Backups / Disaster Recovery

These FAQs briefly summarise key points regarding how to use Composr's backups system and recover a site from disaster.

For more information, check out these tutorials:
Question Why are backups necessary for my Composr website?
Answer Disasters like hard disk failures, data corruption, and unexpected errors can happen at any time. A good backup strategy helps you recover your website and its data in case of such events. Backups can also help you roll back to a previous state if needed, such as after a failed upgrade or accidental changes.

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Question How do I create a backup of my Composr website?
Answer Composr offers a built-in backup addon accessible from Admin Zone > Tools > Backups. You can choose between full, incremental, and database-only backups.
  • Full backup: Backs up all files and folders within the Composr installation directory, including the database.
  • Incremental backup: Backs up only new or changed files since the last backup, resulting in smaller backup files.
  • Database backup only: Backs up only the database.

The addon allows scheduled backups or manual backup generation. It is recommended to download backups to a location outside your web server for better security.

Note: The Composr backup addon is limited by server-side PHP capabilities and might not always be reliable. Consider using alternative backup strategies offered by your web hosting control panel for increased reliability.

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Question What alternative backup strategies are available?
Answer Many web hosting control panels include built-in backup features that operate at the system level, often offering higher reliability than web-based scripts. Ensure you back up both files and the database.

For database backups, you can use tools like phpMyAdmin, which allows you to export your database as a .sql file.

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Question How do I restore my Composr website from a backup?
Answer Composr backups come as .tar or .tar.gz files. Extract the archive using an extraction program like 7-zip or your web hosting control panel.

To restore a full backup:
  • Upload the extracted files to your webserver, overwriting the existing files.
  • Run the included restore.php script in your browser. This script will restore the database from the restore_data.php file.

To restore incremental backups:
  • Restore the initial full backup.
  • Sequentially extract and overwrite files from each incremental backup over the restored full backup.
  • The last extracted restore_data.php will contain the latest database state. Run restore.php to restore the final database version.

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Question My Composr installation seems corrupted. How can I repair it?
Answer Composr offers several tools and methods for repairing corrupted installations:
  • Integrity checker: The upgrader tool, accessible via http://yourbaseurl/upgrader.php, includes an integrity checker that identifies outdated or corrupted files.
  • MySQL table repair: The Admin Zone > Tools > Cleanup tools provides access to MySQL table repair functionalities. Alternatively, use phpMyAdmin or your web host's database management tools for more direct control.
  • Safe Mode: Access safe mode via the bookmarked link from the setup wizard or by adding "breadcrumbs" itemprop="breadcrumb">

    (Located in Backups / Disaster RecoveryBackups / Disaster Reco…)

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    Question How can I reset a forgotten account password in Composr?
    Answer If you have access to phpMyAdmin:
    • Access the f_members table.
    • Find the row corresponding to the user whose password needs to be reset.
    • Edit the row, setting m_pass_hash_salted to the new password using MD5 encryption, clearing m_pass_salt, and setting m_password_compat_scheme to 'md5'.

    If you have FTP access:
    • Obtain your IP address.
    • Edit your _config.php file, setting $SITE_INFO['backdoor_ip'] to your IP address. This enables a temporary backdoor login for your IP address, bypassing security restrictions.
    • Remove the backdoor entry after logging in and resetting the password through standard means.
    Caution: Using the backdoor method is a security risk and should be done with extreme caution.

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    Question How can I manually edit my Composr database?
    Answer phpMyAdmin is a widely used web-based tool for managing MySQL databases. It allows you to:
    • Browse tables: View and edit individual rows within database tables.
    • Run SQL queries: Execute SQL commands directly for specific tasks.
    • Repair corrupted tables: Access table repair functions.

    Refer to the "Manually editing your database with phpMyAdmin" tutorial for more detailed instructions.

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    Question What should I do if an addon causes problems on my Composr website?
    Answer Composr's Safe Mode can help isolate addon-related problems.
    • Enable Safe Mode: Use the safe mode link or the config editor (http://yourbaseurl/config_editor.php) to enable Safe Mode.
    • Uninstall the problematic addon: Once in Safe Mode, navigate to the addon management section and uninstall the addon causing the issue.
    • Disable Safe Mode: After resolving the problem, disable Safe Mode through the config editor.

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    Question What should I do if URL Schemes are not working properly?
    Answer If URL Schemes, which rely on web server rewrites, are not functioning correctly, you can disable them using the http://yourbaseurl/config_editor.php script. Enable the option "Whether to block the URL Scheme (mod_rewrite)" to override the main configuration setting.

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