XCloner Configuration
From XCloner Official Manual
Contents |
XCloner Configuration
To access and configure XCloner in Joomla, login to the Joomla backend and go to Components – XCloner.
To access and configure XCloner in Wordpress, login to the Wordpress dashboard and go to Plugins – XCloner.
Alternatively, you can access XCloner directly using this link: http://yourwebsite.com/administrator/index.php?option=com_xcloner
A new window opens (all functionality from this point on is the same, independent of the platform you use):
Use username “admin” with password “admin” and click Login to log in to the XCloner backend for the first time. You are strongly advised to change your password immediately.
You now have access to the XCloner backend as shown below.
To configure the XCloner settings, click either the Settings button or the Configuration link from the menu on the left.
The XCloner Configuration consists of six tabs:
| General | - controls the main backup settings such as paths and backup type |
| MySQL | - holds your MySQL connection settings |
| Authetification | - holds your XCloner username and password |
| System | - controls the system language and FTP settings |
| Cron | - controls the configuration of all cron process settings |
| Info | - displays information about your PHP configuration and general paths |
Configuration Settings – General
Backup Path Settings
| Back Start Path | - The Backup Start Path determines where XCloner will start the backup process. Note that you are not limited to the default Joomla or Wordpress path, but that you can backup any part of your site. |
| Important: under your Backup Start Path you always need to create this directory administrator/backups and make it fully writeable, it is a temporary folder XCloner uses in it's internal process | |
| Backup Store Path | - The backup store path determines where your backup will be stored after is has been created. You can store your backups anywhere on your server as long as the area where you want to store it is accessible and writeable by the PHP user. |
Backup Generator Options
| Manual backup | - Many servers have a time limit for the execution of scripts. The default is 30 seconds. If your backup is very big or takes long to execute, set this option to manual to prevent the script being terminated before it is finished as this will generate errors. Note that you need to have JavaScript activated in your browser for this option to work. Default is Yes (= manual). More information about the manual backup option. |
| Compress backup files | - This option allows you to compress the backup files if you want to save space. Default is No. |
| Enable Database backup | - This option allows you to include your MySQL data in the backup, or to exclude it. Default is Yes (=include). Your MySQL data can only be included in the backup if the configuration settings for your MySQL database (next tab) are correct. |
| Include backup directory | - When XCloner makes a backup you can decide to include the backup in the clone directory in the backup process, or to exclude it. If you include previous backups in your new backup, the size of your backups will increase dramatically. Default is No (=exclude). Note that this option only works if the backup path is within the Joomla or Wordpress main path. |
Server Use Options
| Backup Using Server Functions | - These functions take advantage of built-in backup capabilities of your server and will only work if your server supports them. |
| Tar Path or Command | - If you tick the active box, a Tar path or command is required. XCloner will allow you to save the settings without a tar path or command and the active box checked, but you will see an error message the moment you try to generate a backup. |
| MySQL dump path | - If you tick the active box, an SQL dump path or command is required or command although XCloner will let you save the settings without an SQL dump path or command and the active box checked. |
License Management
| License Code | - You can paste your license code in this field. |
Save or Cancel After you have made all your changes, click the big Save button in the upper right-hand corner of the window to keep the new settings, or click Cancel to keep the old settings.
After you click Save, a message will appear to indicate that you changes were saved successfully.
Configuration Settings – MySQL
Click the MYSQL tab to configure MySQL settings.
This tab holds your MySQL settings. Any changes you make to your database username or password should be entered here. XCloner uses these settings to connect to the database and make a backup. These settings are not important if you do not include your MySQL database in your backups.
Save or Cancel
After you have made all your changes, click the big Save button in the upper right-hand corner of the window to keep the new settings, or click Cancel to keep the old settings.
Configuration Settings – Authentification
Click the Authentification tab to change your XCloner username and/or password. The default password is "admin". Leave the password field blank to keep the default password, or change it by typing the new password in the password field.
Save or Cancel
After you have made all your changes, click the big Save button in the upper right-hand corner of the window to keep the new settings, or click Cancel to keep the old settings.
