Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

Tuesday, 08 May 2012 03:32 CDT

Butterworth

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)
PHP version: (5.2)
MySQL version: (unknown)
Host: (optional, but it helps us help you)
Akeeba Backup version: (Akeeba Backup Professional 3.4.3 )

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: Missing akeeba-backup.php.
==========================================
I have just installed akeeba Pro but am unable to locate the akeeba-backup.php file in the cli directory. The only files in that directory are as shown in the attached screenshot. I have tried a new installation but no good.

Regards Dave

Tuesday, 08 May 2012 03:52 CDT

nicholas

Uh, I uploaded the new version of the documentation before actually releasing the new version of the component. On Akeeba Backup 3.4.3 the respective file is administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup.php. The file in the cli directory will be added as of Akeeba Backup 3.5.0, due to be released towards the end of this week.

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!

Friday, 11 May 2012 05:02 CDT

Butterworth

Hi

Just updated to 3.5.a2 (2012-05-10) but the backup.php file is not in the cli directory. Do I need to completely re-install Akeeba?

Regards
Dave

Friday, 11 May 2012 09:13 CDT

nicholas

Hi Dave,

This is a bug in the installer of 3.5.a1 and 3.5.a2. Please try installing the latest dev release (svn1497) which addresses this issue.

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!

Friday, 11 May 2012 11:29 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicholas

Loaded the newest version as you suggested. The akeeba backup file is now in my cli directory and I have changed the script to the following to reflect the new file location.
/usr/bin/php /home/sites/peterpanplayschool.co.uk/public_html/cli/akeeba-backup.php

However when I try to run the script, it does not create a backup and simply returns the message shown in the attached file.

Regards

Dave

Friday, 11 May 2012 11:30 CDT

nicholas

You are using the PHP CGI instead of the PHP CLI binary. Please refer to our documentation.

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!

Friday, 11 May 2012 11:33 CDT

nicholas

Note: unlike previous releases, the new CLI scripts are based on the Joomla! Platform JApplicationCLI class. Joomla! Platform has made it so that the command-line script won't run at all when using the CGI binary. The old scripts would run (provisionally) under the CGI binary. The drawback was that the old scripts were trying to simulate a Joomla! environment, causing a lot of bugs and regressions. The only way to solve them was using the Joomla! Platform's JApplicationCli class. If you do not have access to the PHP CLI binary and you can't switch hosts, you can still use the front-end backup method.

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, 13 May 2012 06:46 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicholas

In order to start afresh, I un-installed Akeeba but found that I cannot remove the Akeeba Backup Update Check. When I try to do so, it comes up with the message shown in the attached image.

Could you please advise how I can remove this.

Thanks

Dave

Sunday, 13 May 2012 07:11 CDT

nicholas

This means that the plugin has actually been uninstalled and the only piece of it still present is the database record in Joomla!. You can simply ignore it and install Akeeba Backup again on your site.

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, 13 May 2012 13:42 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicholas

Getting there slowly. I have re-installed akeeba backup pro 3.4.3 and configured it for dropbox. When I initiate a backup from the akeeba CP, it creates a backup within dropbox.

I then created a cron job script within my website CP as follows
/usr/bin/php5-cli /home/sites/peterpanplayschool.co.uk/public_html/cli/akeeba-backup.php. There is a test facility for the script within my CP which I used and this returned the message shown in the attachment and this looks ok.

However when I set a scheduled time for the backup, nothing happened. Any ideas please.

Regards

Dave

Sunday, 13 May 2012 14:21 CDT

nicholas

The output of the CLI script's test indicates that there is either a fatal error which prevents the backup from working or that there is a very low time limit. When it runs on a schedule, do you receive an email with the output of the script? If so, can you please ZIP and attach it here?

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 May 2012 08:18 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicholas

No I did not receive an email but not sure whether it is configured to do so. Do I need to set this up in the front end options?

