[Resolved] wp-admin[/]post[.]php 404 after a long time waiting

[Author]

Posts

[ataF]

I am trying to:
edit my custom post types

Link to a page where the issue can be seen:
hidden link

I expected to see:
the post being updated successfully

Instead, I got:
404 error, it takes a long time then it returns 404.

Explanation:
we are using Cloudflare on Apochi.com, after the latest updates (WordPress, toolset, WPML, Yoast SEO, ...) we get timeout error on Cloudflare, first, we thought it's because of Cloudflare so use our test website which is 100% the same as the original one, the only difference is, the test website is not using Cloudflare, now we see it's not working even without Cloudflare envolved!

we have tried
define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');
define( 'WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

we have tried disabling other plugins and etc ..., yet no progress!

I can provide you the super admin access on our test environment so you can see for yourself

hidden link
https Auth credentials:
user:
I will send it privately
pass:
I will send it privately

than go to
hidden link
user:
I will send it privately
pass:
I will send it privately

then try to edit one of our custom post types:
hidden link

just try to update the post even without changing anything!

you are at liberty to change anything you need to test the issue.

Thanks and regards.

[ataF]

please make it a private issue or hide the credentials

[Waqar]

Hi,

Thank you for contacting us and I'd be happy to assist.

Is there any error/warning shown on screen, in browser's console or in server's error logs, when this happens?
( if you haven't already, it would be a good idea to turn on WordPress debugging: https://wordpress.org/support/article/debugging-in-wordpress/ )

Note: Your next reply will be private and please make a complete backup copy, before sharing the access details.

regards,
Waqar

[Waqar]

Hi,

Thank you for sharing the admin access.

While I can see the issue on your website, it couldn't be reproduced on a test website.

This suggests that it is something specific to your website or server/CDN configuration.

To troubleshoot and narrow this down, I'll need a clone/snapshot of your website, so that it can be deployed and tested on a different server.

Can you please share the clone/snapshot of the website, as explained in this guide?
https://toolset.com/faq/provide-supporters-copy-site/

Note: your next reply will be private.

regards,
Waqar

[ataF]

Dear Waqar
Thanks for your time and efforts, the access you have is superuser access, I'm just wondering why not you make the copy you need since you are experienced doing it, but if you think this must be done from our end, I will install the plugin and do as the document says.

looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks and regards.

[Waqar]

Thank you for installing the Duplicator plugin and for your permission to download the clone.

I tried to create a duplicator package, but it seems that the overall size of the files on the server is too big for the duplicator and the feature to filter out large files is not working due to conflict with the Wordfence plugin.

Can you temporarily disable Wordfence and then try to create a duplicator package, excluding the large files like:
( screenshot: hidden link )

/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/before_kave_start.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/new-9april-plugins.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/plugins9April.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/plugins.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/plugins/allPluginsBeofreUpdate27Feb.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/plugins-/allPluginsBeofreUpdate27Feb.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/plugins-/old-bks/BkOfOldBks.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/plugins-/old-bks/sitepress-multilingual-cms.4.0.4.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/plugins/old-bks/BkOfOldBks.zip;
/home/apoc98hi/public_html/testali/wp-content/plugins/old-bks/sitepress-multilingual-cms.4.0.4.zip

Once the package is ready, you can let me know and I'll download it directly from the website.

[ataF]

Dear Waqar
Thanks a lot for your reply, I tried to do as you said, I removed those big files you mentioned and the Wordfence even! yet it seems to be still big!

do you have any idea what to do? like do you think if I delete the upload folder it would be helpful?

Thanks and regards

[Waqar]

Thank you for sharing the update.

I managed to download the database only duplicator package from the website, however, I'll still need the files.

Would it be possible for you to share the FTP access so that the files can be downloaded directly?

Note: Your next reply will be private.

[Waqar]

Thank you for sharing the FTP access and the zip file.

I've downloaded it successfully and will be performing some tests on the clone.

As soon as this testing completes, I'll update you with my findings.

[ataF]

Dear Waqar
have you found any clue?

Thanks and regards.

[Waqar]

Hi,

Thank you for waiting and I apologize for the delay.

This testing turned out more complex than I initially anticipated and here are my findings.

The "Attractions" post type on your website has many custom fields attached to it, which are coming from a total of 9 field groups.
(many of which are the description or WYSIWYG fields)

If these fields are temporarily disabled, you'll see that these posts will update successfully.

The issue seems to be that when an attraction post is updated from the admin area, a lot of data from these custom fields is submitted to the server. And since the server is currently not configured to deal with this amount of data, it stalls and can't complete the request.

To get this fixed, I'll suggest the following steps:

1. In your website's "wp-config.php" file, you'll see this line which sets the PHP's max execution time to a very low value:

set_time_limit(100);

This value should be updated to a higher value like 10000 or 15000, considering the fact that your website's posts are submitting a large amount of data and thus the requests will need more time to finish.

You'll also see lines for "WP_MEMORY_LIMIT" and "WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT" and these values should also be increased from "256M" to a higher value like "1024M".

You can also increase the PHP values for "post_max_size", "max_input_vars" and "max_input_time" by adding the following lines at the bottom of your website's ".htaccess" file:

php_value post_max_size 6000M
php_value max_input_vars 10000
php_value max_input_time 10000

Important note: Depending on your hosting/server configuration you may need to consult your hosting support team to change the settings/values mentioned above.

2. After these settings and values have been updated, please make sure to update WordPress, active theme and all plugins to their latest versions and then test updating those posts again and it should work.

3. To improve performance and efficiency, it would be a good idea to break large amounts of data into smaller parts.

For example, instead of storing all fields data with "Attractions" posts, you can distribute it across multiple posts types and then connect them using post relationships:
https://toolset.com/documentation/post-relationships/

You can create new post types each for fields in field groups "Attraction How to get there", "Attraction Slider section", "Attractions Extra Sections", "Attractions header section", "Attractions manual hotels" and "Attractions other related attractions" and then connect those new post types to the "Attractions" post type.

I hope this helps and please let me know if you need any further assistance around this.

regards,
Waqar

[ataF]

Thanks a lot, Wagar
I have already tried increasing memory and limits, I think we have to reconstruct this specific post type.

Thanks and regards.

[Waqar]

You're very welcome.

The restructuring of that post type's data is a good idea.

Feel free to mark this ticket as resolved and please open a new ticket for a different question or concern.

regards,
Waqar

[ataF]

My issue is resolved now. Thank you!