Configuration Settings – System
Click the System tab to change the standard system settings.
Display Settings
| Language | - Choose between English or German. Default is English. |
System Settings
| FTP Transfer Mode | - Choose between Direct and Passive transfer modes. Default is Direct. This option is only for advanced users. |
| FTP Connection Mode | - Choose between Normal and Secure connection modes. Default is Normal. This option is only for advanced users. |
Backup Manual Process
| Files to process per manual session | - Define the number of files to process per manual session. |
| Time between sessions refresh | - This controls the pause time between session refreshes. This only works if Manual Backup is set to Yes on the General tab. |
Save or Cancel
After you have made all your changes, click the big Save button in the upper right-hand corner of the window to keep the new settings, or click Cancel to keep the old settings.
Configuration Settings – Cron
Click the Cron tab to configure the settings for cron jobs. Cron enables you to schedule backups to run automatically at a certain time or date. The actual scheduling of the cron job is done in a crontab file. For more information on how to create a crontab file, please refer to the Appendix.
Multiple CronJobs Configuration
| Configuration Name | - Enter a desired name for your cron jobs configuration file. The file will be saved to the configs folder. |
| Available Configurations | - After you have saved your first configuration file, all available configurations will be shown here. |
| Cron Settings | - You can choose to have the cron log that is generated after every cron job sent to an email address (or multiple addresses) you specify here. |
| Backup Store Mode | - You can have your backup stored on your local server, transferred to a remote FTP account, or have it sent to you by email. For backup to the local server, the default backup path as defined on the General tab will be used. Sending backups to email addresses may encounter problems if your backups are big and your provider has set a limit for the size of email attachments. You will need to enter the email address to be used for this option a little further down on this page. |
| Backup Type | - Choose if you want to do a full backup (all your files + your database), back up your files only, or back up your database only. |
| Backup Name | - Give your backup a name, or let the system generate a unique name for every backup automatically. System generated names use the following format: backup_(date)_(time)_(domain)-(sql_mode).tar |
| Cron Allowed IPs | - Enter any additional IPs you want to have access to the cron job. Enter one IP per line. Please refer to the appendix for more information on allowed IPs. |
FTP store mode details
If you want to store your backup on a remote server, you will need to enter the FTP connection details for that server here.
| FTP server | - Name of your FTP server |
| FTP username | - Your FTP username |
| FTP password | - Your FTP password |
| FTP Path | - The path where the backup should be stored |
| Delete backup after transfer | - Tick this box if you want the cron generated backup to be deleted from the local server after it has been transferred to the remote server. |
Email mode details
| Email account | - If you have indicated Email in the Backup Store Mode section of this page, then use this field to enter the email address you would like to have the backup sent to. |
Amazon S3 storage (requires at least PHP 5.2.x version)
To save the backup archive to the Amazon S3 Storage Service you need to check the "Active: " checkbox under it, enter the Amazon Secret and Access Key, and also setup the bucket name, if it doesn't exists, it will be automatically created.
To verify that the Amazon S3 option is Active, your cron output log should contain a text like this
AMAZON S3: Starting communication with the Amazon S3 server...
continued by the upload process status.
MySQL Options
| Add MySQL Drop | - Tick this checkbox if you want XCloner to add the DROP TABLE IF EXISTS statement to your generated SQL. This option is only for advanced users. |
Delete Older Backups
| Active | - Tick this box to delete older backups when a new backup is made. |
| Delete backups older than | - Enter the number of days to determine which older backups (e.g. older than 30 days) you want to delete when a new backup is made. |
Excluded Directories
| Excluded directories list | - Use this field to list directories you want to exclude from the backup. List only one directory per line and use the full path of the server directory. |
Save or Cancel
After you have made all your changes, click the big Save button in the upper right-hand corner of the window to keep the new settings, or click Cancel to keep the old settings.
You will find more information about how to set up your cron jobs if you click Cron in the XCloner menu on the left, and in the Appendix.
Configuration Settings – Info
Click the Info tab to get information about your PHP Configuration and General Paths. You cannot make any changes here.
