“SmartBackup” v1.1.1
Created and documented by Georgy Angelov

SmartBackup

Created: 25.09.2012
By: Georgy Angelov
Email: georgyangelov@gmail.com

Thank you for purchasing SmartBackup! If you have any questions or you need help with it, please feel free to email via my user page contact form here. I hope you won't need to restore any of those backups :)

Table of Contents

  1. Quick start guide
  2. Installation
  3. Creating backup jobs
    1. Exporting archives to dropbox
  4. Creating quick, one-time backups
  5. Managing archives
  6. Reviewing logs

A) Quick start guide top

To start using SmartBackup you first need to install it. Section B explains how this is done.

After you have installed SmartBackup, in order to have automatic backups you need to create a backup job. A backup job essentially tells SmartBackup which files/databases it should archive, where to store the archives and when it should back them up. You can create multiple backup jobs which allows you to have different files backuped at different time interval.

How to create a backup job is explained in section C, but you can just open the SmartBackup admin panel (http://[[your-domain]]/SmartBackup/), click the big blue button on the left and follow the on-screen instructions.

B) Installation top

Don't be confused by how many steps are there. It's really a 2-minute procedure which is also shown in the video below the step-by-step guide.

  1. Extract the archive contents
  2. Navigate to the directory SmartBackup, which contains settings.php
  3. Edit settings.php and replace "INSERT PASSWORD HERE" with a strong password that only you know, then save the file. This password will be used to login to the SmartBackup admin panel
  4. Upload the SmartBackup directory to your web server
  5. Open SmartBackup in your browser: http://[[your-domain]]/SmartBackup/
  6. Enter your password and you will see a yellow box. Copy the last line of text (a command) which is shown in the yellow box
  7. Using your hosting's control panel add a cron job that runs every 5 minutes with the copied text. A cron job is a script that you set to run in a specified interval of time. SmartBackup uses this to perform automatic backups. Every hosting provider should offer you a way to add cron jobs. A typical way is through your cpanel (if this is what your hosting provider offers) as is shown below. If you have trouble setting up a cron job you can contact your hosting's customer support and they will do it for you.

Important! Please make sure the 'logs', 'data' and 'temp' directories have 777 permissions. Otherwise your configuration will not be saved.

C) Creating backup jobs top

In order to create regular backups automatically you need to first configure a new backup job:

  1. In the interface click the big blue button (New backup)
  2. Fill in a title of the backup job. This is used to distinct it from your other backup jobs
  3. Choose source directories. You can select more than one directory and you can also exclude subdirectories. Every file in a selected directory will be archived.
  4. Deselect the SmartBackup directory! While a backup job is running it is used to store the temporary archive. If you select the SmartBackup directory it will essentially try to backup the backup.
  5. The destination is pretty much self-explanatory. You select the destination type, fill in the required things about it (for example host, user and password for FTP) and choose a directory where the zip files will be stored.
  6. The Time section is where you choose how frequently your backups are created.
  7. Click the Create button. If it can't be clicked then you missed to fill something earlier. Go through these steps again and see what you missed
(optional) If you want to backup your database click the big plus icon next to the Database title. Then fill in your database access credentials and click Connect. After that you will be able to select databases and tables to backup. Again, you can exclude tables from a selected database if you wish.

(optional) Below the source directory you can choose to ignore certain file types from the archive.

(optional) The last section has some additional options such as maximum number of archives to keep (the oldest ones are automatically deleted) and an email notification whenever a backup is performed.

C) 1. Exporting archives to Dropbox top

If you don't know what Dropbox is you just skip this.

This section explains how to link SmartBackup to your Dropbox folder. This enables SmartBackup to store the zip files directly in your Dropbox. It comes really handy to have all your backups whenever you need them.

To link SmartBackup to your Dropbox account you just need to select Dropbox as the destination type (while creating new, or modifying existant backup job) and follow the 3 steps that are explained there.

You need to do this only once. After your Dropbox is linked it will be remembered.

(important) SmartBackup is only being granted access to a single folder inside your Dropbox: /Apps/SmartBackup/. This is where your backups will be stored. SmartBackup is authorized by the Dropbox team and it cannot access any other file in your Dropbox that is outside this folder.

D) Creating quick, one-time backups top

Let's say, for example that you are about to change something in your website. You need a quick way to back up your files and then make the changes. This is where the big green button (Quick backup) comes handy.

Using this button you can quickly create and download a backup of your website. Quick backup has far less options because it is a one-time procedure. This means that it is not automatic and only on-demand. Also, when you create a quick backup you will download it and it will not be stored in any other place.

Keep in mind that if you have already set up a backup job (which performs automatic backups) you can just click the backup now icon next to the backup job's name. This will make SmartBackup create a zip file using the settings you provided in the backup job.

E) Managing archives top

When some backup archives are created they will appear on the front SmartBackup page below the backup job title. Each row is a different archive which contains some buttons (the icons in the Actions column). You can delete, download and restore backups. If you choose to restore an archive you are given the choice to restore only the files, only the database or both.

F) Reviewing logs top

Skip this section if you don't have errors and you don't have PHP knowledge

A log file is a text file which contains information about the errors that occured during a backup or restore procedure.
One log file for each backup job is created in SmartBackup/logs/. This greatly helps debug certain unforseen situations and gives warnings if something happened. Normally you wouldn't need to look at the logs at all. The first time you open the SmartBackup interface after a failed backup you will be notified of any warnings or errors that occured.

If you need assistance and support from me about failed backups please attach the logs in your email.

Once again, thank you so much for purchasing this item. As I said at the beginning, I'd be glad to help you if you have any questions. I'll do my best to assist you with anything related to SmartBackup.

If you are happy with SmartBackup and it works well for you please rate it on codecanyon. Thanks!

Georgy Angelov

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