Progress, messages and log

Whether backup, check or restore: while the plugin works, it shows its progress, and at the end it reports the result. Both look the same on every page. Here you read what the progress display, the messages and the dialog window Log tell you.

Jobs and steps

A backup, a check, the deletion of a backup and a restore are jobs. A job never runs in one go, but in many short steps: web servers often end a program like this plugin after about 30 seconds. Every step saves its state, the next step continues there.

• Only one job ever runs at the same time. As long as one is running, Back up now is blocked. If you start another job via a menu during that time, for example a check, the page reports in red A job is already running.
• A job keeps running when you close the page. If you open it again, it shows the running job.
• The Overview and the Backup page also show jobs that the schedule or the command line started.
• While a job is running, you may change settings, backup plans and targets and read logs. The changes apply from the next job on. Deleting a backup or removing a target together with its backups is possible only after the end of the job: both are jobs themselves.

The progress display

1. What the running backup is backing up and to which target, for example “Database, Files → SFTP 1”.
2. The progress display names the phase, the entries, the amount and the remaining time.
3. Abort backup stops the job at the next step.
4. Back up now is blocked as long as a job is running.

The parts of the line are separated by a dot. A part is missing if the phase does not count it.

Part	Example	Meaning
Phase	Packing files	What the job is working on right now.
Entries	… of … entries	How many entries of the phase are done. During the export of the database these are rows of the tables, during packing files and folders.
Amount	“412 MB / 1.8 GB”	The amount done and the whole amount of the phase. From 1 GB on it is given in GB, below that in MB.
Time	about … left	The estimated remaining time.

The line is refreshed every second from the saved state of the job. Where it stands depends on the page:

Page	Location of the progress display
Overview	in the status tile
Backup	in the tile Backup
Targets	below the status tile, when checking, cleaning up, finding backups and removing together with backups
Restore	in the main tile, together with the step of the restore and a bar; during an import in the tile of the import
Settings	in the Extended view in the tile System and support, in the block Diagnosis

The phases of a backup

Display	What happens
Checking targets	The plugin connects once to every target. A target that cannot be reached is skipped and results in a warning. If no target remains, the job ends.
Listing files	The list of files and folders is built.
Checking free space	The plugin checks the free space in the work folder and at every target.
Exporting the database	The tables of the website go into the backup.
Packing files	The files go into the backup. Every finished part the plugin reads once more to verify it.
Transferring to the targets	A finished part goes to all targets and is then deleted in the work folder.
Finishing the package	The index and, last, the info file are created. Only with the info file is a backup complete.
Updating the catalog	The plugin enters the backup into the catalog of every target.

Exporting, packing and transferring alternate: every finished part goes to the targets before the next one is built. The line therefore jumps back and forth between these phases.

Other jobs

Display	Job
Checking backup	The check of one backup or of all backups at a target.
Deleting backup	Deleting a backup by hand. The same line is shown when you remove a target together with its backups.
Deleting outdated backups	The follow-up after a backup: the plugin deletes what goes beyond Max. backups.
Cleaning up leftovers	Cleaning up leftovers of aborted jobs.
Finding backups	Finding backups at a target.
Verifying a part	The import of a backup from a file: the plugin reads every part against its checksum before it stores the backup at the target. The same line is shown during the database export of the diagnosis while it reads the export back.
Probe run	The probe run of the diagnosis.

If the job names no phase, it reads Backup running. The steps of a restore are explained in The “Restore” page.

1. The progress display of a check. Instead of entries it counts backups: Backup … of … names the backup that the check is working on right now. With only one backup the detail is missing.
2. Abort check

The follow-up after a backup

After every good backup a second job starts by itself. It deletes at the targets the backups that go beyond Max. backups, and clears away leftovers of aborted jobs. Its progress display appears only if it really deletes something. A message, too, comes only then: One old backup deleted., … old backups deleted. or Leftovers cleaned up: … folders. If the deletion fails, it reports in yellow Deleting old backups failed.

The remaining time

The plugin estimates the time from the speed of the running phase: during the export of the database from the rows per second, during packing from the amount per second. During packing, the transfer that is still pending counts as well.

• about … left names the time rounded in one unit: seconds, minutes, hours or days.
• calculating the remaining time … stands at the start of a job as long as the plugin has measured too little. An estimate from the first seconds would be unreliable.
• Once the line has named a time for a job, this sentence does not appear again. In the last phases there is then often no time any more.

While the database is being exported, the files do not count yet: the speed of packing is not known yet. The time named applies in this phase only to the database.

Abort a job

The link for aborting stands directly below the progress display. For a check it is called Abort check, when finding backups Abort search and for every other job Abort backup, also for deleting and for the restore. There is no confirmation dialog.

1. Abort requested; the backup stops at the next step. The sentence stands in place of the link.

• The job does not stop immediately, but at the next place where it saves its state.
• An aborted backup cleans up: it removes its work files and everything it has already transferred to the targets.
• The result is the yellow message Backup aborted. In the list of backups the entry stands with a grey dot; the column Type reads Aborted.
• An aborted backup does not change the result of the status tile on the Overview.
• A restore can be aborted until the switch-over begins. Until then the Restore page additionally shows the button Cancel. After that the way Undo restore remains.

The message

Every page shows its messages in one place: directly below the main tile. Only the message of the last action is ever visible. If you begin a new action, the previous message disappears, even a red one.

Colour	Meaning	Behaviour
green	It worked.	The message closes by itself after 8 seconds.
yellow	A warning: not everything went smoothly, or something is still missing.	The message stays until you close it or begin a new action.
red	It failed.	The message stays until you close it or begin a new action.

1. The green message, here Backup complete.
2. The band at the top edge runs down to the left and shows the time that remains. If the mouse rests on the message, the time stops.
3. Dismiss closes the message immediately.

