I would like to make a complete backup of my whole joomla 1.5 based site from time to time. How would this ideally be done? Are there any common pitfalls? Not that I only have ftp access to the hosting server. Is there a step by step tutorial somewhere? I am using latest Joomgallery and Kunena 1.0.9 (Legacy mode).
Maybe there is a good way to automate this?
There's two parts of the backup you have to worry about, the database and the files.
The first part is the database. It can be backed up using something like phpMyAdmin. If you don't have this available on your server already, it's not too hard to upload and get it going yourself. From there, you can just Export the entire database to a gzip file.
The second part is the code and uploaded files. The code base shouldn't change too often, so you could probably just make one backup of this. There's a number of ways. The simplest is to just download the entire folder via FTP, though if you're Linux, I'm sure someone will know a single command line to get all the changed files (rsync?).
The database is the main thing you have to worry about though: everything else should be able to be rebuilt just by reinstalling.
I think this: http://www.joomlapack.net/ is what you need. I use it myself and it works like a charm. Both for backups and for moving my Joomla installations from developer sites and to the real site.
get an FTP synchronisation tool and keep an up-to-date copy of your site locally. Then you could run the batch script
mysqldump -hhost -uuser -p%1 schema > C:\backup.sql
to create a backup of your mysql tables at various points in time.
edit
you would have to have MySQL Server installed on your local machine and path to its bin directory in you PATH, in order to run the mysqldump command without much hassle. -p%1 would take the command-line provided password, as you wouldn't want to store passwords in your batch script.
If you only have FTP access you are in a bit of a problem, as beside all files you'll also have to backup the database. Without accessing the database, a full-backup won't do you any good.
Whatever backup strategy you choose - be sure it can handle UTF-8 correctly. Joomla 1.5 stores all content with UTF-8, even when the database charset is set on 'iso-5589-1' - so when the backup solution is detecting the database charset, some characters like € or é will result in "strange" ¬ / é - not really what you'll want.
I absolutely endorse using Joomlapack - it works great. The optional remote tools allow you to initiate the backup from a Windows desktop machine - it performs the backup and downloads it. The remote has a scheduler, and you can also set it off to backup and download a list of sites.
Joomlapack also provides a file "kickstart.php" which you copy to your empty server account along with the backup, which automates the restore procedure. You do have to create an empty database with PHPMyAdmin or similar, and you are given the opportunity to supply the database parameters (host, database, username, password) during the process.
One pitfall I did run into with this though is that some common components can have absolute URLs in their configuration - e.g. SOBI2, Virtuemart. It's then just a matter of finding the appropriate configuration file, editing it and re-uploading it.
Another problem was one archive file (either ZIP or their JPA format) got a filename with a "?" character in it (from a Linux server) and this caused a bit of a problem trying to install it locally on a Windows WAMP stack - the extract process on the ZIP file failed, and it stopped the process completing cleanly.
I suggest using automatic backup service by http://www.everlive.net
Update:
Ok, here is some more information. EverLive.net is a website where you can create a free account. Enter your website details and you are ready to take your backups withe just one click. Restore is also possible in the same way.
Further you can use automatic backup option to take automatic backups at defined intervals. Other than that, you can use the website health check service to inform you if your website is not available.
Related
I've successfully created site using Umbraco now its time to upload it on hosting server..
i've searched and got one paid product for the same..and i dont want to use it.
Has any body tried developing Umbraco site on local and then uploading it on server?
If yes then please help me doing that.
First I run the umbraco install from a local IIS website. Then I setup my visual studio solution for that website (and my souce control). Then I work, until I reach a beta version, then I go through this process for deploying:
Ftp over to the remove website and copy the whole website (I actually use Beyond compare).
Connect to my local database with management studio and create a .bak file.
Upload the .bak file to the database server.
Restore that database
Review connection strings in web.config
Then I'm pretty much done.
Once I'm "live" and have content I don't want to lose, when I want to work on the website, I bring back the live database through a .bak file, then I make my changes. They often include DB changes since the schema is basically in the database. I note all the operations I do. Once my changes are ready I manually replicate the changes on the live site as I update the files.
This is very painfull but I tried solutions like courrier and other things like that and they are not reliable enough for production I find. Manually is the only risk free way I see for the moment.
Hope this helps.
Yes, that happens all the time. Use FTP to copy your local installation to your webserver, modify the web.config to point to the correct database and your website should be up-and-running.
I'm sure there are more elegant solutions with less clicks but here's how I do it on azure websites with sql, not sure what hosting/db you're using:
1) Create an empty db on azure with the same login and user as my local db.
2) Create an empty site on azure connected to my db.
3) Download the publishing profile.
4) Upload the db the first time with Sql Azure Migration Wizard.
5) Import the publishing profile into and upload the site with WebMatrix.
6) Thereafter I deploy the site and db with WebMatrix.
WebMatrix uses WebDeploy or FTP, you can use WebDeploy through IIS if you like, and FTP.
