Akeeba Backup 3.4.0

Akeeba Backup 3.4.0 just released.

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of Akeeba Backup 3.4.0, a regular release.

Akeeba Backup 3.4.0 is the new stable release of Akeeba Backup. It brings new features, such as the frequently requested Box.net integration and direct import of arbitrary archives from Amazon S3, and fixes the Dropbox integration, which began breaking for several Dropbox users starting last week. As of this release, only Joomla! 1.5, 1.7 and 2.5 will be supported. Akeeba Backup 3.4.0 will not install on Joomla! 1.6 sites. PHP 5.2 support is now considered obsolete and will be removed in a future release of Akeeba Backup.

IMPORTANT UPDATE NOTES FOR PROFESSIONAL SUBSCRIBERS:

If you were using Dropbox with eariler versions of Akeeba Backup, you have to perform some extra steps after installing Akeeba Backup 3.4.0. Go to your site's back-end, Component, Akeeba Backup, select the backup profile with the Dropbox integration and click on the Configuration button. Find the "Upload to Dropbox" row and click the "Configure..." button next to it. Click on the "Authorisation - Step 1" button. A new popup window opens which asks you to log in to Dropbox. This is a page in Dropbox.com. Log in and verify that you want to link Akeeba Backup to your Dropbox account. When the success message appears, close that popup and click on the "Authorisation - Step 2" button. After 3-7 seconds you will see a dialog reading "OK". You have now successfully linked Akeeba Backup with Dropbox.

Please note that with the new Dropbox integration you are no longer storing your Dropbox email and password in Akeeba Backup's configuration. Only a token is stored, which allows Akeeba Backup (and only Akeeba Backup) to access your Dropbox account. This further increases the security of your site and Dropbox account, not to mention that it's now using the official Dropbox API which is not prone to breaking in the future!

Getting Akeeba Backup and receiving support

As always, you can download the free version, Akeeba Backup Core, from our Downloads page without any charge. If you are a Professional subscriber you can download the Akeeba Backup Professional release from the same page; just make sure you are logged in before visiting the download page. Alternatively, you can use the integrated Live Update feature of our software to update it automatically on supported server environments.

Since July 7th, 2011, support is provided only to subscribers. We have created a cheap (7.79€) subscription, MINISUPPORT, which gives you access to our Support Ticket System for eight days, with the same priority as all subscribers to any subscription level. If you already have an active AKEEBAPRO subscription you already have access to the support ticket system; you don’t need to buy an extra subscription. Moreover, if you have an active AKEEBADELUXE or SUPPORT subscritpion, you can get top priority, confidential support by selecting the Private ticket visibility option when creating a new ticket.

Do you want the best backup solution for Joomla! without spending a fortune? Akeeba Backup Professional can do that, with a flat cost of 40 Euros – or just 30, if you bought an ATPRO subscription the last three moths. An AKEEBAPRO subscription allows you to use the component on as many sites as you want, for as long as you want (even after your subscription expires) and receive updates and support for a whole year. For the price of a dinner for two you can get the best backup solution all your Joomla! 1.5, 1.7 and 2.5 sites. Go Professional today!

Supported versions

Our support policy is to provide support only to the latest published stable release of Akeeba Backup, as well as to the latest published preview (alpha, beta or release candidate) release, if one is available.

Moreover, we only support the Joomla! versions officially supported by the Joomla! project. Due to the plethora of active Joomla! versions, we have consolidated the support terms for different Akeeba Backup and Joomla! version combinations in the table below: 

* Only the latest Akeeba Backup 3.4.x release is supported. Limited support is provided for older releases (1 week after an update is released); if we suspect that you are affected by a known issue which has since be fixed we might ask you to upgrade to the latest release before providing any further assistance.

** If a new Akeeba Backup series (i.e. 3.5) is released before August 2013, Akeeba Backup 3.4.x will cease being supported, per our support policy stated above.

*** Joomla! 1.5 and 1.7 are supported by us for roughly 4 months after they have officially become end-of-life. This should give you enough time to migrate your sites to the current long term support release of Joomla!, version 2.5.

Please note that Akeeba Backup 3.3.x requires PHP 5.2.7 or later to work. If you have an earlier version of PHP, please ask your host to upgrade it immediately. PHP 4, 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2 are end-of-life products, abandoned over a year ago by their developers, containing known security vulnerabilities. If you are stuck on a host using PHP 5.1.6 up to and including PHP 5.2.6, you can use the (unsupported) Akeeba Backup 3.2.7 release to back your site up in order to move it to a host with up-to-date software. Likewise, if you have a Joomla! 1.6-based site, please use Akeeba Backup 3.2.7 to back it up and upgrade to Joomla! 2.5 as soon as possible, for security reasons.

Changelog

New features

• ABI: Updated jQuery and jQuery UI
• ABI: Remember the preference to clear the database connection information when navigating between steps
• #120 ABI: Ability to skip restoring select databases, except the one of the site (Skip instead of Next)
• #121 Import arbitrary archives from S3
• #248 Integrate with box.net cloud storage provider
• The backup.php CRON script now supports a --debug switch so that it will dump any PHP errors
• Finder tables (which can be rebuilt anytime) are now skipped by default, leading in MAJOR performance boost when backing up Joomla! 2.5 sites

Miscellaneous changes

• Reimplementing Dropbox integration with their official API

Bug fixes

• The update notification plugin could fire repeatedly if it wasn't able to update its last run timestamp
• ABI doesn't support MySQLi connection to non-standard (non-3306) ports
• Regression: multiple db backup didn't work
• The backup.php CRON script would not support send-by-email features under Joomla! 2.5.x