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I've been asked to migrate a site over from a previous host and was sent a backup file; it was generated using Akeeba. My question is, how do use this backup to migrate to a fresh installation? Any help would be most appreciated.

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  • What do you mean by migrate to a fresh installation? Are you simply trying to restore the backup you have on a different server?
    – Lodder
    Jun 25, 2015 at 17:55
  • The site existed on another host, I have a backup file that was generated with Akeeba, and I need to install it on my new host where I just installed Joomla. Hope that clarifies things a bit better.
    – ParanoidPenguin
    Jun 25, 2015 at 18:01

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Sorry to provide just a link as answer, but the only reasonable way I know of is to use https://www.akeebabackup.com/documentation/akeeba-kickstart-documentation.html. Download link is here. The very short version is that you upload the kickstart.php and the backup to the root of the site and then use browser to go to yourdomain.tld/kickstart.php. This starts the extraction and later installation. But read the documentation first, it is not really difficult, but you do need to understand what the installer asks correctly for it to work.

Incidentally since the things kickstart asks and requires to work are the same things required by Joomla installation, you can probably solve any issues by reading the Joomla installation documentation. But Akeeba generally has pretty thorough documentation, so everything you need to know should be behind the first link I provided.

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  • I had actually discovered the answer while reading through the documentation - go figure- but your answer is the right one. I had a small issue with the installation, needed to create a database, but that was quick enough. Thanks for taking the time to post.
    – ParanoidPenguin
    Jun 25, 2015 at 18:27
  • @ParanoidPenguin Well, maybe this is somehow useful to somebody else. Besides I spent few years constantly doing site transfers with Akeeba or helping others with issues with the same so its not like I had to do any work to answer...
    – Ville Niemi
    Jun 25, 2015 at 18:31
  • Incidentally, and purely for completeness, there are at least two other ways to install Joomla! from Akeeba backup. Using them for site transfer just doesn't make sense when kickstart is available.
    – Ville Niemi
    Jun 25, 2015 at 18:37
  • I appreciate you taking the time, it really turned out to be a pretty decent process and your advice definitely will be helpful.
    – ParanoidPenguin
    Jun 25, 2015 at 18:53
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I myself too was very disappointed that I had to upload a php file with the backup every time I needed to install from the backup, since that added a few steps in the workflow.

Also the kickstart is just an unzipping tool for the default .jpa archive.

So what I do now a days, is go to the following settings page on Akeeba Backup's admin panel, and set the archive type to .zip.

  1. administrator/index.php?option=com_akeeba (Akeeba Admin Panel)
  2. administrator/index.php?option=com_akeeba&view=config (Configuration)
  3. Advance Configuration
  4. Archiver engine (Set to Zip Format.)

Once completed, when you create a backup through akeeba, it will generate a .zip file, instead of the .jpa file.

Now all I have to do is upload the .zip file just like I'd do to a vanilla Joomla! installation or a Wordpress or any other CMS for that matter, and unzip using the webhost's unzip tool which is available in most of the web-host admin panel including CPanel.

After which you can run the installation just by going to the url of the respective site, like you would do to a normal Joomla! install.

Benefits:-

  1. No extra files required, just upload the backup and unzip.
  2. Since we are using the Cpanel/xyz webhosts trusted script, there is a high chance of enough amount of memory being allocated, which could become a problem if an external script is used.
  3. Even for your local use, when you just wanna peek into a single file inside the package, you don't have to use the akeeba tools like "kickstart" or "akeeba unzipper" whatever that's called.
  4. You can Instantly check if an archive is broken, by simply opening it inside like winrar.
  5. Sometimes(read On some hosts) kickstart gives problems with JQuery not loading and stuff, well... now you don't have to worry.

Cons:-

  1. I had read somewhere that the .zip format is unrelaible, but in my personal experience never once have I faced data corruption when using .zip with Akeeba.
  2. The .jpa format has password encrypting feature which cannot be used with .zip format, but when you are uploading a php script to a server already, who are we "password protecting" the backups from? Since the server admin can get your source code anyway after your securely unzipping the encrypted .jpa.
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  • Telling how you can avoid using kickstart if you configure Akeeba to produce zip-files does not answer the question about what to do with a backup file somebody else sent to you. You might want to make your own question that actually asks about this and then move the answer there.
    – Ville Niemi
    Jun 26, 2015 at 17:21
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    I agree that my answer isn't directly answering the question but its quite related to it, also I posted with the intention that it may help someone else who is in a similar situation, look at it as just a side note. Since I couldn't post it all in a comment, I thought an answer would be better.
    – Mohd Abdul Mujib
    Jun 26, 2015 at 20:05
  • I know what you were trying to do, and approve of it, which is why I didn't downvote your answer despite it not answering the actual question. I really think making your own question that actually asks for your answer is the correct solution. But I am hardly a StackExchange guru, so I might be totally wrong. Maybe somebody who knows can comment on this?
    – Ville Niemi
    Jun 27, 2015 at 2:02
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    Thanks for your post 9kSoft. Been using Akeeba for years and didn't know the settings had a .zip option which sidesteps the need to use kickstart. Can't wait to try it. Thanks.
    – BradM
    Jun 28, 2015 at 23:35

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