Updraftplus responsible for Site Health critical errors (cURL)

[MarkParticipant]

I have 130 sites located with 20i based in the UK. I use updraftplus everywhere. I have been looking at the WP Health Check page in the new version of WordPress 5.5. I have been chasing a problem in the hosting of one site (but multiple sites show the same symptoms) where the health screen shows one or more errors intermittently:

1). Critical REST API Error
2). Improvements: Background updates may not be working properly
3). Improvements: Your site could not complete a loopback request.

I have been working with the hosting company on this. Repeated tests show all passed, or one or more errors. It is intermittent and inconsistent. As we have been working in a live environment I prepared an empty site and set this up ready to receive a cloned copy of the site we were working on. Out of curiosity I ran the health check again with an empty site and just Updraftplus installed (latest version)

The site has the wp-cron spawning disabled. It is now driven through a cron job that executes each minute. Memory is 512MB, PHP is 7.4.

This error has just come up: The scheduled event, puc_cron_check_updates-updraftplus, failed to run. Your site still works, but this may indicate that scheduling posts or automated updates may not work as intended.

I have seen a REST API error which is consistent with the site we are about to debug. However this is just an empty site. If I turn off Updraftplus, I do not see it. Is there any interaction between the new WP Health Check and Updraftplus?

[MarkParticipant]

This reply has been marked as moderator-only.

[Dee NutbourneModerator]

Hi Mark,

There are not currently any known interactions between UpdraftPlus and the site health tool.

The ‘puc_cron_check_updates-updraftplus’ event is UpdraftPlus Premium’s check for updates (performed daily).
Is the blank site connected to your UpdraftPlus Premium licence?

Could you send us a copy of the REST API error, if possible?
You can mark your reply as ‘private’ if you prefer.

Best Wishes,
Dee

[MarkParticipant]

This reply has been marked as private.

[Dee NutbourneModerator]

Hi,

The errors all appear to be connected and are connected to the loopback connections which WordPress is attempting.
It appears that the loopback connections are blocked, but have not been disabled on WordPress’ side.

Please could you check if the the following line is present in your wp-config file:
define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', 'true');

This line disables the normal WP Cron, and should stop the loopback attempts.

I would also recommend testing adding the following to your wp-config file:
define('ALTERNATE_WP_CRON', true);

This enables a backup cron system for WordPress which does not use loopbacks. Do the errors continue with the above line present?

Best Wishes,
Dee

[MarkParticipant]

Firstly can I just check your syntax. In the two statements above, one has ‘true’ the other has true (no quote) are both correct and interchangeable?
Looking at the configuration options the hosting company has recommended I have the following:

define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘512M’);
define(‘DISABLE_WP_CRON’, ‘true’);

From the control panel I have one Cron job configured which calls wp-cron every minute
So the normal WP Cron is disabled, but is triggered from a real cron job, not based on page visits.
Ordinarily this should keep the queue under control.

If I add in define(‘ALTERNATE_WP_CRON’, true); (I assume I do not remove disable_wp_cron? it does not make any difference to the result.

[Dee NutbourneModerator]

Hi,

Apologies, yes true and 'true' are interchangeable.

After some further investigation, it appears that the REST API and loopback errors may be an internal issue to Site Health itself, and could be caused by the .htaccess file.
Are you using any .htaccess authentication for the site?

Best Wishes,
Dee

[MarkParticipant]

This reply has been marked as private.

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