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Installing and Configuring Akeeba Backup

If you talk with a dozen professional Joomla developers, they will all have different lists of extensions they install on every site, or nearly every site, they build for clients. However, one extension that appears on the list of most developers is Akeeba Backup. This well-established extension is absolutely critical for making quick and easy backups of your Joomla website.

Remember that a Joomla website consists of all of the files that make it work (including core files, extension files, template files, images, and so forth) as well as a database. If you simply back up your files, you're missing the majority of the data for your website!

Akeeba Backup packages all of your files, plus your database, in a single file, called a JPA file. This file can then be downloaded and saved somewhere other than your web server. You can use Akeeba Backup to move your site from one web server to another, and you can use it to move your site from one directory (or folder) to another.

Moving a site is beyond the scope of this book, but you can find the documentation describing how to do it on the Akeeba Backup website, www.akeebabackup.com.

Hallmarks of the best backups include the following:

• Frequency at which backups are made: As a wise person once said, “You can never be too rich or have too many backups.” More frequent backups are better.
• Location of the backup vs. location of the functioning website: When backups are located in the same location ...