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Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

#14498 Backup / Restore different Server types with Backup and Admin Tools Pro

Posted in ‘Akeeba Backup for Joomla! 4 & 5’
This is a public ticket

Everybody will be able to see its contents. Do not include usernames, passwords or any other sensitive information.

Environment Information

Joomla! version
n/a
PHP version
n/a
Akeeba Backup version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Monday, 14 January 2013 04:56 CST

Saturday, 29 December 2012 03:18 CST

user71271

Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Have I searched the tickets before posting? No
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yes, carefully, both products, all pages :-)
Joomla! version: 2.5.8
PHP version: 5.2
MySQL version: 5.0
Host: GoDaddy
Akeeba Backup version: 3.6.10 Pro, Admin Tools 2.4.3 Pro



Description of my issue:

Hi, I'm just after advice on correct process / workflow.

Development site : Win XP Pro / Zend CE / Apache

Production site: GoDaddy (see mandatory info above for specs).

I have Admin Pro and Akeeba Backup Pro on the production site, AB Pro only on the development site as it is rarely connected to the Internet and is on a non-routeable IP address anyway.

I backed up the development site using the extensions exclusion feature to exclude AB Pro. On restoring to the production site both AT Pro and AB Pro were no longer useable (see attachment for error).

I would like to know how to restore (overwrite) the production site with the latest copy of the development site while leaving AB Pro and AT Pro configurations on the production server untouched. The configurations for the development and production sites will be very different even if I have both tools on both sites.

Thanks for your help,

Michael

 

Saturday, 29 December 2012 04:35 CST

nicholas

Hello Michael,

When you are using the extension exclusion feature two things happen:

  • The base directories of the extension are not backed up. In the case of a component named com_foobar this means that components/com_foobar and administrator/components/com_foobar are not being backed up
  • There is a small piece of SQL code appended to the SQL dump which uninstalls the extension from Joomla!'s #__extensions table

If your live site had these extensions installed then the live site's copy of those extensions will be broken. In order to fix this issue, just install Admin Tools and Akeeba Backup on the live site. This will create afresh the necessary directories and database records, without modifying the configuration.

So, how to transfer from dev to live without causing this problem? You need a two-fold solution.

  1. Using the Database Table Exclusion feature exclude the #__ak_* (Akeeba Backup) and #__admintools_* (Admin Tools) tables.
  2. Using the Directories and Files Exclusion feature exclude the following folders:
    • components/com_akeeba
    • components/com_admintools
    • administrator/components/com_akeeba
    • administrator/components/com_admintools
    • media/com_akeeba
    • media/com_admintools

Your backup will now not include the components' files and database records (where all the settings are stored).

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Wednesday, 02 January 2013 02:26 CST

user71271

Thanks for this Nicholas, very clear. Will try this when can use my test environment, needs resolution to issue in ticket #14506. One question: if I enter the SQL exclusion strings above into the SQL exclusion filter, should the tables show with a 'force enabled' red background icon? If so, does the lack of a red background icon mean I haven't entered the exclusion correctly?

Regards,

Michael

Wednesday, 02 January 2013 02:32 CST

nicholas

Hello Michael,

Yes. All RegEx Database Table Exclusion filters result in a red icon showing up next to the filtered out database entities (tables, views, procedures, functions, triggers). If you don't see the red icon, you've made a mistake in the regular expression.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Saturday, 12 January 2013 20:35 CST

user71271

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? have done everything requested on page "Common issues on restored sites and how to solve them"
Have I searched the tickets before posting? No
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yes, carefully, both products, all pages :-)
Joomla! version: 2.5.8
PHP version: 5.3.14
MySQL version: 5.1.50-community
Host: XP Pro SP3 > Zend CE
Akeeba Backup version: 3.6.10 Pro, Admin Tools 2.4.3 Pro

Hi Nicholas,

I've finally had a chance to try this out. Ignore references to GoDaddy in the first post. I am testing backup  from one local instance, restoring to another.

http://192.168.0.2/jmla02 - fresh installation, no sample data, AB Pro, AT Pro, 3 users added, 3rd party template installed, no content. Used AB Pro to backup with database and file exclusions suggested above. This will be my development site. (Final target will be cloudaccess.net host, but haven't done any testing there yet).

http://192.168.0.2/jmla03 - fresh installation, sample data, nothing additional done (no AB Pro, AT Pro). Restored from backup of jmla02.

Result Error 500 after entering admin username and password.  I have attached php error log and screen dump. Any help would be welcome!

Thanks,

Michael

Sunday, 13 January 2013 02:46 CST

nicholas

Look at the third to last line in your error log file. It tells you that you are missing a basic Admin Tools file. Can you send me the backup log file of the jmla02 site so that I can understand what's going on?

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Monday, 14 January 2013 02:02 CST

user71271

Yes Nicholas, I saw that. Wasn't sure if it was AT file and why would it be looking for one when AT was excluded from the source site jmla02 and never installed on the target site jmla03? Log attached - I had to rerun to get full log level. Redid kickstart on jmla03, same result.  Regards, Michael 

Edited by user71271 on 2013-01-14 02:03 CST

Monday, 14 January 2013 02:24 CST

nicholas

I am seeing things like this in your backup log:

INFO |130114 07:35:19|Skipping directory <root>/components/com_akeeba
INFO |130114 07:35:19|Skipping directory <root>/components/com_admintools

You are using the extensions exclusion feature to exclude the Akeeba Backup and Admin Tools components. That's not enough. You also have to exclude all of their modules and plugins. Or just remove the exclusions and uninstall the extensions after the site's restoration.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Monday, 14 January 2013 02:36 CST

user71271

Ok Nicholas, I've got it now. I'll test again with ATP and ABP installed on both source and target (which is where I started from and where I will end up). Thanks for your help. Michael

Monday, 14 January 2013 02:37 CST

nicholas

You're welcome, Michael!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Monday, 14 January 2013 04:55 CST

user71271

Thanks Nicholas, worked fine, closing off. Michael

Monday, 14 January 2013 04:56 CST

nicholas

You're welcome, Michael!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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