Regards

Monday, 14 May 2012 08:42 CDT

nicholas

No, I am not talking about the Akeeba Backup option. I am talking about the email which your host's CRON daemon is sending when it runs the CRON job. This is an indication that the CRON job was actually triggered. If the CRON job isn't triggered, it's obviously of no use discussing what could be going wrong with the 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!

Monday, 14 May 2012 08:46 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicholas

Ok but as I said before I did not receive an email. Would it help if I gave you access to the site? I am happy to do so in order to get the problem sorted, I just really need to get an automated backup running.

Monday, 14 May 2012 08:51 CDT

nicholas

If you did not receive any email, it means that your CRON job had not fired. If your CRON job has not fired, Akeeba Backup's code hasn't even had a chance to run. I'd suggest first talking with your host and make sure that the CRON job does get triggered, then we can see if the backup completes or if you need me to help you. Unfortunately I can not provide support on setting up the CRON job in your site's control panel - that's a feature of your host, not my software, and even though I'd love to I can't possible know how all control panels work :(

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 May 2012 09:00 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicolas

When I first tried using this script last week(prior to the new cli) I was able to create a backup but now it does not do anything with the new cli configuration. Is it possible that there is a problem with the new script.

Monday, 14 May 2012 09:05 CDT

nicholas

Before I answer that, I have to make a question. Using the old CRON scripts, did you get an email when the CRON job was running? If you didn't, there's also a chance of having an issue with the CLI scripts. If you did get an email, though, the problem is with the CRON job setup.

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 May 2012 09:08 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicholas

Using the original script, I received two emails - one confirming the backup and one containing the JPA file.

Monday, 14 May 2012 09:21 CDT

nicholas

I just realised what you're doing wrong. You are trying to use the akeeba-backup.php script which is written for Akeeba Backup 3.5.x with Akeeba Backup 3.4.x. This won't work. In order to schedule a backup for Akeeba Backup 3.4.x your CRON job should actually use /usr/bin/php5-cli /home/sites/peterpanplayschool.co.uk/public_html/administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup.php

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 May 2012 09:42 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicholas

No that did not run at all and returned - check you have the correct location.

Should the path be usr/bin/php5-cli or just usr/bin/php5

Regards

Monday, 14 May 2012 09:52 CDT

nicholas

OK, let's take things one at a time:

Talk to your host and ask them what is the location of the PHP CLI binary. I can not possibly know this information because I am not your host and I have not set up your server.
Talk to your host and ask them to verify that your CRON job setup results in the CRON job actually being triggered. I can not check that because I am not your host and I have not set up your server.
Check that you do have Akeeba Backup Professional 3.4.3 installed and that the file administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup.php does exist. If not, please reinstall Akeeba Backup Professional 3.4.3.

These are all steps which have to be carried out before I can be of any assistance. I mean, carrying out these steps will ensure that my code actually gets a chance to execute at your server. Unless we can verify that it executes, I can not provide help for what happens when it executes. I hope that makes more sense now :)

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 May 2012 13:11 CDT

Butterworth

Hi Nicholas

The answer to you questions are as follows:-

1 My Host have advised that path to PHP is /usr/bin/php and to PHP5 is /usr/bin/php5.

2 The cron job does seem to be triggered.

3 Akeeba Backup 3.4.3 is installed and there is indeed a administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup.php file.

I then tried the script with the following format:-

/usr/bin/php5 /home/sites/peterpanplayschool.co.uk/public_html/administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup.php

AND Eurika it worked!!! storing the script into dropbox and sending me an email.

In due course I will have to upgrade to akeeba 3.5 but when I tried it last, I could not log onto the back end and had to remove it to fix the problem - hence the reason why I downgraded.

Anyway thanks for all of your help.

Dave

Monday, 14 May 2012 14:17 CDT

nicholas

Yup, looks like the paths to the PHP binary and the script were off.

A few hours ago I release 3.5.0 stable. Among other fixes, I found why installing 3.5.x caused the crash like after logging in and fixed it. I guess you can upgrade now :)

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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