Backups can be stored in any location, from the same server to a remote one. For redundancy and better reliability, we recommend storing backups in remote locations.

Remote backups can be configured via FTP or other backup scripts. During the backup process, server attempts to transfer the backups to remote server via FTP or rsync.

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These remote backups can be taken on a daily or weekly basis, depending on the frequency of file updates, and restored in the case of a server crash.

In our role as Server support specialists for web hosts, we monitor the backup processes for successful completion and validate them for adequacy, as incomplete backups can make them ineffective.

What causes cPanel backup error ‘Connection to remote server stalled’

Recently while managing the remote FTP backups for a web host, we noticed a failure in the cPanel backup process, due to which the backups were not getting completed.

To debug the reason for the backup failure, we check the most recent FTP backup error log, which is available at ‘/usr/local/cpanel/logs/cpbackup_transporter.log.

We found this error message in that log file:

[2017-06-10 03:43:38 +0100] warn [cpbackup_transporter] Upload attempt failed: Connection to remote server stalled at /usr/local/cpanel/Cpanel/LoggerAdapter.pm line 27.
……………………………..
eval {…} called at /usr/local/cpanel/bin/cpbackup_transporter line 149
[2017-06-10 03:43:38 +0100] info [cpbackup_transporter] Error encountered
[2017-06-10 03:43:38 +0100] info [cpbackup_transporter] Error is not a reference Connection to remote server stalled

We could see that the backup process has failed because the connection from the main server to the remote failure got interrupted during the process.

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How to resolve cPanel backup error ‘Connection to remote server stalled’

We tried connecting to the remote server from the primary server and could see that the connection was getting established. But during the backup process, this connection was getting stalled.

The error message ‘Connection to remote server stalled’ showed that the connection to remote server is failing in between the backup process. So we identified that the issue is due to the low ‘Timeout’ value set.

‘Timeout’ setting in the backup process determines the time the server would wait for a response from the remote server. As the number of backup destinations increase, the time taken for the process would also increase.

The size of the data to be backed up can also determine the time taken for the backup process. As a result, over time, the Timeout value would have to be increased for the process to work.

To resolve the issue, we increased the ‘Timeout‘ value from ‘WHM >> Backup configuration >> Additional Destination’ feature in the main server.

After increasing the Timeout value to an adequate level, we ran the backup process again and it was completed fully without any errors.

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At Bobcares, our 24/7 server specialists constantly monitor all the services in the server and proactively audit the server for any errors or corruption in them.

This enables us to prevent a service downtime for our customers who are web hosts. By following a systematic debugging approach for service or backup failures, we have been able to minimize the downtime involved.

If you would like to know how to avoid downtime for your customers due to service failures, we would be happy to talk to you.