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Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

#13095 Problems getting automated backup running

Posted in ‘Akeeba Backup for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Environment Information

Joomla! version
n/a
PHP version
n/a
Akeeba Backup version
n/a

Latest post by nicholas on Tuesday, 31 July 2012 09:01 CDT

Tuesday, 31 July 2012 08:29 CDT

heiligenfeld
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: 2.5.6
PHP version: 5.2.17
MySQL version: (unknown)
Host: 1 und 1
Akeeba Backup version: 3.6.0

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. - no log file because backup does not start

Description of my issue:

After searching for hours the last days now I don't have any idea.
I trie to get run the backup skript with cron:

/usr/bin/php5 /kunden/homepages/11/d23445585/htdocs/heiligenfeld_2012/cli/akeebaalt-backup.php/ > /backup/log

The only message I get:

Status: 404 Not Found
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.2.17
Content-type: text/html

No input file specified.



Tuesday, 31 July 2012 08:46 CDT

nicholas
This is because you are using the PHP CGI executable, not the PHP CLI executable as documented. Most likely you should use /usr/bin/php5-cli or /usr/bin/php-cli instead of /usr/bin/php5 in your command line. If unsure, please ask your host what is the path to the PHP CLI executable.

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, 31 July 2012 08:54 CDT

heiligenfeld
Shit, that was what I feared. I already asked my provider and they deny. There's no way to get CLI from then. I think its time to go to a better provider.
But anyway. Is there a workaround? Bthw. I already tried to start the frontend backup with the crontab, but failed because wget is making trouble:

(uiserver):p7323928:~ > /usr/bin/wget "hftest.heiligenfeld.de/index.php?option=com_akeeba&view=backup&task=step&key=........&profile=1"
--2012-07-31 15:53:29-- http://hftest.heiligenfeld.de/index.php?option=com_akeeba&view=backup&task=step&key=hf
Resolving hftest.heiligenfeld.de... 82.165.91.237
Connecting to hftest.heiligenfeld.de|82.165.91.237|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [text/html]
Saving to: `index.php?option=com_akeeba&view=backup&task=step&key=hf'

[ <=> ] 17 --.-K/s in 0s

2012-07-31 15:53:29 (2.63 MB/s) - `index.php?option=com_akeeba&view=backup&task=step&key=hf' saved [17]

[4]+ Done key=......
(uiserver):p7323928:~ >

Tuesday, 31 July 2012 09:01 CDT

nicholas
OK, there's a common misconception by many hosts. You are not asking them for CLI (SSH) access. You don't need it. The PHP interpreter comes in three executable forms (think of them as "flavours") which can execute PHP scripts:
1. mod_php, an Apache module. It's not an executable per se, it's a web server module
2. PHP CGI which is used with web servers running in CGI or FastCGI mode. Most usually it's used with suPHP (it runs PHP as a CGI module) or mod_fpf (Apache's FastCGI Process Manager which runs PHP in FastCGI mode). Even though you can call this executable from the command line or a CRON job, it won't work properly because it's written to support web access, not CRON/CLI access.
3. The PHP CLI executable which is used from CRON jobs or called directly from the CLI (e.g. an SSH session). Note the key concept here: it can be used with CRON jobs.

So, please, tell your host that you DO NOT ask them for SSH access, you simply ask for the path of the PHP CLI binary. If they don't know what it is then yes, go to a proper host.

Regarding front-end backup jobs, the best alternative is webcron.org. It's dirt cheap and ultra-reliable.

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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