Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 16:01 CDT

user11051

Dear colleagues,

I plan to use Akeeba PRO to backup together some subdomains in the same backup file. This is because on some of these subdomains there is not a Joomla/Akeeba installation (the backup process has to be initiated in a different subdomain).

The question is, when I set these subdomain folders to be included in the backup using the "off-site directory inclusions" feature, I always get an "Unreadable directory" message.

I've tried it many ways. I've tried to set 0777 permissions to the folders. For the folder paths I've used three different variations:[ul][li]Absolute path: /var/www/vhosts/mydomain.com/subdomains/subdomian2/httpdocs[/li][li]Relative path from the FTP folder: /subdomains/subdomian2/httpdocs[/li][li]Relative path from the Joomla installation folder: ../../subdomian2/httpdocs[/li][/ul]But none of these seems to work, I always get the Unreadable directory error.

How can I work it out?

Kind Regards,
César Revert.

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 17:17 CDT

dlb

The absolute path would be what Akeeba is expecting. Does the log file say which directory is unreadable? We may have a difference in ownership of the files that is preventing the backup. Or we may get lucky and it is something we can live without that is blocking it. Some hosts have a folder on the site that can't be backed up, but doesn't need to be.

Dale L. Brackin
Support Specialist

English: native

Please 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)

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 17:59 CDT

user11051

Hi Dale,

Thanks for the quick response.

We're doing that for four different subdomains, for their httpdocs folder, and all four subdomains raise the "unreadable" warning. This is what you see in the component.

In the log file, it says it'll add external files to archive, then two empty lines of WARNING, and then an Empty Directory INFO message.

This is the log content, that repeats for the four subdomains:

DEBUG |100608 21:38:18|More off-site directories detected

INFO |100608 21:38:18|Including new off-site directory to G7P5rMKf-httpdocs

INFO |100608 21:38:18|Scanning directories of /var/www/vhosts/latitudweb.net/subdomains/fb/httpdocs

INFO |100608 21:38:18|Scanning files of /var/www/vhosts/latitudweb.net/subdomains/fb/httpdocs

DEBUG |100608 21:38:18|-- Adding external_files/G7P5rMKf-httpdocs/ to archive (source: /var/www/vhosts/latitudweb.net/subdomains/fb/httpdocs)

WARNING |100608 21:38:18|

WARNING |100608 21:38:18|

INFO |100608 21:38:18|Empty directory /var/www/vhosts/latitudweb.net/subdomains/fb/httpdocs

By the way, all files in the subdomains seem to belong to the same user.

Kind Regards,
César Revert.

Wednesday, 09 June 2010 03:59 CDT

dlb

I'm going to flag this for Nicholas to look at.

Dale L. Brackin
Support Specialist

English: native

Please 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 04:10 CDT

user11051

Ok, thank you very much, Dale.

Wednesday, 09 June 2010 06:18 CDT

nicholas

There are two things which can cause this error. The obvious one is permissions, but - as you figured out with your tests - it isn't the case. The other thing can be open_basedir restrictions. If you post your backup log in its entirety I can tell you if this is the case.

BTW, absolute paths work best for the off-site directory inclusion feature. Relative paths are more prone to breakage if you try remote, CRON or front-end backups.

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, 09 June 2010 06:43 CDT

user11051

Hi nicholas.

I attach the Log file

We plan to use this backup process on a CRON task, but now it's failing from the Joomla/Akeeba back-end.

Thanks for your time,
César Revert.

Wednesday, 09 June 2010 20:42 CDT

nicholas

Here is your problem, as found in the log:

INFO    |100609 06:57:57|open_basedir restr.::/tmp

Your host only allows PHP to have access to directories under your web site's root (that's what stands for) and the system-wide /tmp directory. Since your subdomains are above your site's root you can't include them, as the open_basedir restriction makes PHP believe that these directories are unreadable.

You have to talk with your host about it. Convince them that you are not an evil hacker trying to bring down their server and talk them into modifying your open_basedir restrictions to include the directories for the subdomains you want to back up. Usually hosts are reluctant to do that, on the grounds that if either of the subdomain sites gets compromised the hacker would be able to affect all your other subdomains and main site. IMHO the risk is low and you'll have a backup anyway, so you can probably live with that low risk scenario feeling much better than currently having no backup at all.

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, 09 June 2010 22:13 CDT

user11051

Thank you very much Nicholas, I'll do as you say.

Kind regards,
César.

Wednesday, 09 June 2010 23:26 CDT

user11051

I did as suggested and it works perfect now (I didn't have to convince anyone, as I work on a dedicated server and I can change the PHP configuration). Thanks for the superb support!!

Thursday, 10 June 2010 11:20 CDT

nicholas

Ah, the joy of dedicated servers! I'm glad we got this nailed :)

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!

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