The “Settings” page

On the Settings page you decide what applies to the whole website: notifications, performance, exclusions and log. The page also shows whether the task sources are running, and gives you the report for support.

What belongs to a backup plan or to a target you do not set here, but at the plan or at the target. More on this: Backup plans: tile and form and The “Targets” page.

The page at a glance

1. Settings is the menu item of the page, in the WordPress menu under cloneworx.
2. The main tile shows with colour and text whether operation is running. Below it stand the last run of the scheduler, the state of the log and the recipients of the notifications.
3. Notifications is unfolded when you open the page.
4. System and support, when unfolded, shows the state of the server and gives you the support report.
5. Extended switches to the view with all tiles. The choice applies to all pages of the plugin.

For every tile of the page the following applies:

• Folding. A click on the title row or on the arrow folds a tile open and closed again. The arrow shows the state that comes next. When you open the page, all tiles are collapsed, only Notifications is open. The main tile does not fold.
• Saving. Every tile saves on its own. A switch saves immediately. Fields you save with Save in their tile; afterwards the page reports Saved.
• Rejected values. If the server rejects a value, it saves nothing. The value stays in the field, and the reason stands in red below it, for example Allowed: … to ….
• Messages. The message stands below the main tile. A green message closes by itself after 8 seconds. Yellow and red messages stay until you close them or begin something new. A red message leads with Show log to the general log, after a diagnosis with Log to the log of this diagnosis.

The main tile

The main tile judges operation: does a task source come on its own that starts scheduled backups? The tile reloads its state every 60 seconds.

1. The result for operation. The edge of the tile and the cogwheel carry its colour.
2. Send test email sends an email to the recipients of the notifications. The page then reports to which addresses the test email went.
3. Copy support report puts the support report into the clipboard. What it contains is described below under “System and support”.

State	Meaning	What you can do
green Everything is ready.	No plan is active, or an automatic task source came in the last two hours. If none has ever come, the tile stays green until nothing has happened at an active plan for more than two hours: no change, no run.	Nothing.
yellow No automatic task source has run for ….	A plan is active, but no automatic task source has come for more than two hours. A scheduled backup may then be missed.	Set up a system cron: Start backups on time: set up a system cron.
yellow No automatic task source has run yet.	A plan is active, nothing has happened at it for more than two hours, and no automatic task source has ever come.	As in the row above.

Below the result stand these details:

• Last scheduler run names the time and in brackets the kind: WP-Cron, Wake event, WP-CLI or end of a job. The browser does not count here: it is only there as long as someone has a page of the plugin open. Without a run it reads never.
• Log writable shows OK or the reason why the log cannot be written.
• Notifications go to names the recipients.
• A red line appears if WordPress could not hand over an email of the plugin: The last email could not be sent: … The line names the reason and the time.

Notifications

1. Email addresses takes up to 5 addresses, separated by commas. If the field stays empty, the notifications go to the admin address of the website; the field then shows this address in grey.
2. On errors and warnings sends an email when a backup ends with an error or with warnings. The default is on.
3. On success sends an email after every successful backup. The default is off.
4. When the last good backup is older than the plan allows warns when a scheduled backup does not happen. The default is on.
5. Save saves the addresses. The switches save immediately.
6. Inform me about important news and updates on cloneworx Backup subscribes you to news from cloneworx.

The field rejects an invalid address and too many addresses: One of the addresses is not valid. or At most … addresses.

With the switch On errors and warnings, a restore that fails or is undone and a check that finds a damaged backup report themselves as well. A backup that you abort yourself never sends an email.

A plan counts as overdue when its last good backup is older than its rhythm plus a tolerance. The tolerance is half of the rhythm, at least 6 hours: a daily plan is overdue after 36 hours. Then an email goes out, afterwards a reminder every three days. The next good backup of the plan ends the warning.

Step by step: Set up email notifications.

News and updates

The last switch of the tile opens a block with the consent. Nothing is sent until the box is ticked and Subscribe is clicked.

1. Inform me about important news and updates on cloneworx Backup is switched on; you are not subscribed yet with that.
2. Email address for news is prefilled with the admin address of the website.
3. The consent names what is sent, where to and how you withdraw. Without the tick, Subscribe stays blocked.
4. Subscribe sends the subscription to the news server of cloneworx.
5. Cancel closes the block without sending anything.

• What is sent. The address, the domain of this website, the language of the website, the version of the plugin and the time of your consent. The plugin talks only to the news server of cloneworx while doing so.
• Confirmation. The server first sends an email with a link for confirmation. The tile then shows Confirmation pending: check the inbox of … and click the link in the email. Once the server reports the subscription as confirmed, it reads Subscribed with ….
• Unsubscribing. Unsubscribe or switching off the switch ends the subscription in the plugin immediately and tells the server. Every email also carries a link to unsubscribe.
• Failure. If the subscription fails, the reason stands in red in the block: Subscribing failed: … You are then not subscribed.

