Check WHM Backup Logs

There are logs to help troubleshoot why the WHM Configuration Backup process fails. Review the backup logs and transport logs at the locations below to troubleshoot causes. Useful if WHM backups are not being completed or backups are not making it into an external cloud storage account.

Related Articles

Automatic Backups Using WHM
Configure Additional Destinations for Automated Backups

Troubleshoot

1. SSH into the server as root
2. List the backup logs in cpbackup
   

   sudo ls -l /usr/local/cpanel/logs/cpbackup

3. Review the cPanel backup logs inside the directory /usr/local/cpanel/logs/cpbackup
   NOTE: These logs are for the backup process itself.  Run grep for the specific cPanel user to find out why it's not being backed up, or tail the log to find out why it did not successfully run; for example, if the disk ran out of space.
   EXAMPLE:
   

   tier1adv@vps12345 [~]# sudo ls -l /usr/local/cpanel/logs/cpbackup
   total 88
   -rw------- 1 root root 41844 Apr 2 02:06 1680426003.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 41834 Apr 9 02:06 1681030802.log
   tier1adv@vps12345 [~]# sudo cat /usr/local/cpanel/logs/cpbackup/1680426003.log | grep userna5

   TIP: If the directory cpbackup is empty or does not exist, cPanel backups are not enabled or have not yet been run for the first time. Initiate a cPanel backup manually with /usr/local/cpanel/bin/backup.
4. Review the cPanel transport logs inside the directory /usr/local/cpanel/logs/cpbackup_transporter
   NOTE: cPanel transport logs are for when WHM Backup connects and transfers backups to remote accounts, such as Amazon S3 or via FTP.  Example problems would be authentication failures and connection timeouts.
   EXAMPLE:

   tier1adv@vps68421 [~]# sudo ls -l /usr/local/cpanel/logs/cpbackup_transporter
   total 288
   -rw------- 1 root root 25640 Dec 11 02:08 cpbackup_transporter.1670224281.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 27390 Dec 25 02:09 cpbackup_transporter.1671358170.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 26494 Jan 8 02:08 cpbackup_transporter.1672567746.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 26494 Jan 22 02:09 cpbackup_transporter.1673777365.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 28682 Feb 5 02:10 cpbackup_transporter.1674986949.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 29936 Feb 19 02:10 cpbackup_transporter.1676196652.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 29394 Mar 5 02:11 cpbackup_transporter.1677406249.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 30706 Mar 19 02:09 cpbackup_transporter.1678615825.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 22885 Mar 26 02:10 cpbackup_transporter.1679678342.log
   -rw------- 1 root root 24012 Apr 9 02:11 cpbackup_transporter.1680426730.log
   tier1adv@vps68421 [~]# sudo cat /usr/local/cpanel/logs/cpbackup_transporter/cpbackup_transporter.1680426730.log | grep userna5

   TIP: If the directory cpbackup_transporter is empty or does not exist, backups have not yet been run for the first time or a destination has not been configured in Additional Destinations in WHM.