Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 10:16 CDT

user55161

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? Yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Joomla! version: 3.1.4
PHP version: 5.3.25
MySQL version: (unknown)
Host: unlimitedwebhosting
Akeeba Backup version: 3.7.10 Pro

Description of my issue:

I want to bend the rules and backup a non-joomla database and its files. It seems there are two options:

a) Choose normal full backup + change the database in configuration + select corresponding folder(s)
b) Choose two backups; one for the DB (all configured databases) and one for the folders/files (Site files only)

a) is preferable in that it's a one-stop, one-file backup and restore

I know Akeeba cannot work out the configuration files - so a restore will involve a manual configuration after restore - but that's easy.

Can you see any problems with method a) ?

Thanks,
Ric

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 10:30 CDT

nicholas

Akeeba Backup has three features to help you with cases like that:
1. Extra Database Inclusion
2. Off-site Folders Inclusion
3. The ability to change the file root and db connection information

The first two are used to backup your Joomla! site and additional sites / databases, restoring them all at once.

The latter is used to backup an external Joomla! site. You can abuse it to backup a non-Joomla! site which is what your plan A is all about. There is no problem with that as long as you remember that after restoring the database you are supposed to close the installation script, delete the installation directory and reconfigure your non-Joomla! application. I know people (plural!) who have used that method to backup WordPress sites. They told me it works fine. There you have it :)

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!

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 11:16 CDT

user55161

Pretty versatile huh?

The mangled method a) sounds optimal because the process is simplified with ANGIE + Kickstart. That restores the database without using PHPMyAdmin or any other product. It's just so... easy.

The bit I wasn't sure about is whether there would be problems at the final restore - when it gets to visit front-end/back end.

Your answer gives me more than enough to go on. I shall come back on this only if it becomes seriously unglued.

Thanks,
Ric

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 13:26 CDT

user55161

Post script...

What can I say? it just works. A few additional folders were present (I think the install script creates these, such as cache, logs, originally excluded by default) plus a few sundry files at root level (I really need to start use the right hand file panel for exclusions). All of which are easily cleaned up.

One could even imagine a Joomla installation being created just for the one purpose of managing backups. And it would do so pretty much anywhere for any product that has files and/or database(s).

I think now I can ditch "phpmysqlautobackup" which has stood me in good stead thus far.

Ric

Note: there are only two files I cannot exclude: configuration.php (this is set 444) and index.php (set 644). This is inconsequential. Remember the files I want to back up are in a folder and these two files are at root level and correspond to the Joomla installation from which Akeeba is running.

Edited by user55161 on 2013-07-30 13:39 CDT

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 14:58 CDT

nicholas

Yep, Akeeba Backup is versatile. I am surprised myself at all the strange uses you guys find for it.

> A few additional folders were present

I am wondering why. The installation doesn't create them unless you go through with it to the end. I told you that as soon as it tells you that the database is restored you've got to close the installer.

> there are only two files I cannot exclude: configuration.php (this is set 444) and index.php (set 644).

You can :) But, as I said, as soon as ANGIE tells you that the database is restored you've got to close the installer. Otherwise yes, the configuration.php file is created afresh.

> One could even imagine a Joomla installation being created just for the one purpose of managing backups. And it would do so pretty much anywhere for any product that has files and/or database(s).

One of our long term goals is to create a standalone version of Akeeba Backup that only needs to install a handful of database tables (or, maybe, get away with a sqlite database which is entirely contained in a single file). The problem is that JApplicationWeb, Joomla!'s API for creating standalone web apps, is changing all the time. By the time I figure out how to use it, it's deprecated and changed. We'll find a way. It just takes time.

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!

Support