"No databases created"?

Hosting Support
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I had a minor heart attack this morning, after I tried deleting some unneeded databases from MySQL page in the dashboard, in order to save on resources. I had about 5 databases. The first deletion went fine, after the second deletion… it said “No databases created”! So it deleted ALL of my databases, including the primary one I am using, even though I was only asking it to delete one!

That database held days of work writing original content, for which I had no backup! (I made no backup, because after being suspended twice for high CPU spikes, I’m afraid of making any backups now, for that may trigger another CPU suspension.

It’s not just being suspended for 24hrs I’m concerned about, but terminated for too many suspensions! Especially since I.F. does not say how many suspensions will trigger a termination. And If my site is terminated abruptly, I will definitely lose the ability to make a backup).

Anyway… I logged out of m account, and even deleted my browser cache, on the hope that my non-deleted databases would magically appear again. They did not. :frowning: That raised the alarm even further.

Finally, I thought I would create a new database with the same prefix as my primary dbase, that contains all of my Wordpress content. And hope that it would somehow ‘meld’ with my primary database, and maybe get my data back?? Except, I got the prefix wrong. I added an extra “_” (underscore). That created a new database, instead of recovering my old database.

…But creating the new database ‘magically’ made all the undeleted databases appear again, in my MySQL database list! So they weren’t actually deleted. Just… hiding! Then, when I tried to delete the new database I created… the other databases disappeared again! They reappeared, only after I created a new database again. So. It looks like I now have to have an extra (empty) database that I don’t use, in order to keep the database that I do use. Whereas I did not need this before.

Obviously, I’ve found my own solution the problem, so I am not seeking one here. But I am posting this solution in case others have the same problem. But also to ask… does IFree know about this ‘bug’? with the MySQL database creation? I have not found other references to it, here. And if you don’t know about it, well… it could be a very nerve wracking affair!

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Are you looking in the client area or in the control panel?

Also, taking backups via PHPMyAdmin uses so little CPU time you’re not going to be suspended for it, same goes with taking backups over FTP.

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I’ve had this very issue in the past. When Softaculous creates Databases for your account, it uses the byet.org domain instead of the infinityfree.com one, which confuses the Client Area and hides the databases created with byet.org.

There are various ways to bring these databases back onto the Client Area. I have found that removing a database displayed the Wordpress databases.

According to this user, they used the Client Area.

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Yes, this was in the client area. JRi: Your explanation solves the mystery, I think, thanks.

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That’s an absolutely frightening thing to go through! Databases are crucial for many websites, and a database being lost typically results in pretty much the entire website being unrecoverable.

However, it sounds to me that this is simply a bug in the client area. The databases still exist, however the client area for some reason is not loading the list of databases correctly. It would seem that the client area intermittently cannot load the databases from your account.

I’m confident that your databases themselves were never in any danger, and that this is simply a display issue. But I will look into this issue.

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Last time I recall, this was caused by the fact Softaculous likes to use byet.org instead of infinityfree.com, and the Client Area has an issue with that.

Maybe the Client Area should look for the user’s DB in byet.org’s DB system first, then the infinityfree.com one second. I don’t know how the Client Area works, but a solution like this works for my WebMail client.

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Yes, it is absolutely frightening, given that I had just spent 15 hours writing original content, I did not have a backup for. And yes, thankfully, it was just a display issue in Client area MySQL database list.

I believe Jri-Creator has identified the issue. I am commenting, because I did notice that Softaculous had a different database host address, than I was using before, when I installed Wordpress through that. So, in my WP-CONFIG.php, I used the address: sql306.infinityfree.com, as the db host (instead of the “byet” address, given by Softaculous). Perhaps, this is why I encountered this issue?

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There is a longstanding issue that databases created with Softaculous seem to disappear at times (but creating a new database with the same name ‘restores’ them) even in the control panel.

Since the client area essentially just web-scrapes the control panel, this issue is also prevalent in the client area.

The control panel / client area does not look at your code, if I had to guess, the actual issue is probably within iFastNet’s system that manages Softaculous databases.

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Do you mean “this issue is also prevalent in the control panel.”?

Back in my WP days [not long ago] this didn’t work for me at all. Creating it showed nothing still. [That was back then, though]

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No. I meant “client area”. The issue in the control panel causes the issue in the client area based on my understanding of the backend.

Not a WP issue, but a iFN issue.

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The client area just grabs the list of databases from the control panel. If the databases in the client area are vanishing, it could either mean that:

  • The control panel has the same issue, and if the control panel says there are no databases, then the client area will too.
  • There is a problem with the fetching of databases from the control panel, resulting in the client area not showing the databases but the control panel having them still.

I haven’t checked yet whether the problem happens in the control panel too, which determines who can fix the issue. As I understand it, you did check this already @Greenreader9 ?

That’s not really how that works. There is only one system with databases. Any database that is reachable on sqlXXX.byet.org is also reachable on sqlXXX.infinityfree.com and vice versa, it’s just a bit of branding flavor on top.

The issue was mostly with database permissions and the control panel not being able to find databases that were created by Softaculous. It should have been solved already, but maybe not.

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I’m pretty sure this was the core issue, where Softaculous DBs get removed from the DB list when a trigger happens (it’s been awhile, I don’t remember the exact trigger(s), or if I even knew them in the first place), and creating any new database seems to cause the system to refresh with a chance of the old database being ‘restored’. Same goes for when manipulating other databases (add/delete), the system refreshes and Softaculous DBs have a chance to reappear.

I have not experienced this issue myself for a long time, and it’s been some time since it’s been noted here, so I assumed someone contact iFN and got it fixed, my guess now is that it was only a partial fix.

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