Support

Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)?
Yes. But there is no page about incremental backups. There is one about automating the backups but is not what I need.
https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/troubleshooter/abautomation.html
https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/troubleshooter/abotherq.html

Have I searched the tickets before posting?
Yes
https://www.akeebabackup.com/support/akeeba-backup-3x/8506-incremental-backup-2.html

Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)?
Yes.
https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/akeeba-backup-documentation/configuration.html
https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/akeeba-backup-documentation/native-cron-script.html
https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/walkthroughs/akeeba-backup-cron-cpanel.html

Joomla! version:
1.5.26
PHP version:
5.2.9
MySQL version:
5.0.95-community
Host:
iWeb - Dedicated Server with WHM/Cpanel management.
Akeeba Backup version:
3.4.3 (Because of the Joomla compatibility issue)

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:
I’m trying to configure incremental backups on my server using the Native CRON way. It is really important to do it in this because I’m backing up music (most than 500GB), so, even having a dedicated server, I need to optimize the resources, of course.
Before anything, it worth to mention that:

• The OS server is Linux

• The Joomla site is on HDD “X”

• The music is on HDD “Y”

• The backups folder is on HDD “Z”

• I have the needed permissions for all of the HDDs and folders as well.

• Joomla is 1.5

• Akeeba Backup Pro is 3.4.3, so I’m not using any “cli” folder since this version doesn’t have one but I’m do using the file named JSite/administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup.php, which is the right one for this version, is that right?

So, guided by what I read on your forums, I’ve did the following (notice that every configuration field that I don’t mention is because is set as default):

• Created a profile #1 for FULL backup of the music folder. Its cronjob runs once a week.
  [list]
  Output directory: Z/path/to/my/folder

• Backup archive name: FULL-music-[DATE]

• Archiver engine: ZIP format

• Embedded restoration script: No installer

• Enable count quota: checked

• Count quota: Custom... 1.00

[/list]

• Created profile #2 for INCREMENTAL backup of the same music folder. Its cronjob runs every day.
  [list]
  Output directory: Z/path/to/my/folder

• Backup archive name: INC-music-[DATE]

• Archiver engine: ZIP format

• Embedded restoration script: No installer

• Enable count quota: checked

• Count quota: Custom... 7.00

[/list]

I want the format to be ZIP because is more easier to handle for me, as in any case, I only should have to unzip the content to the destination folder without any intermediary software or anything like that.

What happens?
For testing purposes, I tried the profile #2 and I add to its name the “[TIME]” string in order to differentiate one backup from another as I do them all in the same day, as I don’t want to wait an entire week to be sure that the component works as expected with the cronjobs, so:

• For the first incremental run, I’ve set the cronjob to be executed in near time so I test how the cron job works. It does it fine! Obviously, it copies all the content, at it doesn’t exists yet as backup.

• Then I add a few folders with music and again, set the cron to be executed a few minutes in the future, so I test if it only creates a zip with the new files; which I think is what it should do, isn’t it? Maybe I’m wrong... Well, here is the problem: it creates a file with the expected name but the ZIP only contains the new folders, but without the new music inside.

I look over the akeeba.cli.log file in order to see if, at least, it reads the files and... it does it but skipping them, which is weird as they are new files and they should be included.
Now, I did many things in order to test possible scenarios:

• I’ve deleted the main backup file and backed up again. Result: it created a file but as on the mentioned point 2, I mean, it reads all files but now it skips all of them, not only the new ones.

• I waited one hour to test again and “see” what happens (just like if a miracle could help haha) and, weirdly, it created the file with all the songs again. But when I try again, in a closer time for testing purposes, stills happens the same. So I’m little dizzy...

So I wonder if the incremental backup actually works or if it only works once a day or if there is something I’m missing (this is probably what’s actually happening).
I really don’t know how the cron script really works and I don’t want to be doing reverse engineering, less if I have your support as I’ve purchased the Pro version of it.

Well, I wait for your answer. Hope I've been clear enought. But of course, let me know if you have any question.

Hope you can help.

Don't worry.

I'm the developer. I'm using my client's account to post the ticket. The better thing to do is to ask directly without intermediates, right?

About your answer, you've been so clear.
So, if I understood, the script takes the created time as parameter to know if the file needs to be backed up or not, right?

If it's that, then there is no problem at all, 'cause my client uploads the new music every day.

All the time I've been testing with existent files, copying them from one place to another, so surely happened what you say: they preserved their created timestamp.

I'll keep the ticket opened until tomorrow. Why? Because today he uploaded new music. So it's supposed to work fine because the music is new: their created and modified time are exactly the same and they are both major than the last backup time.

If tomorrow it's all okay, then I'll close the ticket.

Thank you very much for the very detailed answer.

I'll let you know if anything tomorrow.

PS: Maybe this could help for developers debug: in the log file, would be nice that, if is an incremental backup, it figures the last backup date and the file date which you compare. So if the file is older than the last backup, the script could say something like "is is the older backup" or something like that. Maybe you think is doesn't worth it, but it's up to you, of course. I think would be nice! Just saying...

Regards!

I totally understand.

I did many exporting modules that work by reading directories and files. I totally understand that can be very tricky trying to implement something like that. As I said: "just saying...".

Besides, doing echoes for all the timestamps, could slow the timing of the script, now I'm deeply thinking about it.

So... leave my comment as it was: just a comment haha

Thanks again!

Just wanted to let you know that the backups worked perfectly.

Thank you very much for your attention.

And congratulations for such a very nice component!

Regards!
Nahuel Sotelo
Cloudlight.me