1. The yellow message, here after a backup with warnings.
2. Dismiss
3. The link Log opens the log of this backup.

The link to the log

In case of a problem you do not have to search for the log. The link is in the message:

• A red message after a job carries the link Log. It opens the log of this job. The yellow message after a backup, a check, the deletion of old backups, the cleanup, the finding of backups and a diagnosis carries the same link, for example after warnings or after an abort.
• A red message without a job carries the link Show log. It opens the general log. Examples: a backup could not be started, or the test email could not be sent. The yellow message after a failed connection test carries the same link.
• Without a link remain green messages and messages for which there is nothing to look up, for example A job is already running. The yellow messages after a restore also have no link, for example after a restore with warnings or after an aborted restore. The log of a restore you open on the Restore page in the Extended view under Recent restores. The yellow message after Check task sources on the Settings page also stays without a link.

1. The red message, here The backup could not be started: … After the colon stands the cause.
2. Show log opens the general log.

The messages after a backup

Message	Meaning
green Backup complete.	Every target has the complete backup, and nothing was left out.
yellow Backup complete with warnings.	The backup is there, but something did not go smoothly. After the sentence stand the number and kind of warnings.
yellow Backup aborted.	You aborted the job.
red Backup failed.	The backup failed. What was already transferred, the plugin removes at the targets again. After the sentence stands the cause in plain language, for example Not enough free space. or No target is reachable.

Other jobs report in the same colours with their own text, for example Backup checked: readable and complete. or Backup deleted. On the Targets page the messages name the target by name.

With warnings

A backup with warnings says right in the message what did not go smoothly. The message counts per kind:

In the message	Meaning
… not readable	Files or folders that the plugin could not read.
… vanished	Files that no longer existed during packing.
… unsupported	Entries that are not files, folders or links and therefore cannot be backed up.
… changed while being read	Files that changed while the plugin was reading them.
… target(s) failed	Targets at which the backup did not arrive while another target has it.
… database note(s)	Notes from the export of the database.

The names are in the log of the job: it names every affected entry with its path inside the website. Per reason it names at most 50 entries; further ones it counts without naming them.

The message from the target in the original

If a job or a connection test fails at a remote target, the plugin shows its own explanation and below it what the target and the transfer reported.

1. The failed target and the cause in plain language, in the form Target “…”: …
2. The message in the original: Message from the target is the last answer of the target, that is of the server, the service or the provider behind it; Message from cURL is the message of the transfer.
3. Log opens the log of the job.

• The message is not translated: the text stands as the target and cURL reported it.
• Before the message appears, the plugin masks what does not belong on a screen. The folder of the target becomes <folder>, the user <user>, the server and every IP address <host>, the name of a backup <job>. In place of a password or key stand asterisks.
• If sending breaks off in the middle of the upload, cURL does not know the answer of the target. The plugin then names both possible causes: Sending the data failed. Possible causes: the connection was interrupted, or there is no space left at the target.

The message stands in four places: in the result of the connection test on the Targets page, in the message after a job, in the status tile of the Overview and in the log. On the command line it stands below the messages of a job: after target: the message from the target, after cURL the number and the message from cURL.

The “Log” dialog window

The dialog window is always called Log, no matter what it shows. What happened and when is in its lines. This is how you open it:

• via the link Log or Show log in a message,
• via the link Log in the status tile of the Overview,
• via More …, then Log in the row of a backup,
• via Show log in the result of a failed connection test,
• via Log in the list Recent restores on the Restore page, in the Extended view,
• via Show log on the Settings page, in the Extended view in the tile Log.

1. Log is the title of the dialog window.
2. The cross closes the dialog window.
3. A line: the time, the level and the message. Below it, in small print, stand the details about the message.
4. A warning: the level stands in yellow. For an error it stands in red.

There are two kinds of logs:

Kind	Content	Time in the line
Log of a job	Everything that happened during this one backup, this check or this restore.	time
general log	Everything that belongs to no job: connection tests of targets, changes to settings, the schedule.	date and time

1. A line of the general log. Before the time stands the date, because this log spans days.

How to read a line

Level	Colour	Meaning
INFO	none	An ordinary step.
WARNING	yellow	Something did not go smoothly; the job continued.
ERROR	red	An error.
DEBUG	grey	Detailed lines. They exist only as long as debugging is switched on.

• The times are given in the time zone of the website.
• The newest line is at the bottom.
• Logs are in English, in every language of the interface.
• The dialog window shows the last 500 lines. If the log is longer, above it stands Only the last … lines are shown.
• Passwords and keys are never in the log: the plugin replaces them with asterisks.

When the log is missing

The dialog window reads	Meaning
There is no log for this backup any more. Logs are kept for … days.	The file of the log no longer exists, for example because the retention period has expired or the website has moved. The plugin keeps the logs of jobs for 30 days by default; possible are 7 to 365 days. You change the number on the Settings page, in the Extended view in the tile Log, in the field Keep logs for.
There is no general log yet.	The plugin has not written anything into the general log yet.
The log is empty.	The file is there but contains no line.
The log could not be loaded.	The server did not deliver the log. After it stands the cause.

See also

• Read the log
• When a backup fails or ends with warnings
• Adapt the plugin to your server
• Get help: support report, troubleshooting and diagnostics
• State, logs and support with WP-CLI

On the command line

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

You also see the running job on the command line, and you can abort it there. The dialog window Log does not exist there: the command line lists the log files and writes them into a tar file. The outputs are in English.

# Show the running job with phase and progress
wp cloneworx-backup job status

# Cancel the running job
wp cloneworx-backup job abort

# List the log files
wp cloneworx-backup logs

# Write all logs to a tar file
wp cloneworx-backup logs --to=/pfad/protokolle.tar

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