Plesk scheduled backups don't run: plesk-backup-manager-task cron is empty

Pablo Alvarez

Updated March 13, 2025 23:57

Plesk for Linux kb: technical

Applicable to:

Scheduled backups are not created at the time configured in Tools & Settings > Backup Manager > Schedule
Task backupmng hasn't run in a while

# grep backupmng /var/log/cron ; grep backupmng /var/log/syslog
The backup task's CRON file is empty or doesn't exist

# cat /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task
# ls -la
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 11 14:16 /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task
CRON process is running on the server

# ps auxf | grep [c]ron
root 653 0.0 0.0 29600 2576 ? Ss May06 0:00 /usr/sbin/cron -f

# ps auxf | grep [c]ron
root 696 0.0 0.0 32320 2580 ? Ss May11 0:18 /usr/sbin/crond -n

The backup task fails to launch because the file is empty or doesn't exist.

CentOS / AlmaLinux / RedHat / CloudLinux

Log in over SSH
Edit /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task and add this line at the bottom

5,20,35,50 * * * * root [ -x /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/backupmng ] && /usr/local/psa/admin/sbin/backupmng >/dev/null 2>&1

Debian / Ubuntu

Log in over SSH
Edit /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task and add this line at the bottom

5,20,35,50 * * * * root [ -x /opt/psa/admin/sbin/backupmng ] && /opt/psa/admin/sbin/backupmng >/dev/null 2>&1