Does anyone know a SQL query that will purge a MediaWiki database of old revisions? My database has grown out of control, and I need to prune it to make it possible to download and manage.
I don't have shell access so, I need to do this with a SQL query.
I have tried the solution suggested here, but it doesn't work http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension_talk:SpecialDeleteOldRevisions2#Deleting_only_archived_revisions
Thanks for reading :)
Nicholas
As you, I don't have shell access to my MediaWiki. So I can't do a lot of things like maintenance.
Here is my solution : host your MediaWiki web site on your computer just to do your maintenance tasks
Backup your database
Backup your MediaWiki folder
Setup Apache (the web server) on your computer
Setup MySQL on your computer
Restore your MediaWiki database on your computer
Put your MediWiki folder on the Apache root folder
Finally run the maintenance task you want using shell. I suggest you the deleteOldRevisions script
After that, rebackup the folder and the database and restore them on the remote host
Use the Maintenance extension and run the relevant maintenance scripts with it. Direct database manipulation is pure madness, and using a local LAMP install as suggested by the other answer quite cumbersome.
Shell access is really required to properly run a MediaWiki but this is a common problem, please report your experience with the extension on the talk page or file a bug if you find any.
Does anyone know of a script or program that can be used for backing up multiple websites?
Ideally, I would like the have it setup on a server where the backups will be stored.
I would like to be able to add the website login info, and it connects and creates a zip file or similar that it would then be sent back to the remote server to be saved as a backup etc...
But it would also need to be able to be set up as a cron so it backed up everyday at least?
I can find PC to Server backups that a similar, but no server to server remote backup scripts etc...
It would be heavily used, and needs to be a gui so the less techy can use it too?
Does anyone know of anything similar to what we need?
HTTP-Track website mirroring utility.
Wget and scripts
RSync and FTP login (or SFTP for security)
Git can be used for backup and has security features and networking ability.
7Zip can be called from the command line to create a zip file.
In any case you will need to implement either secure FTP (SSH secured) OR a password-secured upload form. If you feel clever you might use WebDAV.
Here's what I would do:
Put a backup generator script on each website (outputting a ZIP)
Protect its access with a .htpasswd file
On the backupserver, make a cron script download all the backups and store them
I have an SQL Server database where I have the data and log files stored on an external USB drive. I switch the external drive between my main development machine in my office and my laptop when not in my office. I am trying to use sp_detach_db and sp_attach_db when moving between desktop and laptop machines. I find that this works OK on the desktop - I can detach and reattach the database there no problems. But on the laptop I cannot reattach the database (the database was actually originally created on the laptop and the first detach happened there). When I try to reattach on the laptop I get the following error:
Unable to open the physical file "p:\SQLData\AppManager.mdf". Operating system error 5: "5(error not found)"
I find a lot of references to this error all stating that it is a permissions issue. So I went down this path and made sure that the SQL Server service account has appropriate permissions. I have also created a new database on this same path and been able to succesfully detach and reattach it. So I am confident permissions is not the issue.
Further investigation reveals that I cannot rename, copy or move the data files as Windows thinks they are locked - even when the SQL Server service is stopped. Process Explorer does not show up any process locking the files.
How can I find out what is locking the files and unlock them.
I have verified that the databases do not show up in SSMS - so SQL Server does not still think they exist.
Update 18/09/2008
I have tried all of the suggested answers to date with no success. However trying these suggestions has helped to clarify the situation. I can verify the following:
I can successfully detach and reattach the database only when the external drive is attached to the server that a copy of the database is restored to - effectively the server where the database is "created" - lets call this the "Source Server".
I can move, copy or rename the data and log files, after detaching the database, while the external drive is still attached to the Source Server.
As soon as I move the external drive to another machine the data and log files are "locked", although the 2 tools that I have tried - Process Explorer and Unlocker, both find no locking handles attached to the files.
NB. After detaching the database I tried both stopping the SQL Server service and shutting down the Source Server prior to moving the external drive - still with no success.
So at this stage all that I can do to move data between desktop and laptop is to make a backup of the data onto the external drive, move the external drive, restore the data from the backup. Works OK but takes a bit more time as the database is a reasonable size (1gb). Anyway this is the only choice I have at this stage even though I was trying to avoid having to go down this path.
Crazy as it sounds, did you try manually granting yourself perms on the files via right-click / properties / security? I think SQL Server 2005 will set permissions on a detached file exclusively to the principal that did the detach (maybe your account, maybe the account under which the SQL Server service runs) and no-one else can manipulate the file. To get around this I have had to manually grant myself file permissions on MDF and LDF files before moving or deleting them. See also blog post at onupdatecascade.com
Can you copy the files? I'd be curious to know if you can copy the files to your laptop and then attach them there. I would guess it is some kind of permissions error also, but it sounds like you've done the work to fix this.
Are there any attributes on the file?
Update: If you can't copy the files then something must be locking them. I would check out Unlocker which I haven't tried but sounds like a good starting point. You might also try taking ownership of the files under the file permissions.
