Log Entry – Backup Failure Due to Timeout

Today’s scheduled database backup failed to complete. Upon review, the issue was traced to a PHP execution time limit being exceeded during the process. This was the first time the compressed output exceeded 50MB in size due to a schema update in the customer table.

Cause

• Backup method: phpMyBackupPro cron script
• Compression: gzip
• Error observed: Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded

Resolution

We modified the PHP configuration on the cron runner server:

max_execution_time = 300

And restarted the web server to apply changes. A manual backup test was successful afterward.

Next Steps

• Implement automatic notification for timeout errors
• Segment large backups or exclude binary data from the default run
• Review all scheduled tasks for max_execution_time compatibility

Notes

This entry is archived for future diagnostics. No data loss occurred. The backup was completed manually and stored as clients_backup_manual_20120626.sql.gz.