Copying a Joomla website

Under Construction

Copying a Joomla! website is a two-part process: you must copy the files and you must copy the database (which is where the content is stored). Copying the files and copying the database are separate operations. Which you carry out first will depend on your particular circumstances but in most cases it does not really matter. If your website is being updated frequently and you need to take your website offline while the copy takes place then you will probably want to perform the database copy last so as to minimize downtime.

Copying the files

FTP Download and Upload Method

One method of copying the files from one Joomla! installation to another is to use standard desktop FTP software to first download all of the files comprising your Web site from their location on your Web server, then upload these files to the location of the new Joomla! installation. Depending on where you're placing the copy of your Joomla! site, the new location could be a different directory on the same Web server, or it could be a new location on a completely different Web server.

It is important to maintain the same directory structure for all of your folders and files as you move them from one location to another. Fortunately, desktop FTP software will handle this automatically as you upload and download sets of files and folders. (Your FTP software should contain Help documentation which explains FTP and how to use the FTP software interface.)

Note that after you move the files from one location to another, you may still need to edit Joomla! configuration files to get your copy of Joomla! working at the new location; you may also need to change settings for aspects of your Web server in order to get the copy of your Joomla! site working.

In rare instances, a file may become corrupted during an FTP transfer, where only part of the file is successfully transmitted. If you encounter strange or unexpected errors with your new Joomla! installation after you copy over the files, you may want to try re-uploading your files in case of corruption during transfer.

Copying the database

There are multiple methods to copying your Joomla database and moving it to a live server environment.

MySQL COMMAND LINE METHOD

Usually you run mysqldump to create database copy: $ mysqldump -u user -p db-name > db-name.out

Copy db-name.out file using sftp/ssh to remote MySQL server: $ scp db-name.out user@remote.box.com:/backup

Restore database at remote server (login over ssh): $ mysql -u user -p db-name < db-name.out

PHPMYADMIN METHOD

The phpMyAdmin tool can be used to export and import a database, providing a simple way to duplicate a copy of a database using a different name on our servers.

Exporting a copy of the database to your computer

  1. Login to the database that you want to duplicate using phpMyAdmin
  2. Click the database name on the left-hand side of the page. 
  3. Select the Export tab
  4. Select the Save as file option
  5. Click Go

You'll then be prompted to save the database file on your personal computer.

Importing the copy into a new database

You'll first need to create the new, empty database on our servers using the account control panel. After the new database has been created:

  1. Login to the new database using phpMyAdmin
  2. Click the database name on the left-hand side of the page
  3. Select the Import tab
  4. Click the Browse button under "File to import", then select the database file from your computer
  5. Click Go to import the database

(Hint: If you see a "No database selected" error, it's probably because you forgot to first click on the database name in the left-hand column.)