Scheduled backup does not start at the scheduled time on Plesk server

Applicable to:

• Plesk for Linux

Symptoms

• Scheduled backup does not start at the scheduled time

• Backup manager cron task is missing / has incorrect permissions (not 0644) / has incorrect content or is empty:

  # ls /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task
  ls: cannot access /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task: No such file or directory

  # stat /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task | grep Access
  Access: (0400-r--------) Uid: ( 0/ root) Gid: ( 0/ root)

  # cat /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task
  (empty output)

Cause

Corrupted backup manager cron task. 

Resolution

1. Connect to the server via SSH

   Note: if direct SSH access to the server is not possible, contact server administrator for further assistance.

2. Create backup manager cron task file if it does not exist:

   # touch /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task

3. Set correct permissions and ownership:

   # chown root.root /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task && chmod 0644 /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task

4. Set the correct content:

   For CentOS/RedHat/CloudLinux

   Edit the file /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task and add the line below at the end:

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

   For Debian/Ubuntu

   Edit the file /etc/cron.d/plesk-backup-manager-task and add the line below at the end:

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