Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

Tuesday, 03 April 2012 21:02 CDT

standib1

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: 2.5.3
PHP version: (unknown)
MySQL version: (unknown)
Host: (optional, but it helps us help you)
Akeeba Backup version: (unknown)

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: Please attach a ZIP file containing your Akeeba Backup log file in order for us to help you with any backup or restoration issue. If the file is over 2Mb, please upload it on your server and post a link to it.

Description of my issue:Cannot restore my backup

I was trying to perform an update of Fabrik when Everything went to ##$$%.
Luckily I performed a backup first but after I uploaded the backup file and ran kickstart.php, I get an error after the files are extracted. "An error occured
Could not open /home/content/m/b/y/mbycftp/html/stats/index.html for writing."
I think Fabrik really screwed up my site but I thought the backup would get me back. Can you tell me what I did wrong?

Tuesday, 03 April 2012 22:25 CDT

standib1

I notice that when starting kickstart, the start screen step 1 does not select the archive jpa file. It is available in the dropdown so I selected it. The next input in step one asks for an archive password for jpa files. I have no idea what goes here. Is this my problem?

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 02:40 CDT

nicholas

First, a tip: when something odd happens, there are many possible interpretations. The one which sounds the most complex is the least possible to hold any water. In your case you went for the most complex interpretation and confused yourself. Let's take everything one at a time.

When starting Kickstart, it will not auto-select the archive if you have multiple ZIP, JPA or JPS archives in the same directory. This is inconsequential. That's why we have a drop-down, so that you can select the one you want.

The password, if you look more closely, reads that it's required for JPS, not JPA, archives. JPS is the encrypted archive format in Akeeba Backup Professional. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, just forget about the password field altogether.

Regarding your issue, take a look at this for the proper workaround: https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/troubleshooter/kscantextract.html

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, 04 April 2012 07:27 CDT

standib1

Thank you for the advise. I'm told I have unlimited space on the server so I guess I will try the ftp method. What I don't understand is that just a few days ago I moved the site from a subfolder to the root directory using kickstart and the direct method and it worked perfectly. (See ticket 11709) Now I am trying to restore that same site in the root directory and I get these errors.

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 07:32 CDT

nicholas

If all else fails, you can always extract the archive locally, using Akeeba eXtract Wizard (it's a free download from our site and runs on all major operating systems). Then you can upload the extracted files to your site and access http://www.example.com/installation/index.php, where www.example.com is the domain name of the site you are restoring to (you do not use Kickstart with this method). I try to always provide you with at least a plan B, just in case :)

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, 04 April 2012 08:00 CDT

standib1

UPDATE---
I just tried to use the ftp method but got another error--
An error occured
Could not upload stats/index.html

I followed the instructions from you link including the temp folder and setting the permissions to 0777 for the temp folder.
Getting desparate. Site has been down for 12 hours.

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 08:12 CDT

nicholas

OK, that's also very easy. You had backed up your site's stats folder. This is a special folder. It doesn't belong to Joomla!, it's put there by your host. It is readable by the web server user (hence Akeeba Backup can back it up) but not writable (that's why Kickstart and/or your regular FTP user can't write to it). You will need to follow a workaround.

Download the backup archive locally. Extract it using Akeeba eXtract Wizard. (so far you've done that). Delete the extracted stats folder. Completely. It's not even a folder Joomla! uses. Upload the remaining files and folders and continue with the rest of the instructions from my last reply.

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, 04 April 2012 08:33 CDT

standib1

Thanks. I ran the extract wizard and am ready to upload. Will this method also restore the databases?

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 08:40 CDT

nicholas

Of course. That's what accessing the installation/index.php file will do: it will launch the Akeeba Backup Installer script which restores the database data and reconfigures your site's Global Configuration. Remember, Kickstart is only an archive extraction tool. The real restoration script is Akeeba Backup Installer which is always included in the backup archive.

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, 04 April 2012 10:22 CDT

standib1

Thank you. Thank you.

It took 1:45 to upload the entire site but the rest of the backup went perfectly. I have deleted the 'Stats' folder so it will not be included in the backup.
Should I now delete the kicktemp folder?

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 10:27 CDT

nicholas

You're welcome!

Yes, you can now safely delete the kicktemp folder.

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!

Sunday, 08 April 2012 09:30 CDT

standib1

The alternative method worked. Thank you very much.
I do however have a new situation.
I will remind you that I was in the process of updating Joomla to 2.5.4 and at the same time Fabrik to 3.0.5 (Probably not a wise idea) I had made a backup before I started (A wise idea). Any way, the size of the first backup file was 206,000K. After I was able to complete the restore, I immediately made another backup copy. The size of that file is 412,000K. I believe the difference is in the database but I have no idea where to start trying to figure out what happened. Any ideas?

Sunday, 08 April 2012 12:00 CDT

nicholas

You're welcome!

Regarding the size discrepancy, I have a very good idea. Most likely you forgot to remove your backup archive from the site's root after restoring the site and before taking the new backup. Therefore the old backup was backed up in the new backup, hence the exactly double size of the new backup :)

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!

Sunday, 08 April 2012 12:17 CDT

standib1

Wow, I just keep looking for the hard answer instead of the easy one.
That was it. Thank you very much.

Sunday, 08 April 2012 12:31 CDT

nicholas

You're welcome :)

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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