I will admit thta I am an relative newb with Linux permissions. CHMOD and CHOWN are not yet my best friends. I believe that I am struggling with permissions / ownership issues. I have been successfully using Joomlapack (both backup and restore) for quite some time. I recently made two significant upgrades. One: I moved from GoDaddy's Shared Hosting to their VPS. Two: I upgraded to JoomlaPack to Akeeba Backup Pro, As part of the migration from the shared host to the VPS, I cannot get my first restore to work. I have spent probably 6 hours on this before I wrote this. I am getting the "NULL Invalid archive type or extension" error and I am basically at my wit's end. HELP! PLEASE!
#8478
Posted in ‘Akeeba Backup for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Environment Information
Joomla! version
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PHP version
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Akeeba Backup version
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Latest post by user8594 on Tuesday, 15 June 2010 05:52 CDT
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 17:58 CDT
dlb
It took a long time for me to be friends with CHMOD and CHOWN. "UNIX: It's not just 'User-Unfriendly', it's 'Proactively User-Hostile!'"
Can you tell me what you're doing when you get the error? Where are you, kickstart, installation script, etc.?
Can you tell me what you're doing when you get the error? Where are you, kickstart, installation script, etc.?
Dale L. Brackin
Support Specialist
English: nativePlease keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!
????
My time zone is EST (UTC -5) (click here to see my current time in Philadelphia, PA)
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 18:52 CDT
Shlazor
Sorry, duh, I might have thought to tell you that. Anyway, I get the error immediately when I hit the Start button in Kickstart. Oh, and one more funny bit of IE behavior. When I run Kickstart in IE, the language file isn't read - I get the "real" labels and the Start button doesn't do anything. When I run it in Firefox, the screen looks like it should and the Start button functions but I get the error straight away. I am trying to write files directly - not FTP. I have never used the FTP capability. There was a screen on your site that compared the core version to the pro version and it stated that the pro version did not need Kickstart. I don't understand how that might look / work at all.
I sure hope you can get me restoring soon. Thanks.
I sure hope you can get me restoring soon. Thanks.
Thursday, 10 June 2010 04:11 CDT
dlb
The "invalid archive type" implies that the backup archive is damaged, but it bothers me that I don't know what the "or extension" part could be referring to. If this is a zip archive, try testing the archive with a zip client on your local computer. If it is a jpa, try extracting it with eXtract (from the Downloads page). I'm trying to establish if we have a bad archive, or a problem with kickstart.
Dale L. Brackin
Support Specialist
English: nativePlease keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!
????
My time zone is EST (UTC -5) (click here to see my current time in Philadelphia, PA)
Thursday, 10 June 2010 05:51 CDT
Shlazor
Dale,
The archive was a JPA archive made with Akeeba 3 RC 1. It was created multiple times and the same result occurred each time. It was placed in the target location two different ways. Both with the same result. It was moved from the source location to the target location via GoDaddy's file manager and it was downloaded and uploaded via Filezilla ensuring that the transfer method was set to Binary not Auto.
So... Beat's me?????
The archive was a JPA archive made with Akeeba 3 RC 1. It was created multiple times and the same result occurred each time. It was placed in the target location two different ways. Both with the same result. It was moved from the source location to the target location via GoDaddy's file manager and it was downloaded and uploaded via Filezilla ensuring that the transfer method was set to Binary not Auto.
So... Beat's me?????
Thursday, 10 June 2010 06:50 CDT
user8594
Dale,
I work closely with Shlazor and have since downloaded the most current .jpa site backup and extracted it using akeeba extract wizard.... It extracted perfectly. Could it be possible that "invalid archive type" might mean something different. Also, is there something we should try beyond the extraction test in order to figure out a solution.
Thanks again for your assistance.
I work closely with Shlazor and have since downloaded the most current .jpa site backup and extracted it using akeeba extract wizard.... It extracted perfectly. Could it be possible that "invalid archive type" might mean something different. Also, is there something we should try beyond the extraction test in order to figure out a solution.
Thanks again for your assistance.
Friday, 11 June 2010 04:55 CDT
dlb
Transferring via ftp in binary mode is best. Anything else has the potential to corrupt the archive. We do have a good archive, that's a relief. :)
You can transfer the individual files to the site via ftp. That bypasses kickstart, which is primarily an extractor. When you visit the site, you will be redirected to the installer script at /installation/index.php. You can pick up the restore from there.
