In order to display the Edit Site Definition window, from the main window you can:
select a site from the list and click on the , menu, or right-click and choose , use the toolbar button or press CTRL-E to edit an existing site definition
double click on a site definition to edit it.
You can click on the cross icon anytime to open up the help page. Help pages are rendered in an integrated web browser window, loading the help pages straight from JoomlaPack.net.
The first tab of this window, Basic, contains the basic information you must define in order to backup a site.
Site's name. This is a label, the site's name, which can be used for identification purposes. It doesn't have to be unique. It is only used to help you, the user, to identify individual sites.
URL to XML-RPC host. You have to enter the full URL to the Joomla! XMLRPC proxy, without the protocol. If your site's URL is
http://www.example.com, then the required url to enter iswww.example.com/xmlrpc/index.php. In other words, you have to append/xmlrpc/index.phpto your site's URL omiting the protocol (thehttp://part).![[Important]](/images/stories/docimport62/important.png)
Important You have to omit the protocol (
http://)! If you mistakenly add it, using any JoomlaPack Remote operation on this site will fail.Port. If your site is using a non-standard port number, please specify it in this box, or accept the default.
Important The text box won't accept values over 32767. It's highly unlinkely your server will ever use a port such high, though.
![[Note]](/images/stories/docimport62/note.png)
Note Standard ports are 80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS.
Use SSL secured (HTTPS) connection. Ticking this box will force JoomlaPack Remote to connect to your site over the HTTPS (secured) protocol. The port number automatically changes to the standard HTTPS port, 443.
![[Warning]](/images/stories/docimport62/warning.png)
Warning Before being able to connect to your site over HTTPS you must use the button to authorize and cache your server's SSL certificate signature. Not doing so will result in almost instant connection failure.
Get SSL certificate. Pressing this button tries to retrieve your host's SSL certificate and present it to you for approval. Once approved, the signature of the SSL certificate is cached inside the site's profile. This feature allows you to positively prevent man-in-the-middle attacks.
Username. You have to enter the Joomla! user name of a user who has enough privileges to run a regular JoomlaPack backup from the administrator back end. Under the default configuration, this is limited to Super Administrators only, but JoomlaPack can also be configured to allow Administrators and Managers to perform backups. The JoomlaPack Remote Plug-In authenticates your user with Joomla! before attempting to execute any backup-related command.
Password. The password for the user discussed above.
Profile ID (edit box). In the edit box you have to give the numeric ID of the backup profile you want to use. Using 0 or 1 in this box will force JoomlaPack Remote to use the default backup profile. The contents of this edit box can be easier changed using the combo box next to it.
Profile ID (combo box). The combo box contains a list of profile's descriptions. Changing the selection also changes the contents of the Backup Profile edit box. This combo box is initially disabled (grayed out). You have to press the button to populate it with the current list of profiles and enable it. If you try to change any of the connection parameters (URL, username, password) this combo box will become disabled and you'll have to to enable it again.
Get profiles button. When clicked, it tries to connect to your site and fetch a list of available profiles. It will notify you of the outcome. If the connection is successful, the Profile ID combo box is populated with the current list of available profiles on your site and becomes enabled as well.
Time to pause between subsequent XML-RPC calls [seconds]. Indicates an optional amount of time you'd like JoomlaPack Remote to pause between XML-RPC calls. Some servers handle continuous calls to same URL as Denial of Service attack, therefore they will block XML-RPC calls and halt the backup process. Defining a sane value (usually 1-3 seconds) in this field allows Remote to pause between each XML-RCP call and overcome this server limitation. On the downside, it will considerably slow down the backup.
The Downloads tab allows you to optionally define if and how JoomlaPack will download the backup file when done, or the log file upon failure.
The first area, labelled Download Options, allows you to define if and where files will be downloaded. This is a per-site setting, so that you can store, let's say, each of your site's backup files to a separate directory.
Download backup files on successful backup. When enabled, JoomlaPack Remote will download the backup file through FTP upon backup completion. This is the easiest and recommended way of making sure you have an up-to-date local copy of the site's backup archive.
Download log file on failure. When enabled, if the backup process fails for any reason, JoomlaPack will try to download the
joomlapack.loglog file through FTP. The log file will be named like your (failed) backup file, with a.logextension to help you identify to which attempt it refers to.Delete backup file on server after download. As an optional security measure, JoomlaPack Remote can delete the server copy of the backup file once it's done downloading it. This ensures that no malicious person can gain access to your backup file as it will only exist locally, on the "Downloaded files location", not on your live server.
Downloaded files location. By either typing in, or visually selecting by clicking the folder icon, you must specify the target directory for downloaded files.
Warning Sometimes, using non-ASCII characters in the path might appear as garbled text when the visual selection button is used. You can edit them manually to fix this. However, we strongly advise you to use locations which do not make use of non-ASCII characters to avoid potential problems occuring by accidentally clicking on this icon.
The Connection parameters area allows you to define the FTP connection options specific to your site.
| Important |
|---|---|
Currently, JoomlaPack Remote only supports plain FTP connections. There is no support for Secure FTP (FTPS / SFTP) or other FTP variants. |
FTP server's host name. The host name or IP of your FTP server.
