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 :)
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.
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.
Important! Please make sure the 'logs', 'data' and 'temp' directories have 777 permissions. Otherwise your configuration will not be saved.
In order to create regular backups automatically you need to first configure a new backup job:
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.
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.
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.
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