I'll flag this for Nicholas to see if he can spot what is wrong with kickstart.
You can transfer the individual files to the site via ftp. That bypasses kickstart, which is primarily an extractor. When you visit the site, you will be redirected to the installer script at /installation/index.php. You can pick up the restore from there.
I'll flag this for Nicholas to see if he can spot what is wrong with kickstart.
Dale L. Brackin
Support Specialist
English: nativePlease keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!
????
My time zone is EST (UTC -5) (click here to see my current time in Philadelphia, PA)
Friday, 11 June 2010 08:09 CDT
nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Please try the latest developer's release or wait a few hours for the stable launch. This is a known bug in Kickstart 3.0.rc1.
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 June 2010 12:43 CDT
user8594
Nicholas,
Thanks for the response. I created a new .jpa backup file and have since downloaded the new Kickstart version 3.0 (stable) posted recently. Unfortunately, we are experiencing the same error when launching the site build via the new kickstart.php file.
*********************************
An error occured
Invalid AJAX data received:
NULL Invalid archive type or extension
*********************************
Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the response. I created a new .jpa backup file and have since downloaded the new Kickstart version 3.0 (stable) posted recently. Unfortunately, we are experiencing the same error when launching the site build via the new kickstart.php file.
*********************************
An error occured
Invalid AJAX data received:
NULL Invalid archive type or extension
*********************************
Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Friday, 11 June 2010 20:59 CDT
nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
This happens when the AJAX request doesn't work properly with your browser/server combination. There are two immediate workarounds:
1. Try using a different browser (we recommend Firefox 3.6) ideally on a different PC so that there is no chance of a firewall getting in the way.
2. If this doesn't work, you can use Akeeba eXtract Wizard to extract the archive locally and upload the files via FTP as described in our documentation.
If you are not facing a very pressing deadline, I'd appreciate it if you could give me FTP access to the affected site so that I can try debugging the issue and come up with a permanent solution.
1. Try using a different browser (we recommend Firefox 3.6) ideally on a different PC so that there is no chance of a firewall getting in the way.
2. If this doesn't work, you can use Akeeba eXtract Wizard to extract the archive locally and upload the files via FTP as described in our documentation.
If you are not facing a very pressing deadline, I'd appreciate it if you could give me FTP access to the affected site so that I can try debugging the issue and come up with a permanent solution.
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 June 2010 03:49 CDT
user8594
Nicholas,
This issue is also evident in Firefox 3.6. I've emailed the FTP credentials to your hotmail account for any assistance you can provide.
BTW... Isn't ajax required to create the archive?
Thanks in advance for your help.
This issue is also evident in Firefox 3.6. I've emailed the FTP credentials to your hotmail account for any assistance you can provide.
BTW... Isn't ajax required to create the archive?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Monday, 14 June 2010 07:09 CDT
nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
Your server is running PHP 5.1.6. Unfortunately, this version is buggy and won't work with Kickstart 3.0. You can either use Kickstart 2.4.1 or use Akeeba eXtract Wizard to extract your backup archive locally and transfer the files via FTP.
Do note that Kickstart is not required to restore your site. The actual restoration script (Akeeba Backup Installer, a.k.a. ABI) is included inside the archive. Kickstart only extracts the archive and does some post-restoration cleanup (remove itself and the backup archive). Nothing more and nothing less.
Do note that Kickstart is not required to restore your site. The actual restoration script (Akeeba Backup Installer, a.k.a. ABI) is included inside the archive. Kickstart only extracts the archive and does some post-restoration cleanup (remove itself and the backup archive). Nothing more and nothing less.
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 June 2010 07:19 CDT
user8594
Nicholas,
I noticed that and hoped it would work none-the-less. So I guess I need to speak to Godaddy then. What PHP version would you recommend to work best?
I noticed that and hoped it would work none-the-less. So I guess I need to speak to Godaddy then. What PHP version would you recommend to work best?
Monday, 14 June 2010 21:08 CDT
nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
PHP 5.2.13, of course! You always need the latest released PHP version (but not PHP 5.3, as it has so many changes that it could just as well be called PHP 6 and breaks Joomla!).
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, 15 June 2010 05:52 CDT
user8594
Thanks, I'll give it a shot.