☁️ Duplicator: Backup and move sites

[Claus]

Before I do something wrong, let me just check. If I make a backup from my live site, can I then put that file in my local machine development site (that is identical to the live site but outdated) and have Duplicator update everything automatically?

[flydev]

Hi @Claus  

1 hour ago, Claus said:

Before I do something wrong

Don't worry, you SHOULD do it before doing something else 🙂  Duplicator will not alter anything, still.

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Whether local or live, it's always recommended to make a copy to avoid any frustration. Duplicator will me a perfect copy of your live site and you will have possibility to either download the backup (package) from the admin page or manually from your FTP server. Inside the package you will have at hand your distant database backup and all distant files (based on the configuration -> see module's settings - using default settings is safe).

So if your goal is to update your local dev, then you must (as always) make a backup of it just in case. Once that's said proceed following theses steps:

1. make copy of your local dev 
2. create a backup on live site and download the package
3. update your local dev site - here you have two options as I don't know how your local setup work:
   • option 1 (manual):  extract the zip and import your database then adjust database settings in config.php file to use your local database server.
   • option 2 (auto)    : use the installer.php and follow the steps to import everything

Now, if you need to bring back modifications from the old dev (local) site to your new dev (based on fresh live site) then you have to do it manually. Using a diff tool make thing easier and faster. Using @bernhard migration is also a good option.

 

[Claus]

Okay, automatic option 2 sounds good (I have the whole show on Github so I’m good to go).
Just ran it – and was careful to fill in the database information from `config-dev.php` and it worked perfectly!

Very nice!

[flydev]

Glad to hear that 👍

[msavard]

I am unable to restore a backed up site all of a sudden. I've done it many times, but this time it isn't working. After running the installer.php file, it goes through the motions, but it takes forever to extract, when it's finally done, I get a partial Step #3 page.

 

I can't do anything after that because there isn't any button or anything else to click. This hasn't happened in the past. Do you have any ideas on why this might be? Like I mentioned, the extraction takes forever, seemingly much longer than previously. It isn't a big archive (110 MB).

[msavard]

1 hour ago, msavard said:

I am unable to restore a backed up site all of a sudden. I've done it many times, but this time it isn't working. After running the installer.php file, it goes through the motions, but it takes forever to extract, when it's finally done, I get a partial Step #3 page.

I can't do anything after that because there isn't any button or anything else to click. This hasn't happened in the past. Do you have any ideas on why this might be? Like I mentioned, the extraction takes forever, seemingly much longer than previously. It isn't a big archive (110 MB).

Sorry to answer my own question. I had to change the installer script and put 

set_time_limit(1200);

at the beginning. It was 300, then I changed it to 600 and that didn't work, so I tried 1200.