Support
Documentation
![[Tip]](/media/com_docimport/admonition/tip.png) | Tip |
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You can download Akeeba Kickstart from our site's download page. The latest release is always at the top of the list. Older versions are available for use with older versions of our backup software (Akeeba Backup and Akeeba Solo). |
In order to use Kickstart, begin by downloading Kickstart itself from our site. You will download a ZIP
archive which you have to extract first on your computer. Inside it you will find kickstart.php, several .ini
files and a couple of .js file. You need to copy at least the PHP file into the root of the to be restored
site. For example, if you are restoring on a subdirectory named example in the root of
your XAMPP for Windows installation, you need to copy the file inside the
c:\xampp\htdocs\example folder. Conversely, if you are restoring to a live host, upload
the PHP file using FTP in your site's root.
The .ini files in the Kickstart ZIP package are translations. Kickstart will query your browser's default language and look for the respective translation file. For example, if the default browser language is German (de-DE) Kickstart will try to load the de-DE.kickstart.ini file in order to present you with a localized interface. If you want to take advantage of Kickstart's localization copy the respective .ini file in the same directory as the kickstart.php file. If unsure, upload all .ini files; they will be automatically removed after Kickstart finishes.
The .js files need not be uploaded. Kickstart will always attempt to load these files over the Internet
when they are not present. If you do not have an Internet connection or your Internet connection is very slow
you will need to copy these .js files along with kickstart.php for Kickstart to
work.
The final step before being able to extract the archive is, of course, copying the archive itself in the
same directory as kickstsart.php. If you have a multi-part archive remember to upload all
of the archive parts, otherwise the extraction will, of course, fail. Moreover, if you are restoring to a live
server please upload the backup archive and all of its parts using the Binary transfer mode. We suggest using
FileZilla to do that. As soon as you connect to your site and right before uploading any files click on the
, , menu
item. This will ensure that the backup parts will not be corrupted during transfer.
Once you're ready with the preparation, launch Kickstart by visiting its URL which looks like
http://localhost/mysite/kickstart.php on local hosts, or
http://www.yoursite.com/kickstart.php on live hosts.
The first page is a reminder of key facts about Kickstart:
Kickstart's first page
After reading it, press ESC to close the information window and display the main interface:
Kickstart - Select a backup archive
In the first step, select your backup archive file. Usually, there is only one file and it is pre-selected for you.
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If you have a multipart backup archive only the main part with the .jpa, .jps or .zip extension will be displayed. The part files (.j01, .j02, ... or .z01, .z02, ...) will be extracted automatically. In fact, all of these part files MUST be present for the extraction to proceed. |
If you are restoring an encrypted archive (JPS) please enter the password to it in the Archive password (for JPS files) field. Please remember that the password is case sensitive: abc, ABC and Abc are three different passwords.
Kickstart - Select an extraction method
In the second step, you have to choose an extraction method. The Directly method is the
fastest and should work on all local and most live hosts. If you get error messages about unwritable files in
later steps, you'll have to use the Use FTP mode here. The best option is the
Hybrid one. It will intelligently switch between Directly and Use FTP on a file-by-file
basis, automatically detecting which mode is more appropriate for it.
If you are using the FTP or Hybrid modes, you will see the FTP-specific options:
- FTP host name
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Use the domain name or IP address to access your site’s FTP server. Do not use the ftp:// protocol prefix. For example,
ftp.example.comis correct whereasftp://ftp.example.comis wrong. - FTP Port
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Leave the default value (21) unless your host tells you otherwise. Do note that Kickstart only supports plain FTP and FTP over SSL connections, but not SFTP. If your host tells you to use port 22 – which is used only by SFTP – it won’t work.
- Use FTP over SSL (FTPS)
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Use only if your host tells you it is supported. FTPS is not the same as SFTP, do not confuse those two!
- Use FTP Passive Mode
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It's a good idea to turn it on, as most servers require it. If your host told you they require active mode, uncheck this option.
- FTP user name and password
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What they claim to be, the user name and password to connect to your site's FTP server
- FTP directory
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The absolute FTP path to your site’s root. The easiest way to find it is using FileZilla to connect to your site and navigate to your site's root, which is usually a directory named
htdocs,httpdocs,http_docs,public_htmlorwww. Look at the right hand pane, above the folder tree (Remote site text box). This is what you want. Copy it and paste it in Kickstart's FTP directory box. - Temporary directory
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If you followed the instructions at the beginning of this chapter above, you have already created a
kicktempdirectory with 0777 permissions. If not, do it now. After that, just append/kicktempto whatever is already written the Temporary Directory box. You can check that the directory exists and is really writeable by clicking on the button. The button will reset the box to its initial value should you accidentally mess up its contents.
