longer be read. This affects every target with credentials. Local folders have none and keep working.
The target rejected the stored credentials.	During a backup, the target refused the login. Check whether the password or the key was changed at the target.
The provider no longer accepts the stored consent: it was withdrawn or has expired.	This message applies to a target with a sign-in at Google or Dropbox. The button 4 is then called Connect again. How to continue is described below in the section “Connecting a target in Google Drive or Dropbox again”.

At this point, the status tile of the Targets page always shows the first message for a target with credentials. So you read which cause applies on the Overview page. For a target with a sign-in at Google or Dropbox, both pages show the same cause.

What you need

• the secret credentials of the target: depending on the target type, the password, the private key or the secret key.

Server, user name, folder and all other settings are still stored.

Steps 1 to 4 apply to targets with credentials. For a target in Google Drive or Dropbox, the section “Connecting a target in Google Drive or Dropbox again” applies.

Step 1: Open the form of the target

Open the Targets page. On the Overview page, Renew credentials leads there.

1. The tile names the disconnected target, the cause and the next step.
2. Renew credentials opens the form of the disconnected target.

Click Renew credentials. If several targets are disconnected, the tile names all of them, and the button opens the first one. You open every other one in its row with More …, then Edit.

Step 2: Enter the credentials again

1. Name and the other fields show the stored values.
2. stored, leave empty to keep appears in a secret field for which a value is stored. The form never shows the value itself.
3. Save

Enter the value again in every secret field. An empty field keeps the stored value. If that value can no longer be read, the form reports this at the field and does not save.

Step 3: Test the connection

Click Test connection. The test checks the entered values without saving.

1. Test connection
2. The result of the test: the connection works, a test file was written, read back and deleted.
3. Save

Step 4: Save

Click Save. The plugin stores the new credentials encrypted, tests the connection once more and reports “…” saved and connected.

1. All targets are connected.
2. The message names the target: saved and connected.
3. The target in the list. The green dot means: connected.

The label Disconnected is gone. The next backup goes to this target again.

Connecting a target in Google Drive or Dropbox again

A target of the type Google Drive or Dropbox has no password and no key in the form. If the provider no longer accepts the stored consent, you give it again. You go the same way when the tile names the credentials that can no longer be read as the cause: then, too, the button is called Connect again. For this you need access to your account at Google or Dropbox.

The pictures show a target in Google Drive. For a target in Dropbox, the page looks the same.

1. The tile names the disconnected target, the cause and the next step.
2. Connect again opens the form of the disconnected target.
3. Disconnected appears in the list after the name of the target. The dot in front of it is yellow.

Click Connect again. On the Overview page, the button with the same name leads to the Targets page.

1. Connected account names the address of the Google account in which the backups are stored.
2. Below it is the cause: Google no longer accepts the stored consent.
3. Connect again with Google starts the sign-in at Google.

Click Connect again with Google, for a target in Dropbox Connect again with Dropbox. You are redirected to the provider, give your consent there and come back to the Targets page. The plugin tests the connection immediately and reports “…” saved and connected. The target, its name and its backups stay.

The same button is in the form of a connected target, which you open with More …, then Edit. This is how you connect a target again even when it is not disconnected.

What happens to the previous access

• Dropbox: After connecting again, the plugin revokes at Dropbox the access the target had until then, never the new one. The backups stay in your Dropbox. Other websites that you have connected with the same Dropbox account have their own access and stay connected. If the plugin could no longer read the stored credentials, it sends no revocation: an access it cannot read, it cannot revoke. If Dropbox or the sign-in service cannot be reached at that moment, the revocation fails. In both cases the target is nevertheless connected again, and the previous access stays valid at Dropbox until you disconnect the app in your Dropbox account.
• Google Drive: The plugin revokes nothing at Google. It replaces the accesses stored at the website with the new ones. The previous access stays valid at Google.

The sign-in in detail and the messages after returning from the provider are described in Store backups in Google Drive and Store backups in Dropbox.

If something does not work

Message	What you can do
The stored value can no longer be read. Enter it again.	This message appears at a secret field that was left empty. Enter the value in this field.
The target refused the login. Check user name and password.	Check the credentials of the target and enter them once more.
“…” saved, but the connection test failed: …	The target is saved but not usable yet. The message names the reason, Show log leads to the details. Open the form with Edit and correct the values.

This is how the first message appears in the form. The picture shows an SFTP target:

1. Password is here the secret field that was left empty. It has a red border.
2. The stored value can no longer be read. Enter it again.

Good to know

• Passwords and keys never leave the server again. The form only shows that a value is stored.
• A successful connection test connects a target again. So if the target rejected the credentials and they are correct again in the meantime, the entry Test connection in the More … menu is enough.
• The name and the identifier of the target stay as they are.

See also

• The “Targets” page
• The “Overview” page
• When a backup fails or ends with warnings
• Store backups in Google Drive
• Store backups in Dropbox

On the command line

WP-CLI not set up yet? How to install WP-CLI.

The command line does not accept passwords and keys; so you renew the credentials on the Targets page. You also connect a target in Google Drive or Dropbox again there, because you give the consent at the provider in the browser. With WP-CLI you see which target is disconnected, and you test the connection afterwards. The list names the reason in brackets after disconnected: secrets_unreadable means no longer readable, auth_failed means rejected by the target, grant_invalid means: the provider no longer accepts the consent.

# Show targets with ID and state
wp cloneworx-backup target list

# Test the connection after renewing
wp cloneworx-backup target test sftp-1