The Extended view

In the Extended view the page shows seven further tiles, and System and support gets the block Diagnosis.

1. Scheduler shows which task sources arrive on this server and gives you the line for a system cron.
2. Performance defines how long a step works and how long the pause is afterwards.
3. Retention defines how many backups without a plan stay per target.
4. Exclusions contains the rules for files and folders that never go into a backup, and the tables of which only the structure is backed up.
5. Log defines how long logs stay, switches debugging and shows the general log.
6. System and support is in both views.
7. Licenses names the license of the plugin and of the bundled components.
8. Uninstall defines what is removed when the plugin is deleted.
9. Compact switches back.

Scheduler

A backup runs in many short steps. A task source triggers the plugin: it starts the next step of a running job and makes the plugin check whether a plan is due. The plugin checks whether a plan is due on these task sources:

• WP-Cron, with the plugin’s own task every 15 minutes and with the wake event,
• the open Overview or Backup page, every 60 seconds,
• the end of every job,
• WP-CLI, including via a system cron.

A job that is already running is also continued by the self-request of the server. The tile shows which task sources arrive on your server.

1. WP-Cron is active or runs in the alternate mode (ALTERNATE_WP_CRON). The dot is yellow if WP-Cron is switched off. Then it reads switched off by DISABLE_WP_CRON; only a system cron or WP-CLI runs the schedule.
2. Plugin task (every 15 minutes) names when the plugin’s own task in WP-Cron last ran. Green means: in the last two hours. Otherwise the dot is yellow, with WP-Cron switched off grey.
3. Last tick names the last automatic task source with time and kind. Yellow means: a plan is active, and no automatic task source has come for more than two hours or ever. Grey means: none has come yet, and no plan is active.
4. Self-request says whether the server reaches itself; the plugin records it on every job. Green is works; last arrived …, red does not arrive: … with the reason, grey not checked yet.
5. Wake event names the time at which WP-Cron wakes the plugin for the next run. The plugin sets the event to the earliest next run of all active plans. Without a wake event the dot is grey.
6. Next run names the plan that runs next and its scheduled time. Without a scheduled time the dot is grey.
7. Missed runs lists the missed runs of the active plans. Green means: no plan has missed a run. Otherwise the dot is yellow.
8. Check task sources starts a short probe run that the page only observes.
9. Copy puts the first of the two lines for the system cron into the clipboard.

A scheduled time counts as kept if a task source comes within one hour after its time or if the time fell into a running job. Later it is missed: nothing starts, and the plan moves on to its next regular time.

Check task sources

As long as the probe run is running, next to the button stands Probe run started; waiting to see which task source picks it up … At the end a message names the task sources that picked it up: Probe run finished; picked up by: …. As a rule that is the self-request.

If nobody picks up the probe run for a minute, the tile reads: No task source has touched the probe run for a minute: the self-request and WP-Cron do not work here. Set up a system cron with the line below. Next to it, Abort probe run ends the probe run.

The lines for the system cron

Above the two lines stands the reason: Without visitors WP-Cron does not run and a scheduled backup is missed. A system cron every five minutes makes the schedule independent of visitors:

Both lines are filled in for this installation. The first calls wp cloneworx-backup scheduler tick every five minutes and is the preferred way. The second calls the file wp-cron.php of your website every five minutes. How you enter the line with your hosting provider is described in Start backups on time: set up a system cron.

Performance

On web servers PHP is ended after about 30 seconds. The plugin therefore works in short steps: every step works, saves its state and ends; the next one continues there.

1. Maximum time per step says how long a step works at most before it stops.
2. Pause between steps is the waiting time after every step before the next one begins.
3. Save applies both values.
4. Shared hosting preset enters 10 seconds and 2 seconds into the fields.
5. Default enters the defaults into the fields.

Field	Default	Allowed
Maximum time per step	20 seconds	5 to 20 seconds
Pause between steps	0 seconds	0 to 60 seconds

Both buttons only fill the fields; only Save applies the values. The maximum time never goes above 20 seconds. If the server aborts steps, the plugin lowers the effective value by itself. There is no setting for compression. More on this: Adapt the plugin to your server.

Retention

The tile has one field: Max. backups without a plan. Back up now runs a plan; a backup without a plan is created only with WP-CLI. Backups without a plan form a group of their own. The field says how many good backups of this group stay per target.

The default is 7, allowed are 1 to 99. The field saves as soon as you leave it; the tile has no button for saving. For backups of a plan, Max. backups at the plan applies: Define how many backups are kept.

