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UNiTE, Remote CLI, eXtract Wizard

#3593 XML-RPC layer error: TResult GetString

Posted in ‘UNiTE and Remote CLI’
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Environment Information

PHP version
n/a
Tool
UNiTE
Tool version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Saturday, 01 January 2011 04:20 CST

marco 007
I like to make a backup with remote control.
That works normally very fine with two websites.

With making a backup of one of the website I get the next error:
XML-RPC layer error: TResult GetString - Item is not a string type.

Three days ago I made a backup of that website without any problems.

Is there someone how can help me with this problem?
I don't know what this error means.

Thanks for helping,
Marco.

dlb
Marco, you're in good company, I don't have any idea what the error means either! :D I'll flag this thread for Nicholas, he will sort it out.


Dale L. Brackin
Support Specialist


us.gifEnglish: native


Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!


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My time zone is EST (UTC -5) (click here to see my current time in Philadelphia, PA)

marco 007
Hi Dale,

I'll wait for the answer of nicholas.
Thanks for reply.

Marco.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Can you please PM me the URL of your site and a set of username/password to access the remote backup feature? I think that you might have installed a plugin or component which messes up the Joomla! XML-RPC output. Most usually these are poorly written Google Analytics plugins and forum bridges.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user5462
Hi

I've had the same problem with one of my sites and after scratching my head for a while I worked it out.

For some strange reason I was getting this error when the REAL error was I needed more disc space on the server.

I upgraded the account and backed up fine.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
The actual (technical!) reason of this message is that the server produced an unexpected (partial) response to the XML-RPC request. This can happen for a number of reasons. One is lack of disk space. When you exceed your quota, many servers simply kill the PHP script and a partial or empty response is returned, causing an error in JPRemote. Another reason is a timeout, with the same results. However, it is also possible for a forum bridge or other malformed system, user or authentication plugin to mess up the request.

I've seen all of the above issues in real world sites. In an effort to make the Remote application more tolerant to such errors, I am planning an overhaul. It will use a JSON API, handled by the component itself, and the most robust networking library: cURL. ETA is Q2 2010.

In the meantime, any log is most welcome, as it may allow me to anticipate even more server weirdness in upcoming releases :)

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

marco 007
Hi Nicholas,

The strange thing is that I made a backup the 23th of january without problems and the only change at the site was an article, I changed some text.

I'm used to make a backup (of my two sites) on regular base.

I will make a user for you, is a registrated O.K. or has it be an administrator account?

Marco.

marco 007
Nicholas,

Maybe I found the problem....

I tried to login by FTP, but my FTP-programs can't login with the usual username and password.
I will call the provider and hope that this is the solution.
When I had contacted the provider I will let you know.

Marco.

marco 007
Nicholas,
I contacted my provider, I'll give you an update:
Our company has two websites (www.verka.nl and www.e-lay.nl). The last website is the one with this problem, the first one (www.verka.nl) is not a joomla website.

We had two different hosts by the same provider, but it was cheaper to make (for administration only) one host, so the username and password of www.e-lay.nl do not work anymore. Now I have to log in by verka.nl, that's no problem.

When I logged in by FTP (host www.verka.nl)I see the website of Verka.nl in the directory \www (root).
But in that directory I see a new one, called www.e-lay.nl. That is the joomla website.

So I had to change the host, username, password and path to backup by remote backup. So far so good. I tested the backup output directory (I made an output directory called jpbackup).

I hoped that everything worked well, but I get the same message.
When I tried to make a backup in the administration of Joomla (with the JP component) there is a message that the temporary directory is not writable.

I used eXtplorer to change the directory tmp, jpbackup, xmlrpc to full rights (777), but I have still the same problem.

Can you tell me wich directory is the used tempory directory? Maybe That will be the solution, or do you have any other idea?

Thanks for you reply,
Marco.

btw: sorry for some English mistakes, but I'm Dutch..;)

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
JoomlaPack uses your site's temporary directory. Since you moved your site, you probably have to change this setting in your site's Global Configuration as well. Do note that it takes a full (absolute) path. You may want to ask your host which is the one pointing to your site's tmp directory.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

marco 007
Hi Nicholas,

The problem is solved !:D

I never thought about the settings in the global configuration. I have changed them and the backup works well.

I like to thank you very much for your quick and clear support.

I think this threat can be closed.

Thanks,
Marco.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
This is a not very obvious setting, indeed. Version 3 will allow you to select any directory you'd like as the temporary directory :)

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user6370
I just started getting this error now using the latest beta (3.2), remote backup used to work with 3.0 and my old host.

I have another website on the same host with same akeeba version and it had no problems, i actually upgraded it partially because i got this error for troubleshooting. The fact that is the best version so far does not hurt either.

Here is my log file from Akeeba Remote http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6374897/Akeeba%20Remote%20Control%20Log.txt.

Not sure what to look for to try and solve the problem.

Thanks

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Happy New Year!

If you search the forum for these keywords, you will find the solution to this issue. All you have to do is install the updated plg_jpremote plugin which is designed to work with Akeeba Backup 3.1 and later versions. The one you have worked with 3.0 but not with more recent version.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

πŸ‡¬πŸ‡·Greek: native πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§English: excellent πŸ‡«πŸ‡·French: basic β€’ πŸ• My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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