Support

Akeeba Solo

#35735 Reducing site size without affecting live site to test if it works

Posted in ‘Akeeba Solo (standalone)’
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

PHP version
n/a
Akeeba Solo version
n/a

Latest post by on Sunday, 03 October 2021 20:17 CDT

Wednesday, 01 September 2021 10:43 CDT

OFC1984
MY site is 6GB plus, too big to backup or make an Akeeba backup.
It takes too much time and overwhelms the server.
Perhaps excluding images since they are 4GB plus now leaving a 2GB site to transfer

I would first have to make a transfer of site to another server using  Akeeba transfer wizard on another server with reduced files and size
Turning off mail notifications in Joomla on new server, I dont want my current users to be notified when i transfer the site.

After I transfer it I am thinking of using Stageit to test and reduce files on the site transferred by Akeeba site wizard
 https://www.php-web-design.com/Joomla-Components/create-staging-environments-for-joomla.html

Leaving a 2GB stageit site then test with stageit there

Test  the size and roll back features first  to see if they overwhelm my server taking too long to process or too much space

When done, use Akeeba site transfer wizard to move it back to live site again without notifying Joomla users.

Trying to find the method and confirm with Akeeba and Stageit  how they would  work together. to accomplish this task?

Thank you

Wednesday, 01 September 2021 13:32 CDT

nicholas

You are overthinking this.

Take a (partial) backup with Akeeba Backup.

Restore on literally any server, be it local or live.

You can repeat the process with one or more Files Only backups for your images or other static assets.

During the Site Setup stage of the restoration set Turn On Mail Setting to No to disable sending emails from the copy of your site.

Do whatever work you need to do.

Take a new site backup.

Upload the backup and kickstart.php on the server.

Select the “Delete everything before extraction” option in Kickstart to delete all old files from your server (even those NOT included in the backup!) so the resulting restored site is lightweight.

Make sure that during the Site Setup stage of the restoration you set Turn On Mail Setting to Yes to enable sending emails from the new site.

As for StaageIt, it is meant to be used INSTEAD OF Akeeba Backup when you are only doing minor work on your site and mostly work that affects database tables, not files. Using them both together is a Terribly Bad Idea. I can't think of a use case where this would make any sense. You'd very likely end up breaking something on your site.

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!

Wednesday, 01 September 2021 13:56 CDT

OFC1984

Thank you for clarifying Nicholas. As usual you provided the clarity precisely.

Been with you for years now maybe decades since I remember kickstart  wording from Amiga.
I recommend you to everyone for this very reason.

Can you clarify where i would turn the emails off and on, is during the restoration using Kickstart or in the Joomla settings after kickstart. I am assuming you are saying there is an actual setting in kickstart and that's where and when I apply this?

Thank you




Thursday, 02 September 2021 01:15 CDT

nicholas

Kickstart extracts the backup archive. The installer (ANGIE) is part of the backup archive. After Kickstart extracts the backup archive you click on Run the Installer to run ANGIE, the restoration script. The first page is information. The next page is that database setup and restoration. The page after that is Site Setup (these are the titles you see at the top). This is where you can turn sending emails off.

If you miss that step, don't worry. After the restoration is complete edit your configuration.php file and set $mailonline = 0 (you'll see that line in the configuration.php file). Joomla has a very approachable configuration file. If someone tells you which configuration key to modify it's really easy making the change in the configuration.php file in your site's root. I've seen other CMS (like October) with reams of very verbose and confusing configuration files which make it difficult for non-developers to figure them out. Thankfully, Joomla isn't like that :)

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!

Thursday, 02 September 2021 10:09 CDT

OFC1984

Thank you for the clarification on email notifications.

"Select the “Delete everything before extraction” option in Kickstart to delete all old files from your server (even those NOT included in the backup!) so the resulting restored site is lightweight."
Quoting your instruction above I realize I omitted an important factor and will have to adjust your directions to accommodate for it.

I am using an extension for Ecommerce called Membership pro (Mpro)
I would  take the live current website offline on day of relaunch to ensure no transactions occur during the transfer 
Then export all the Mpro tables  from the live site and import them to the new site I am building.
Take my Akeeba backup at that point.
Then I have the current Mpro data intact when I restore it to the live site using the method you outlined above.

I realize I also need to do the same for Joomla users to ensure I have all the current users.

Is your software site  transfer wizard better for this purpose than Akeeba backup pro and restore as you suggested?

Thank you




Friday, 03 September 2021 03:37 CDT

nicholas

The Site Transfer Wizard simply copies the backup to a remove server along with Kickstart. It doesn't do anything different that what you'd do manually. Its only reason of existence is that it helps you NOT having to download the backup locally so you can upload it to a different server, it can try to do a server to server transfer of the backup.

What you are trying to do is totally possible and we have most definitely done it several times on our own site. The trick is to skip backing up the tables you do not want to overwrite. The default setting in restoration is to drop all tables which only includes the tables present in the 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!

Sunday, 03 October 2021 20:17 CDT

System Task
system
This ticket has been automatically closed. All tickets which have been inactive for a long time are automatically closed. If you believe that this ticket was closed in error, please contact us.
Edited by on 2021-10-03 20:17 CDT

Support Information

Working hours: We are open Monday to Friday, 9am to 7pm Cyprus timezone (EET / EEST). Support is provided by the same developers writing the software, all of which live in Europe. You can still file tickets outside of our working hours, but we cannot respond to them until we're back at the office.

Support policy: We would like to kindly inform you that when using our support you have already agreed to the Support Policy which is part of our Terms of Service. Thank you for your understanding and for helping us help you!