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Get help: support report, troubleshooting and diagnostics

Updated

When something does not work, this is where you gather what matters for finding the cause: the state of the server, detailed logs, the results of the diagnosis and the support report. None of it is sent automatically.

Step 1: Read the state of the server

Open the Settings page and click the title row of the tile System and support. The tile exists in both views. When unfolding it, the plugin checks the server anew.

Tile System and support with ten lines and two buttons

  1. The lines from top to bottom: PHP version, Database server, WordPress version, Plugin version, PHP extensions, Folder permissions, Disabled functions, Memory limit, Time limit and Free space (work folder).
  2. A yellow dot is a note, here about functions that the hosting provider has disabled.
  3. Copy report puts the support report on the clipboard.
  4. Download report saves the support report as a file.
  5. The note says that nothing is sent automatically.

Green means fine, yellow is a note, red an error. The tile never shows server paths.

Line Yellow or red when
PHP version Red: PHP is older than 7.4.
Database server Yellow: the server is neither MySQL nor MariaDB.
PHP extensions Red: zlib or mysqli is missing; without them the plugin does not work. Yellow: sodium, curl, mbstring or openssl is missing.
Folder permissions Red: the plugin cannot create or write its work folder or its log folder. The reason follows, for example The uploads directory is not writable.
Disabled functions Yellow: the hosting provider has disabled functions that the plugin touches. The line names them.
Memory limit Yellow: under 64 MB.
Time limit Yellow: set_time_limit is disabled; steps end by time on their own
Free space (work folder) Yellow: less than 256 MB free. Grey: not measurable.

Step 2: Switch on debugging

Switch to the Extended view and unfold the tile Log. Switch on Debugging for 24 hours. The switch saves immediately.

Tile Log with debugging switched on

  1. Debugging for 24 hours writes detailed lines into the log.
  2. The line below names until when debugging is on. After that it switches itself off.

Now repeat what did not work, for example the backup. Only then are the detailed lines in the log.

Step 3: Run the diagnosis

In the Extended view, the tile System and support shows the block Diagnosis at the bottom. None of the four diagnoses makes a backup. The file list asks the targets for their free space; the other three touch no target.

Block Diagnosis with four lines and one button each

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

Every line shows its last run with time and figures, or never run. The colour of the dot is the result: green, yellow on warnings, red on an error or abort. Click Run. The diagnosis runs as a job: the page shows the progress, and Abort backup aborts it. At the end the page reports … finished. or … ended with an error: …

Only one job runs at the same time. As long as one is running, the buttons are locked.

Step 4: Get the support report

Click Copy report or Download report. Copy support report in the main tile of the page copies the same report.

  • After copying, the page reports Copied to the clipboard. If the browser does not allow the clipboard, it saves the report as a file.
  • The file is called cloneworx-backup-report_<host>_<date>_<time>.txt and is created in the browser. It is never stored on the server.

The report is plain text in English.

The report contains The report does not contain
the sections website, server, plugin, settings, operation, targets, plans, the last ten jobs, scope, the last runs of the diagnosis and the last 40 lines of the general log job names and other identifiers of backups, the folder code of the installation, the names of targets and plans (only short identifiers such as sftp-1 and plan-1), the locations and credentials of the targets, email addresses (only their number) and server paths (instead <wp>, <wp-content>, <uploads>)

Check the report before you pass it on

The report names the address of your website. It leaves the website only through you: via the clipboard or the file.

Step 5: Download the logs

In the Extended view, unfold the tile Log.

Tile Log with field, switch and three buttons

  1. Keep logs for takes 7 to 365 days, default 30. The plugin deletes older logs of jobs.
  2. Debugging for 24 hours is off here.
  3. Log writable shows whether the plugin can write its log. If red, the reason follows.
  4. Save saves the number of days.
  5. Download all logs saves every log of the plugin in one file.
  6. Show log opens the general log with its last 500 lines.

Click Download all logs. The file is called cloneworx-backup-logs_<host>_<date>_<time>.tar: an uncompressed tar archive with the general log, its predecessor file and one log for every job. If there are none yet, the page reports There are no log files yet.

Good to know

  • The general log contains what belongs to no job: connection tests of the targets, changes to the settings, the schedule.
  • The results of the diagnosis are also in the support report. So run the diagnosis before the report.
  • After an error, the red message of the page leads with one click to the matching log.

See also

On the command line

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

Report, debugging, logs and diagnosis are also available with WP-CLI. A file after --to must not exist yet.

# Print the support report
wp cloneworx-backup support

# Write the support report to a new file
wp cloneworx-backup support --to=/pfad/cloneworx-bericht.txt

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

# List the log files
wp cloneworx-backup logs

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

# Run the probe run
wp cloneworx-backup job probe

# Build the file list
wp cloneworx-backup job filelist

# Check the database export
wp cloneworx-backup job dbexport

# Run the dry run of the files
wp cloneworx-backup job files