Database disappeared, anyone heard of that?

I have a customer’s Zencart site on a Linode server. Have not touched it for many many months.

Today they stated it was down… I took a look, and its database is gone.

I take several different types of backups, a file system/db backup to my office, an server backup to Amazon S3 and Linode’s backups.

The last backup database I have is October 11th, but its all corrupted from admin_activity log, and none of the data in there.

If I go back to Amazon’s S3 server backup to September 29th, the database is not in there, like it was not backed up as part of the virtual server backup. BUT I have one from October 11th in my files backup in the office, so must have been there up to then, so dont know why its missing in the Amazon backup. Is it possible it would not be backed up in the server backup as its corrupted?

I am in the process of restoring the whole Linode server backup from 10 days ago to another new Linode, that will take time so I shall check later.

Has anyone ever heard of this weird issue?

I have another site on there using the same Zencart, and my database backup looks corrupted too, but the site still works.

Using software like Sequel Pro exports the database fine.

but using mysqldump ends up with a lot of the above characters in the database

If I do a mysqldump, I get one table’s data as follows, yet this database is working OK for the website:

\r»A\nÄ –ªÃ:BIGÎ21¸ô@Hç®Ut˜zÀ˜êh-mmRç⁄Â>ãçËá—@Ç´Ùˆ∑ˆƒfioYÇÁê\&3œß1&z?’),(29482,‘2012-09-23 14:24:12’,0,‘login.php laurie.cope’,‘camefrom=index.php&’,‘78.145.3.233’,0,’’,’\r»A\nÄ –ªÃ:BIGÎ21¸ô@Hç®Ut˜zÀ˜êh-mmRç⁄Â>ãçËá—@Ç´Ùˆ∑ˆƒfioYÇÁê\&3œß1&z?’),(29483,‘2012-09-23 14:24:16’,1,‘attributes_controller.php’,’’,‘78.145.3.233’,0,’’,’’),(29484,‘2012-09-23 14:24:34’,1,‘attributes_controller.php’,‘current_category_id=73&products_filter=2191&action=new_cat&’,‘78.145.3.233’,0,’’,’’),(29485,‘2012-09-23 14:24:34’,1,‘attributes_controller.php’,‘products_filter=2183&current_category_id=73&’,‘78.145.3.233’,0,’’,’’),(29486,‘2012-09-23 14:25:03’,1,‘categories.php’,’’,‘78.145.3.233’,0,’’,’’),(29487,‘2012-09-23 14:25:07’,1,‘categories.php’,‘cPath=73&’,‘78.145.3.233’,0,’’,’’),(29488,‘2012-09-23 14:25:10’,1,‘product.php’,‘cPath=73&product_type=1&pID=2183&action=new_product&’,‘78.145.3.233’,0,’’,’’),(29489,‘2012-09-23 14:25:19’,1,‘product.php’,‘cPath=73&product_type=1&pID=2183&action=new_product_preview&’,‘78.145.3.233’,0,’’,'ùVmo€F˛+úatef’∂$iÍh˜i@˜•+–/J¢%.ß;Â^ÏEˇ˚H…Nc’Fäâ≠ª„ÀÛê<R_G≠web»JåîaYR9∫Õß≥Ÿdz5ôœavu+ÛŸh<j0DÚY!íïÛL!cææê≥Ôv8.Ÿò≈Æ%9ùû<Ã÷fi5«≠ÁÇ≤‡ºx“≥≥©|û\nÑà19öÓ—oê\rÊF›ˆpmZcì’øÉ˙T≈b#Ç_≈ŒÌË”á?ß3¯‰Úú‡\r| «∂ǘ?øa•ltÿl»Cë¢!flçæ=ö 8:“´ª\ZÛ”¡2ÀªcÙú߯,J≤¬ÿÅ~Æ˛r–*ÔB8>⁄∞è Õslh∂ÿ\r¿≥Ps€\n«cÂ˚ÿeπ{8Û˚Ñ6≤à8_JY4l_ì¿ág%íÂx⁄O√Ù, %Ö¬seŸŸ}6Ìrë/°E+Èν±\ZŒ8?flh=MW£•&w±:W°•¸ûíøË?\"W\\Y*!Ô‡õµ\\Å˛v∆\0[òΩΩôè!÷†œ‡÷≤&húP≥ÄAç∂ŒÇîfa≠ßπbó¬Œ4‡}\0m bG[Ú\"K6=‘ú≥“ToƒU¡ñZöl•H-Í!\ZhR†‘à5$zÿ¥Ü=ê<¢Ô∆P8QiZÁeµ´Ï–p¨Q|˛ÓÏçÕC˚>¸ú0≈NıˇGP¡HõP¿íWÒ#ÓπêTwªd√∫duÕÜ∆∞,Py,ì\\ÏRñ•¨UiªUÊc®$&¬™H~CC¿»8[ı“r]eØ¡˛s \0ÈÁÓ\0cØS;SûÌÔΩƒÈ›„›Øz);\"ÿUö^:eòO/ßcEÔ çí˘±∏¿A$ΩÜÔ»t\n ãöiC ˇVXì∞†th#ˆœπá’˘rÂWˆ…„?/7&âßÖkéAÇ!∞_«w\r-S!\\r wo·\0Ì∂Ê¢÷¢ ¢ñB‘Fwñ◊íÆa±ñ Ÿ?á÷âgŸÅ‡R;÷‰„^aøTˆ´AI á’∏_æŒ6=¨ª◊5~ѱÃCJSU£§aÕ°fi”ËüïCè≤pÎ5Ì®üHö^®˛ÓYq∏ÎΩÛB†Jn∞o*R!IÂz∫OÏ©È≈’Ö\0R5§8H˝J%ñºaπ)r,[aÛƒ&Bj¡içDnË≤/‘[¨i∏%5ôˆß]¯k\rùK“íxìƵVK˙ñ≠Ω∞≠ù%ÈèíÏAF+[%t‹ßT€rôWRǰ庑9$ÅÁÂÏıÙM .Ê7pqıˆÚ0wøÍãÓñ˚Â%ÃÆØØ·f&\Z7{¡flv-n¯ñ›v˘d§::åÊçvssÙ*!1Ÿheœ∏ë./á^; D6…á~≤:o\"n)/ºk[*œ˛m+±¿M%ÔD˛eç˛\\Ï…à3Ù¯ñ†y‹zÓ◊acrê’ó<∆󺟜∆í€~åOT}˘\ZÊqÔ‚€'),(29490,'2012-09-23 14:25:25',1,'product.php','cPath=73&product_type=1&pID=2183&action=update_product&','78.145.3.233',0,'','ùV€n€F˝ï©\n§-*€íl¯W@“ßÌK\Z /à!9\"ß^Ó“{ëL˘˜ŒêRb úV∞%ÓÓ\\Œúπ,?OZÔ Tƒêï)√≤§rr;YÃÊÛìŸÂ…bÛÀ[˘[Ã\'”IÉ!íœ\në¨úg\n´’πú}≥√°p…∆,v-…ÈÏËa∂ˆÆ9îh=îÁ≈ìûùŒ‰ÛT Då)»—|d∏GøA6òeu€√µiçELû¸Í7ïåɯßÑ∫[†1/¢*≥ºÀ0FœyäœBã¯ò√Œ”sıó#≠º·h√>&4œ±°Ÿb7\0œBÕmÀ∂:T~à]ñª«#D=$¥ëEƒ˘RrŸ∞}MüyK$ÀÒ∏üÜ©<fAµFaç+…å•D—Ü]be¨îFÔÚúN–ñ\'9˘{°uˆŒD‹R^x◊∂Tû˛”VbÅõJŒø¨—üãΩL“◊t∫\r˘≠Á~=ägê’í¬C|[‚™éá!j ö≤ÿà˘œ≤y;˘˛˜Ÿ>(<xÔapÓœèÔ@{ÕË∞TP§h»wì/OÀûB·πçÏÏfi‚]ªºÀów°E+&:Cø≠&Ö3Œfl¬è◊⁄L≥’d©ÓVg¥îflcÚÁ˝G‰·ƒWñJ»;¯ƒf-˝_¬_ŒÛõÎ≈bÕ˙‡‹Z÷öPoA»É\Zlù!±Ijà\\i^w¶∑ËÀ\0í%;\"ÿíY≤˱Êú5Lı÷Û\rÜ∞Tzÿ\nQı\r4)Pjƒä\Z=lZC\nÜI—wS(ú®4≠Û≤⁄±e\ZéıOäœflüæ±yhfl¬GÅü¶ÿ©˛ˇ åÃH,˝!~ƒ=RÙCѪ]≤a]≤∫fCSÿ\n®<ñI¶Z)ÀR÷™¥›j‰S®Ñâ™H~Cadú≠zi)Ÿk∞/$éÄ ê!—ÅqÓ0ˆ:µ3ÂÈæˆÑß∑_ÎØJË•Aâ`WiJºåm6∞ò]öäfi\Z\rÊ˚xÅ1í^√˜d:ÖÑEÕ¥!ê+QìD·A√ëÆè›È]Óau∂\˘ï}Ú¯˜ÀÕ!|\n©(±ÊÑÅ˝:æ+hô\nâ’†|˜Fh∑5µM‡µ¢fi2poy-È\Zk

