The package for Akeeba Backup 3.7.9 was built and uploaded to our server twice. The first time it was a broken package, identical to 3.7.8, with a different version number. We immediately replaced that with the correct package. It seems that for reasons beyond us some of our users –mainly those in the US using the Core version, most likely due to CDN caching issues– do see and download the broken package. The package does install, but the resulting backup throws a blank page in the site setup stage. As a result we have to consider version 3.7.9 as broken and release yet another new version.
If you have a problem after or before installing the component please read our troubleshooting page. These issues are more likely to occur if you try to upgrade this component while you have an older version of another component of ours still installed on your site.
Microsoft SQL Server compatibility (BETA). This version introduces limited compatibility with Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Windows Azure SQL databases on Windows hosts with the proprietary sqlserver PHP extension from Microsoft. You can install Akeeba Backup on servers using one of those databases. Please remember to go to the Configuration page and change the database dump engine option to "Reverse engineering"; the default engine will only work with MySQL databases.
The compatibility with Microsoft SQL Server is currently considered a beta feature and we will appreciate your feedback. It only backs up and restores tables, but it is oblivious to VIEWs, PROCEDUREs, FUNCTIONs and TRIGGERs. We have done our best to take into account the most commonly used features for tables, but we do need your feedback if you find out that it doesn't work with a specific table on your site.
This version requires PHP 5.3 or later. The rationale behind this is explained in our statement of mid-February 2013. It won't install on hosts running PHP 5.2 or earlier. Moreover, due to the necessary Joomla! API changes found only in Joomla! 2.5.6 or later, this version will not install on Joomla! 2.5.5 or earlier versions. In any case, it will tell you exactly why it cannot be installed (minimum PHP or Joomla! version not satisfied).