Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

Wednesday, 15 February 2017 06:38 CST

carcam

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Please attach a ZIP file containing your Akeeba Backup log file in order for us to help you with any backup or restoration issue. If the file is over 2Mb, please upload it on your server and post a link to it.

Description of my issue: I have a backups scheme which sends all my backups to Amazon S3. So far, so good. It works like a charm. Thank you very much!!

The problem I face in some sites is that the output directory stores all log files and sometime, missing files that were not correctly uploaded to the Amazon S3 site (connection issues or eventual server issues). This is problematic in some of my sites with tight storage quotas as I keep filling up the storage with irrelevant files (I only store 15 days backups + 1 monthly backup which I keep for 6 months) I do not need a log file from a successful backup or even better, I do not need a log file from a backup that I no longer keep. Has you consider adding a "clean up function" that detects these log files and even the remote files which were not uploaded and remove them or take the proper action (like trying to upload them again to the remote storage)

I think even uploading the log file to the remote storage will be great for this...

Please let me know your thoughts, maybe I'm doing something terribly wrong here...

Wednesday, 15 February 2017 07:40 CST

nicholas

It's the Obsolete Records quota :) It will remove the backup records and the log files from your local site but NOT the uploaded backup archives. Do note that backup records which have been removed by the obsolete records quota will not participate in future quota management, e.g. day, size or count quotas.

Moreover, do keep in mind that not uploaded parts will remain on your server and will never be deleted automatically. This is a safety feature. You can retry the upload from the backend of your site. Otherwise you can first delete the already uploaded files, then delete the backup record (which deletes the not yet uploaded parts and the logs). The reason for this behavior is simple: if you hadn't noticed that your backup was not fully uploaded you'd be stuck with a half-uploaded, unusable backup. By not removing the parts which failed to upload we give you a fighting chance to reassemble all the archive part files required to restore a backup - unless, of course, your server's filesystem goes up in flames...

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Wednesday, 15 February 2017 09:57 CST

carcam

Hi Nicholas,
thank you very much for your reply!!

It's the Obsolete Records quota :) It will remove the backup records and the log files from your local site but NOT the uploaded backup archives. Do note that backup records which have been removed by the obsolete records quota will not participate in future quota management, e.g. day, size or count quotas.

I have obsolete records quote set to 1 in all my sites, and I am trying to say it's not working but I really can't as in the problematic sites I removed the logs and on other sites it's working quite good. Just to be picky I have to say in one of my sites there are 3 obsolete records which logs are still in the site (remember I set it to keep just 1). Also it seems the removal is also removing the logs of the backups taken on day 1 of each month which is meant to not be removed per configuration... But to be honest, it's not a big deal for me.

Moreover, do keep in mind that not uploaded parts will remain on your server and will never be deleted automatically. This is a safety feature. You can retry the upload from the backend of your site.

I had this in mind, but I had to ask ;). Anyway if you consider a big red setting with a big red warning about the implications, it will do my day for sure ;)

You may close this ticket in any case. Thank you very much!!

Thursday, 16 February 2017 02:54 CST

nicholas

Obsolete quotas work independently of the day, count and size quotas. They don't apply on backups, they apply on the records and the logs only. SO what you observe makes perfect sense.

Please note that like all quota settings they are per profile. If you have multiple profiles you will indeed see more obsolete records being kept.

Finally, old leftover logs will not be touched by this setting. If you have such log files please do remove them manually.

As for the big warning: not gonna happen. It's a Genuinely Bad Idea(tm) automatically partially deleting backups. It will invariably lead to people thinking they have a backup when they don't. The proper way to deal with a failed upload is issue a warning and let a human decide what's best: retry upload or delete the half-uploaded backup. The software MUST NOT replace the human operator for this kind risk management (especially not by taking the riskiest decision possible).

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Thursday, 16 February 2017 03:16 CST

carcam

Thank you Nicholas!! I'm happy with this but I truly disagree with this:

The software MUST NOT replace the human operator for this kind risk management (especially not by taking the riskiest decision possible).

Don't you wish sometimes that software replace some humans? :P

Best!!

Thursday, 16 February 2017 07:10 CST

nicholas

When it comes down to risk analysis I'd rather have VERY specialised software, set up and monitored by people who know what they're doing, not people who at the same time are complaining that the documentation is not enough and there is too much documentation (look at the JED reviews for context). So, it still comes down to humans ;)

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Saturday, 18 March 2017 18:17 CDT

System Task

system

This ticket has been automatically closed. All tickets which have been inactive for a long time are automatically closed. If you believe that this ticket was closed in error, please contact us.

Edited by on 2017-03-18 18:17 CDT

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