Exclusions

The rules of this tile apply to the whole website and to every plan. What a plan backs up you choose at the plan; what never goes into a backup you define here. The plugin’s own folders are always excluded.

1. The note says which rules are in effect: The default rules are in effect. or Your own rules are in effect.
2. A rule. The cross after it removes it from the list.
3. Folder, name with * or extension stands in the field for a new rule.
4. Add puts the new rule at the end of the list. The Enter key does the same.
5. The line names folders that other plugins announce through their constants. These folders are always excluded, even if they were moved. The line appears only if there are such folders.

The default has 27 rules: caches and temporary storage, folders of other backup plugins, logs and system leftovers. Adding and removing at first only change the list on the page. Saving is done with Save at the end of the tile.

Rule	Meaning	Example
Name	A file or a folder with exactly this name, at any depth.	Thumbs.db
Name with a slash at the end	Like the name alone, but only folders.	updraft/
Name with one asterisk	A name that ends or begins with the text. The asterisk stands at the start or at the end, never in the middle.	*.log, backwpup*
Path	A path in a root; the first part is the name of the root. The rule matches the entry and everything below it. An asterisk is allowed only in the last part.	wp-content/cache

The roots are called wp-content, wp-uploads, wp-plugins, wp-themes, wp-mu-plugins, wp-core and wp-root. Upper and lower case do not matter in the comparison.

The plugin checks every rule when saving. If a rule is wrong, it saves nothing, and the reason stands in red at the rule. Remove it with the cross and enter it again correctly.

Reason at the rule	Example of a wrong rule
must not start with a slash	/wp-content/cache
empty part in the path	wp-content//cache
“.” and “..” are not allowed	wp-content/../cache
only one * is allowed	*bla*
* only at the start or the end of the name	a*b
* alone is not allowed	wp-content/*
* only in the last part of the path	wp-content/*/x
unknown root: use wp-content, wp-uploads, wp-plugins, wp-themes, wp-mu-plugins, wp-core or wp-root	content/cache

Tables as structure only

Below the rules stands the part Tables backed up as structure only. The rows of these tables are missing in every backup. In a restore such a table stays as it is on the website, with its data. If it does not exist there, the plugin creates it empty. By default no table is ticked: every table is backed up in full until you change it yourself.

1. A group of the candidates: Sessions, Logs, Caches or Statistics. Candidates are tables of known plugins that exist on this website.
2. A table with checkbox, name without prefix, rows and size. With the tick, only its structure is backed up.
3. Other tables shows ticked tables that are not candidates.
4. Table name without the prefix stands in the field with which you add any other table of this website.
5. Add table ticks the named table. The field rejects an unknown name: This table does not exist on this website.
6. The line names the plugin’s own tables. Of them, only the structure is ever backed up.
7. Save saves the rules and the selection of tables.
8. Reset to defaults immediately restores the rules of the default. The selection of tables the button saves as it stands on the page.

• Statistics tables contain the visitor numbers themselves. If only the structure is backed up, the numbers are in no backup: if the table is lost, they are gone.
• If there is no candidate on the website, it reads: No known log, session, cache or statistics table on this website.
• If a second WordPress installation with a longer prefix lies in the same database, the plugin does not back up its tables and names them: Not backed up: … tables of another WordPress installation with prefix “…”.

Step by step: Define what gets backed up.

Log

1. Keep logs for takes 7 to 365 days, the default is 30. Older logs of jobs are deleted by the daily maintenance of the plugin.
2. Debugging for 24 hours writes detailed lines into the log and switches itself off after 24 hours. The switch saves immediately.
3. Log writable is green with OK or red with the reason.
4. Save saves the number of days.
5. Download all logs downloads all logs of the plugin as one tar file.
6. Show log opens the general log in the dialog window Log.

• Below the switch for debugging stands its state: Debugging is on until …. or Debugging is off. Switch it on for 24 hours when you need detailed logs.
• The general log contains what belongs to no job: connection tests of the targets, changes to the settings, the schedule. The dialog window shows the last 500 lines with date, time, level and message. The lines are in English.
• The tar file is called cloneworx-backup-logs_<host>_<date>_<time>.tar and is not compressed. It contains the general log with its predecessor file and one log per job.

More on this: Read the log.

System and support

The tile loads the state of the server when you unfold it. It never shows server paths.

1. The lines about the state of the server. Each carries a dot: green for in order, yellow for a note, red for an error, grey for not measurable.
2. A yellow line, here the functions that the hosting provider has disabled.
3. Copy report puts the support report into the clipboard.
4. Download report downloads the support report as a text file.
5. The note says that nothing is sent automatically.