So I wonder if its corrupt somewhere and this is why its not being backed up in Virtual Server backup?

So in the Zencart databases in the table admin_activity_log is a column gzpost and it has entries like this:
X’0DC84B0A80300C05C0BB642D2E8CFD79197926110AB615D19578773BCB79095A725D2B8AD142079E2BDB28ED341A0872E7567B6B935D02346D294ECC2EA408616F3E60063B86A3EF07’

Notice the X outside the ‘’.

This line gets converted to this when its exported:
ÈK
€0À»d-.Œýyy&
¶Ñ•xw;Ëy Zr]+ŠÑBaž+Û(í4rçV{k“]4m)NÌ.¤ao>`;†£ïa

This then does not allow me to reimport the databases.

But I can delete the entires from the admin_activity_log and then I can import the databases OK.

So I am left with the strange issue of a database disappearing and not backing up to the Virtual Server backups.

Howdy,

Hmm, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on there… but if you look in Virtualmin’s Backup and Restore -> Backup Logs, do you see any errors in there?

While it’s possible a database or table might not be backed up due to corruption, if that were the case, you should see errors in the backup logs.

-Eric

Ok I will check. I have now restored the database I had from the 11th October in my own backup system I have, not Virtualmins (as it was missing as stated). So I will check the next round of Virtualmins backups again soon to see if its still missing.

Its all very strange this issue!