Backup got stuck (?) and now I can't reach the back end

Question

I'm very new to Magento so sincere apologies if this question has already been asked.

Around 1100 on Friday, May 27 I started a database and media backup. After I started it, there was a 'please wait' spinning wheel for a while, which later disappeared. After that, the website went down for maintenance, which I expected. However, I am now unable to access the backend either. It is now 1800 on 29 May. Both sides now show the following:

'Service Temporarily Unavailable

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.'

Help. I assume that the backup has been too large and has overwhelmed the server? I arrived to the website with it having not been backed up in years (I know this is a major problem, which is why I set the backup going asap).

How can I stop the backup, which I assume is still running, get back into the backend and get the site up again?

Thank you so much for your help.

Answer 1

Ftp into your server and delete maintenance. flag file in your magento installation directory. It is completely safe.

This happens often. Magento does not have the rights to delete the file when the process is done.