Line	Shows	Yellow, red or grey
PHP version	The version of PHP.	red below PHP 7.4.
Database server	MySQL or MariaDB with the version.	yellow for another database server.
WordPress version	The version of WordPress.	Always green.
Plugin version	The version of cloneworx Backup.	Always green.
PHP extensions	Of the six extensions that the plugin needs or recommends, the loaded ones; missing ones the line names by name.	red if zlib or mysqli is missing. yellow if sodium, curl, mbstring or openssl is missing.
Folder permissions	writable if the plugin can create and write to its work folder and its log folder. If one of the folders is missing, the check creates it.	red with the reason.
Disabled functions	Functions of PHP that the hosting provider has disabled and that the plugin touches; otherwise none.	yellow as soon as one is disabled.
Memory limit	The memory limit of PHP or unlimited.	yellow below 64 MB.
Time limit	The time limit of PHP in seconds or unlimited.	yellow with the addition set_time_limit is disabled; steps end by time on their own.
Free space (work folder)	The free space where the plugin writes its work files.	yellow below 256 MB. grey with not measurable.

The line Folder permissions names one of these reasons:

• The uploads directory of WordPress is not available.
• The uploads directory is not writable.
• The plugin could not create its folder in the uploads directory.
• This server offers no secure source of random numbers.
• The database did not accept the code of this installation.

Any other reason the line shows as not usable (…); in the brackets stands an English code for the reason.

The support report

The report is plain text for a request to support. It has the sections website, server, plugin, settings, operation, targets, plans, jobs (the last ten), scope, diagnosis and log (the last 40 lines of the general log). The headings and lines in the report are in English.

The file is called cloneworx-backup-report_<host>_<date>_<time>.txt. If your browser does not allow access to the clipboard, Copy report also saves the report as a file.

Diagnosis

In the Extended view, below the buttons of the report stands the block Diagnosis. None of the four diagnoses creates a backup.

1. Probe run measures the server: how long a step survives, which task sources arrive, how much the work folder writes per second and how much memory there is.
2. Run starts the diagnosis of the line.
3. File list determines what a backup would contain and whether the space in the work folder and at the targets is sufficient.
4. Database export exports the database into the work folder, reads the export back and checks it.
5. Files dry run writes the file part of a backup into the work folder, without a target.

• After every name stands the last run with time, result and key figures, or never run.
• The dot is green after a run without findings, yellow after a run with warnings, red after an error or abort and grey as long as the diagnosis has never run. While a diagnosis is running, a ring spins at its line.
• After the start the page reports … started. Below the block the progress display appears; Abort backup in it aborts the diagnosis.
• At the end the page reports … finished. or … ended with an error: … A yellow or red message leads with Log to the log of the diagnosis.
• Only one job ever runs at the same time. As long as one is running, the buttons are blocked.
• The results are also in the support report.

More on this: Get help: support report, troubleshooting and diagnostics.

Licenses

The tile names first the plugin itself, below it the bundled third-party components. Every line shows name, version and license; License text opens the text of the license in a new tab. The license texts are included with the plugin. There is nothing to set here.

Uninstall

The tile has one switch: When the plugin is deleted, remove all settings and the index. Backups are kept. The default is off. The switch takes effect when you delete the plugin in the plugin list of WordPress, not when deactivating.

Switch	What deleting the plugin removes
off	The scheduled tasks of the plugin in WP-Cron and the work folder, which contains only leftovers. In the database everything stays: a new installation finds settings, targets, plans and the list of backups again. The plugin revokes no access with a provider.
on	In addition all settings and plans, the list of backups (the index), the configured targets with their encrypted credentials and the folder of the logs. Before that the plugin asks Dropbox to revoke the access of every target of the type Dropbox.

If the revocation at Dropbox does not succeed, the deletion still runs through. The access then stays valid at Dropbox until you disconnect the app in your Dropbox account. At Google the plugin revokes nothing, not even when deleting.

More on this: Uninstall the plugin.

See also

• Set up email notifications
• Start backups on time: set up a system cron
• Adapt the plugin to your server
• Get help: support report, troubleshooting and diagnostics
• Settings and scope with WP-CLI

On the command line

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

What this page sets also works with WP-CLI, plus test email, schedule, logs and support report. The outputs of the commands are in English. All keys of the settings are named in Settings and scope with WP-CLI. Test email, debugging, logs and support report are described in State, logs and support with WP-CLI.

# Show all settings with their values
wp cloneworx-backup settings list

# Set the maximum per step to 10 seconds
wp cloneworx-backup settings set step_max_seconds 10

# Show the exclusion rules
wp cloneworx-backup scope exclusions

# Send a test email to the recipients
wp cloneworx-backup notify test

# Show the schedule with the last tick
wp cloneworx-backup scheduler status

# Enable debugging for 24 hours
wp cloneworx-backup debug on

# List the log files
wp cloneworx-backup logs

# Print the support report
wp cloneworx-backup support