Support

Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

#14197 Scheduling a Backup on Windows Systems

Posted in ‘Akeeba Backup for Joomla! 4 & 5’
This is a public ticket

Everybody will be able to see its contents. Do not include usernames, passwords or any other sensitive information.

Environment Information

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

Latest post by nicholas on Friday, 30 November 2012 10:06 CST

user70619

Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? No
Have I searched the tickets before posting? No
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? No
Joomla! version: (unknown)
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:

 

I see how to do a CRON backup but on a Windows system, do you have a specific set of instructions to do this?  

 

THank you,

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager

No, I don't have any such instructions because there is no widespread, standardized control panel software for Windows servers. Most likely you have to use Windows Scheduled Tasks or a facility provided by your host for your specific server setup. You will have to ask your host about that.

If all else fails you can always use the WebCron.org method. It works with virtualyl all live servers.

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!

user70619

Hi Nicholos,

 

Thanks for the reply.  I was able to get it running on a windows 2003 r2 server at this point.  The settings are as follows

 

1. Install wget for Windows

2.  Create a scheduled task

3. Pick the wget.exe file

4. Authorize the securities with your password

5. Edit the Task

6. Change the task to look like:

"c:\Progra~1\GNUWin32\bin\wget.exe" --max-redirect=10000 "http://www.yoursite.com/index.php?option=com_akeeba&view=backup&key=YourSecretKey&profile=1"

 

the quotes are important and the lowercase in the web site address and parameters are critical.

This may not work beyond Windows 2003 R2 as Windows 2008 has other issues with quotes, but it's worth posting at present. If I get a Windows 2008 installation, I'll post back info.

 

Thank you!

 

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager

I am wondering... Wouldn't it be easier to just make sure that PHP CLI is installed and use it with the CLI backup scripts (akeeba-backup.php and akeeba-altbackup.php)? If I recall correctly the PHP CLI binary is installed and put in the global path as soon as you install PHP on Windows Server.

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!

user70619

I don't know anything about CLI and didn't see any instructions on it.  Do you have instructions?  Also, would it be a faster method of backup?  This does take a while.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager

Go into your site's backend, Components, Akeeba Backup, click on Scheduling Information. The same info, with more detail, is also found in our documentation. It's the next page to the one you were already reading. The CLI backup is a MUCH faster 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!

user70619

OK, now I"m feeling REALLY dense.  It may be a versioning issue.  I'm running Joomla 1.7 so I"ve got 3.3.13 installed. I don't see a Scheduling Information button/link

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager

See, that's why I ask you to fill in the mandatory information, the section you left blank in your original ticket. Since you didn't provide this information I had to assume that you're using Joomla! 2.5.8 and Akeeba Backup 3.6.9. Obviously this is not the case, that's why you don't see the button I mentioned: it was added in Akeeba Backup 3.6 and you're using 3.3. When I don't have the mandatory information I have to guess. Guess what? I am a lousy psychic :D

Next time you read a long rant from me about why providing the mandatory information is a prerequisite to me offering precise support you now know why I'm ranting so hard ;)

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!

user70619

Oh Nicholas! I'm really sorry.  Things are flying around here so I didn't actually see it.  but typed and hit enter.  MY APOLOGIES!

I know the problem all to well - had someone once tell me they had a broken software system but gave me no information as to the form or something else.  Seems to be par with users :( me included.

 

Is there a way to put the CLI in the 3.3.13?  Or a more manual use of CLI through a bat file or something?

 

Again, my apologies.

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? Tes
Have I searched the tickets before posting? Yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? YEs
Joomla! version: (1.7)
PHP version: (5.2.17)
MySQL version: (5.1.57)
Host: (Windows Server 2003)
Akeeba Backup version: (3.3.13)

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager

Oh Nicholas! I'm really sorry.  Things are flying around here so I didn't actually see it.  but typed and hit enter.  MY APOLOGIES!

No problem :)

I know the problem all to well - had someone once tell me they had a broken software system but gave me no information as to the form or something else.  Seems to be par with users :( me included.

He he, indeed! My pet peeve is support by Twitter; in 140 characters the amont of information is, um, let's say "unsatisfactory" :D

Is there a way to put the CLI in the 3.3.13?  Or a more manual use of CLI through a bat file or something?

Yes, there is. You will have to download the PDF documentation, though. Everything in the on-line manual only applies to the latest version. In 3.3 the location of the CLI script is administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup.php and the syntax is slightly different (arguments take a single dash instead of a double dash). FYI, CLI backups have been possible since the early 3.0 beta releases. It's a very well tested and very handy feature.

One more thing. PHP 5.2 is slow. Upgrading to PHP 5.3 will speed up the backup by 2 to 4 times. Upgrading to PHP 5.4 makes the backup a jaw dropping 6 to 7 times faster than PHP 5.2. For example, my test site used to backup under PHP 5.2 in 2 minutes 45 seconds. Upgrading it to PHP 5.4 it now takes a little less than 30 seconds to 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!

user70619

Whew- got the CLI to work yesterday.  Not sure it was much faster than the scheduling.  UPdated to 5.4 as well.  The one thing it did do was hang in the shell window after it completed.  Will try a few more things.

Thanks for everything!

 

user70619

Oh yes- Updated to the latest Joomla 2.5.8 and updated Akeeba Backup.

 

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager

Awesome :) It sounds like you have a working system 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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