[Hosting] Restore Archived Site

2

Wow, I’ve just got the shock of my life when the website I was developing suddenly disappeared. Literally vanished while I was working on the site.

Hopefully it can be restored by Support. They working on it now. :wink:

So what’s the problem here…..Well, simply that there is a misconfiguration and rule set that goes ahead with the archive even though you are actively working on it and secondly, no easy and sure way of restoring the site.

The ONLY way to stop it from being archived is to open it in the back end (hub) or connect a domain to it.

Connecting a domain isn’t always practical or necessary when the subdomain of wpmudev.host is suitable to do dev work. And clicking the button on the warning email is another way to prevent it……but…..oops I didn’t see those archive warning emails…..You can see my dilemma. Weeks of work – gone!

Feature requests:
1. Allow “Restore from Archive” in The Hub…..Select the archive and restore it.
2. New rule set……Don’t archive if there is any active user working on the site.
3. Browser Notifications? It would be super cool to have a browser notification pop up that says “Hey, did you know we are going to archive your website X because we think you not using it?”

It shouldn’t be necessary to go into the The Hub every 21 days just to prevent archiving or clicking on an email button.

Otherwise I’m thrilled at the Support staff. They are the best I’ve ever had in hosting as well as supporting me and my business with WordPress issues. You guys ROCK!!

  • Andre van der Merwe
    • WiredAfrican

    Restore was done but not from Archive?
    Seems to be a restore from a server backup and not a restore from the “archive” at the time the “archive” was done.

    It appears “Archive” really means DELETE at WPMUDEV and not the usual definition of archive……or is there really an Archive set that is still available to restore?

    Thanks!

  • Predrag Dubajic
    • Support

    Hi all and sorry to hear about the troubles you are having with sites getting archived :slight_frown:

    Let me start by saying that we’re already looking further into this to make it more clear with notifications both on WPMU DEV site and email, and to have more filters that will prevent sites from being archived, as well as having an easier restore solution in case that it happens again.

    At the moment, you can create a new site with the same ID and on the same location as the old one and that will show you your existing backups, that you can restore your site from.
    If you don’t remember which location you selected previously you can let us know of your site ID and we’ll check this for you, it would be best if you created a separate ticket for your sites so we’re sure none are missed.

    I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and if you have any issues with restoring your sites start a new chat or ticket and we’ll assist you with this further.

    Best regards,
    Predrag

  • Andre van der Merwe
    • WiredAfrican

    Thanks for the feedback Predrag. I’m glad your team is looking for a solution. There also seems to be confusion about what a real “archive” means vs what is happening (i.e. site is not restorable after archiving, except from a previous backup). That’s why we have lost work and makes us unhappy.

    If we could really bring files/settings back after they are archived (and I don’t mean restore an old backup), then that would be okay even if we missed the warning email.

    Thankfully you guys do listen to customers and do make improvements all the time, so I’m positive that this won’t happen again.

  • Ben
    • WPMU DEV Initiate

    Hi Predrag Dubajic
    hello .. what’s the status of the above-referenced issue .. regarding not archiving sites which are under active development? or provision of a simpler “restore” button?

    i just realized i’d received an email warning of an impending “archiving” of my site that’s very much under active development .. i clicked the 21 days extension but am concerned a lot of work that I am putting into setting up my site could be disrupted or even lost ..

    please kindly let us know the status of this issue

    • Predrag Dubajic
      • Support

      Hi Ben,

      I’m afraid that other things took priority over this and the option hasn’t been implemented yet.
      Do note that even if your site does get removed due to inactivity the backups are stored for 30 and site can be restored during that time.

      You can also assign a custom domain to your development site and that will stop it from getting archived, you can even used a free one from freenom or similar service.

      Best regards,
      Predrag

  • wpcdn
    • Syntax Hero

    I’m confused, I just woke up to an archived site that has a domain connected to it. Why does this happen? I was reviewing the WPMU DEV reseller hosting architecture to possibly offer their hosting. How can I offer hosting that might make my clients’ sites disappear?