Warning Contrary to the site's URL, you must not include a protocol in this field! This means that
ftp://ftp.example.comis invalid, whereasftp.example.comis valid.Port. You can enter the TCP/IP port which your FTP server listens to. If you leave it to 0, the default FTP service port 21 will be used instead.
Use secured (FTP over SSL) connection. Remote will use an SSL-encrypted communication channel to your server. This is often called FTPS (which has nothing to do with SFTP, they're different protocols!). You have to check if your server supports it and what is the port you have to use with this feature.
Username. The username of your FTP user.
Password. The password of your FTP user.
Initial Directory. The FTP directory to your backup output directory. This path usually must be given in UNIX format, using forward slashes as path separators. If in doubt, use a graphical FTP client (i.e. FileZilla) to navigate to your backup output directory and copy the path displayed there to this field. For example, if your site's root is accessible in the
httpdocsFTP directory and you use the default JoomlaPack backup output directory (administrator/components/com_joomlapack/backup) then you should enter/httpdocs/administrator/components/com_joomlapack/backupon this field.Test. Clicking on this button tests connection to the FTP server and tries to see if the configured Initial Directory exists. However, it is not possible to detect if the configured Initial Directory is in fact the Backup Output directory! It is your responsibility to ensure that.
Use FTP active mode. Remote uses the FTP passive mode by default, just like your browser, so that it can pass through firewalls. However, some sites will refuse to operate with the Passive mode. Tick this box to disable the passive mode. If unsure, leave this unchecked unless you can conenct to your FTP site but not download anything.
Try to keep FTP connection alive. Enabling this option sends a NOOP command every 10 seconds in order to keep the FTP connection from closing.
Warning Most servers do not require this option. In fact, most servers will halt the download at about 32Kb if this option is enabled. Use only on servers which always seem to abort the download after a constant amount of time.
Bear in mind that in most cases you must not select the last two check boxes. More specifficaly, the majority of servers does not require the Active mode. Selecting it may cause FTP connection failures, especially if you are behind a firewall or a NAT router, for example an ADSL modem/router. Moreover, the FTP connection keep-alive feature may be incompatible with your server. If this is so and you have enabled this feature you will experience a download stall early through the process.
This tab allows you to determine if your site's backup should run on a specific schedule.
If you leave the Run backup on a schedule box un-checked, you skip this feature. This means that your site will only run when you manually select it for backup.
| Important |
|---|---|
In order for the backup to run on a schedule, your PC must be turned on, with JoomlaPack Remote running and Internet connectivity enabled. If JoomlaPack Remote wasn't running at the time of a scheduled backup, the backup operation will run immediately the next time you start JoomlaPack Remote. You can always abort the running backup if you didn't want the backup to happen at that time, though. |
The Frequency field determines how often your site is going to be backed up:
Every day. The backup will run every day on the specified time.
Every week. The backup will run on the same day of the week (e.g. every Monday) on the specified time. The day of the week is determined by the date you give in the box below. So, if you select a Monday (any Monday!) your backup will run on Mondays.
Every month. You backup will run once every month, on the same day of the month, on the specified time. So, if you select the 15th of any month in the date box below, your backup will run on the 15th of every month. If you select the 31st of a month, your backup will run on the last day of every month, no matter if it's the 31st or the 30th or the 29th (for February on leap years) or 28th (for February on non-leap years).
Every year. You backup will run once every year on the specified day of the month and month. So, if you select January 24th of any year in the date box below, your backup will run on January 24th of every year. If you select February 29th of a leap year, the backup will run on February 28th for non-leap years.
The label towards the bottom will display in plain English when the backup will run, based on your settings. This is the easiest way to understand how this feature works!
The HTTP Proxy tab allows you to configure a proxy server to use when connecting to your site.
Proxy server host name. The full URL to your proxy server, for example
http://proxy.example.com.Port. The port to use. Usually this is 8080, but you have to ask your proxy's administator for this.
Use basic authentication. Check this is your proxy requires authentication (usually in corporate environments).
Username. The user name you use to log in to your proxy.
Password. The password of your proxy user.
Leaving the host name blank will result in no proxy being used.
The FTP Proxy tab allows you to define an FTP proxy, if it is necessary.
FTP Proxy host name. The host name to your FTP proxy server.
Port. The port of your FTP proxy server.
Proxy type. There are several options for the proxy type:
No proxy. No proxy shall be used.
Send command USER user@hostname - USER after login.
Send command SITE (with logon).
Send command OPEN USER user@firewalluser@hostname / PASS pass@firewallpass.
First firewall USER/PASS, then target host USER/PASS.
USER hostuserId@hostname firewall Username.
Novell BorderManager Proxy.
HTTP Proxy with FTP support. This option currently does not work due to limitations in the network connection library (Internet Direct) used by JoomlaPack Remote.
FTP Proxy username. The username used to authenticate to your FTP proxy server.
FTP Proxy password. The password of your FTP proxy's user.
Click on to save and apply the settings, to discard all changes.
