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

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Description of my issue:
Good morning,
My client is using the PRO version and i'm wanting to automate the backup procedure. She's on 1and1 Starter (no CRON) and we wish to have a free solution.

I looked at the 3 auto features but if I understand correctly, These solutions will either not work or involve additional costs.

Is it possible to automate Akeeba backup PRO for free in this case?
Cheers,
G

It may be possilbe to trigger a front end backup from a local computer's CRON job (or Scheduled Task). The disadvantage would be that the local computer has to be powered on when the job needs to be triggered. You could leave the computer on overnight if the job needs to be triggered outside of normal work hours or do the backup job during the day.

Dale

Thanks Dale,
I don't mind having a solution where the a computer needs to be on.
How do I implement your solution?
G

You would use the Front End Backup instructions, which you already found (https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/akeeba-backup-documentation/automating-your-backup.html#frontend-backup) and call the wget command from a local CRON job (linux computer or server) or Scheduled Task on Windows. On my ancient Win box the Scheduled Tasks are found on the Control Panel.
Dale

OK...
I don't have a unix box but The site is on a shared unix server.
is there a way to trigger a backup from a browser (URL) without logging into the backend admIn? if I don't have CRON?

I understand, the hosting plan does not offer access to the CRON service on the shared server.

But you do have CRON, on your local machines. On a Linux box, it is the CRON service, same as on the host's shared server. On a Windows box, it is Scheduled Tasks. The Scheduled Tasks service will trigger a program on a set schedule just like a CRON job on Linux/Unix. So the idea is to call the wget program to do a front end backup from your local computer's Scheduled Tasks service. Your local computer is telling the shared server "Do this.." It has to be done through wget, it won't work from a browser.

Dale

OK, this makes more sense. Thank you.
My next question then is:
How do I get a wget for my Win machine? I've never used such beast.

I've been hanging around Linux too long, I forgot wget doesn't come with Windows.

I found a 32 bit version on SourceForge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/getgnuwin32/files/getgnuwin32/test%20builds/. The discussion where I found the link said it was working on a 64 bit Windows system as well. I did not locate a native 64 bit version.

The version at http://users.ugent.be/~bpuype/wget/ says it has the SSL libraries built in. I saw references to the SSL libraries on the mailing list, but I'm not clear on exactly what the details are. It looks like a security feature built into the newer versions.

I ended up using webcron.org as explained in the documentation. Using dropbox as a repository. Works like a charm!

Thanks to you all for the VERY clear configuration instructions found in the manual.

Cheers,
G

I'm glad you found a solution that works for you.

Dale

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