Click on before proceeding to make sure that Kickstart can connect to your site through FTP before proceeding.
Kickstart - Fine tune
The fine tuning options are for advanced users only. Changing them might make it impossible to extract your backup archive. If you are not sure you understand what they do we advise you to not touch them.
- Minimum execution time
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Akeeba Kickstart breaks down the archive extraction process in small chunks. This value determines the minimum amount of time each of these chunks should take. It's recommended to leave the default setting of 1 second. If you have a server with strict usage limits you are suggested to set this to 5 and the maximum execution time to 3 (yes, the maximum will be lower than the minimum, it's not a typo).
- Maximum execution time
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Akeeba Kickstart breaks down the archive extraction process in small chunks. This value determines the maximum amount of time each of these chunks should take. Larger values will make the extraction marginally faster but more prone to server timeouts. Smaller values will make the extraction slower but less prone to server timeouts.
- Stealth mode
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When an extraction and restoration takes place anyone with a web browser can navigate to Kickstart itself or the restoration script. This is problematic on the security front. Enabling the Stealth Mode will make your site available only to your IP address while the extraction and restoration is in progress. Anyone else visiting the site will see a static HTML page, given below. When you clean up after the restoration is over your visitors will see your site normally.
Important This feature only has any effect on hosts using the Apache web server or a compatible server which understands .htaccess files. It will definitely not work on hosts using IIS or NginX.
- HTML file to show to web visitors
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This option allows you to define the name of the static HTML page to show to your visitors when the Stealth Mode above is enabled. The file and its resources (images, CSS, Javascript files) must reside inside your to-be-restored site's root. You must only define the name of the file to use, not its URL. This means that
offline.htmlis a valid setting, whereashttp://www.example.com/offline.htmlis INVALID and will result in a 404 error thrown to your visitors. - Delete everything before extraction
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Tries to delete all existing files and folders under the directory where Kickstart is stored before extracting the backup archive. It DOES NOT take into account which files and folders exist in the backup archive. Files and folders deleted by this feature CAN NOT be recovered. WARNING! THIS MAY DELETE FILES AND FOLDERS WHICH DO NOT BELONG TO YOUR SITE. USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION. BY ENABLING THIS FEATURE YOU ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY.
- Rename server configuration files
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Renames .htaccess, web.config, php.ini and .user.ini contained in the archive while extracting. Files are renamed with a .bak extension. The file names are restored when you click on Clean Up.
- Restore permissions
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Applies the file permissions (but NOT file ownership) which was stored at backup time. Only works with JPA and JPS archives. Does not work on Windows (PHP does not offer such a feature).
- Files to extract
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Enter a file path such as
images/cat.pngor shell pattern such asimages/*.pngon each line. Only files matching this list will be written to disk. Leave empty to extract everything (default).
Kickstart - Extract files
Click on the big green Start button. Kickstart will start extracting your site's files.
Kickstart- Extracting
The blue bar fills up while your site files are being extracted.
If you get an “Unwritable file” error message, go back and enable the Use FTP option before re-trying extraction. If all else fails, extract the archive locally and upload the extracted files to your site by FTP.
If you get an error message that the archive is corrupt, you have to check two things. First, make sure that you have uploaded all archive parts. In a multi-part archive situation, there is the main .jpa, .jps or .zip file and several “part files” with the same name as the main file but with extensions like .zip, .z01, .z02, etc (ZIP) or .jpa/.jps, .j01, .j02, etc (JPA/JPS). You have to upload all of those files for the extraction to work.
The other think you must check is how you downloaded and uploaded the backup archives. As mentioned in "The recommended method' section, you should use FTP in Binary transfer mode. This holds true for uploads as well. Try uploading the backup archive again, using FTP in Binary Transfer mode and retry. This usually does the trick.
When the extraction is over, Kickstart offers you a link to open the restoration script which was included in your archive file and is just extracted to your site:
Kickstart- Restoration and Clean Up
Click on this button and start reading the next chapter, detailing the use of the restoration script. Do not close Kickstart’s window/tab yet! You will need it to clean up after the restoration is over.
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Kickstart extracts the |
Kickstart- Restoration and Clean Up
Once you are done with the restoration script, click on the Clean Up button. This will remove the installation directory which holds the restoration script, Kickstart's files, the backup archive (and all its part files) and rename the file mentioned above back to their normal names.
Kickstart- Restoration and Clean Up
Use the button to visit your site. Ignore the other button; it's only used for backups taken with Akeeba Backup for Joomla!.