When you are in Enterprise Manager or SSMS, can you see the name of the database that you are talking about? There might be a leftover database in a funky state. I'd make sure that you have a backup or a copy of the mdf somewhere safe. If this is the case, maybe try dropping the database and then re-attaching it.
I would try backing up the database on the desktop, and then see if it will restore successfully on the laptop. Doesn't explain your issue but at least you can move forward.
Run sqlservr.exe in debug mode with the /c switch and see what happens starting up. Any locking or permissions issue can be put to bed by making a copy of the file and transfering the copy to the origional.
Also check the associated log file (.ldf) .. If that file is missing or unavaliable you will not be able to mount the database to any sane/consistant state without resorting to emergency bypass mode.
I've had a similar issue. Nothing seemed to resolve it - even tried to reboot the machine completely, restarting SQL services etc. ProcMon and ProcessExplorer were showing nothing so I figured - the "lock" is done by OS.
I resolved it by DELETING the file and restoring it back from the drive mounted under another drive letter.
PS. My database file was not on a USB drive, but on a TrueCrypt-drive (in some you can say it's a "removable drive" as well)
Within SQL Server Configuration Manager, look in SQL Server Services. For all your SQL Server instances, look at which account is selected in the Log On Tab - Log On As:. I've found for instance, changing it to the Local System account resolves the issue you've had. It was the only thing that actually worked for me - and certainly, no shortage of people have had the same problem.
It's a security issue on -file level security - you have detached db with different credential and attaching it with other credential - just browse the article http://www.sqlservermanagementstudio.net/2013/12/troubleshooting-with-attaching-and.html
And try copy pasting it to different location.
I solved similar issue by granting system administrator to all permissions:
right click > properties
security tab
in group or usernames click edit.
click add > advanced
click find now to list all available permissions.
choose administrator and add it to list.
grant it to has full permission.
I had the same issue. Someone had detached the files and left, and we were unable to move it to another drive. But after taking ownership of the file (security-->advanced-->take ownership to your login id), and then adding your login id to the security tab and giving access on the file, was able to move.
I work on quite a few DotNetNuke sites, and occasionally (I haven't figured out the common factor yet), when I use the Database Publishing Wizard from Microsoft to create scripts for the site I've created on my Dev server, after running the scripts at the host (usually GoDaddy.com), and uploading the site files, I get an error... I'm 99.9% sure that it's not file related, so not sure where to begin in the DB. Unfortunately with DotNetNuke you don't get the YSOD, but a generic error, with no real way to find the actual exception that has occured.
I'm just curious if anyone has had similar deployment issues using the Database Publishing Wizard, and if so, how they overcame them? I own the RedGate toolset, but some hosts like GoDaddy don't allow you to direct connect to their servers...
The Database Publishing Wizard's generated scripts usually need to be tweaked since it sometimes gets the order wrong of table/procedure creation when dealing with constraints. What I do is first backup the database, then run the script, and if I get an error, I move that query to the end of the script. Continue restoring the database and running the script until it works.
There are two areas that I would look at -
Are you running in the dbo schema and was your scripted database
using dbo?
Are you using an objectqualifier in either your dev or your
production environment? (look at your sqldataprovider configuration
settings)
You should be able to expose the underlying error message by setting the following in the web.config:
customErrors mode="Off"
Could you elaborate on "and uploading the site files"? New instance of DNN? updating an existing site? upgrading DNN version? If upgrade or update -- what files are you adding/overwriting?
Also, when using GoDaddy, can you check to verify that the web site's identity (network service or asp.net machine account depending on your IIS version) has sufficient permissions to the website's file system? It should have modify permissions and these may need to be reapplied if you are overwriting files.
IIS6 (XP, Server 2000, 2003) = ASP.Net Machine Account
IIS7 (Vista, Server 2008) = Network Service
Test your generated scripts on a new local database (using the free SQL Express product or the full meal deal). If it runs fine locally, then you can be confident that it will run elsewhere, all things being equal.
If it bombs when you run it locally, use the process of elimination and work your way through the script execution to find the offending code.
My hunch is that the order of scripts could be off. I think I've had that happen before with the database publishing wizard.
Just read your follow up. In every case that I've had your problem, it was always something to do with the connection string in web.config. Even after hours of staring at it, it was always a connection string issue in web.config. Get up, take a walk and then come back.
If you are getting one of DNN's error pages, there is a chance it may have logged the error to the eventlog table.
Depending on exactly what is happening and what DNN is showing you you might be able to manually look inside the EventLog table, pull out the XML data stored there, and parse it to find the stack trace and detailed information regarding the specific error at hand.
I have found however though that I get MUCH better overall experiences with deployments using backups and restores of my database, that way I am 100% sure that all objects moved correctly, and honestly it works better in my experience.
With GoDaddy I know another MAJOR common issue is incorrect file permissions, preventing DNN from modifying the web.config and other files that it needs to do.