Site backups with Akeeba

Watchful integrates with Akeeba Backup Professional to help you manage and schedule backups of your WordPress and Joomla! websites from the Sites Dashboard.

Once configured, you can select an Akeeba backup profile, schedule automatic backups, and start backups directly from Watchful.

Before you begin

Make sure that:

• Akeeba Backup Professional is installed and activated on your WordPress or Joomla! site.
• Your site is connected to Watchful.
• You have administrator access to Akeeba Backup on your website.

If you have not yet installed Akeeba Backup Professional, download the appropriate version from the Akeeba website.

Configuring Akeeba Backup

Before Watchful can communicate with Akeeba Backup, you must enable its JSON API and configure a secret word.

The configuration process is similar for WordPress and Joomla!, although the location of the settings differs.

1. Log in to your website’s administration area.
2. Open Akeeba Backup Professional.
3. Navigate to the Akeeba configuration settings.
   1. In WordPress, select System Configuration and then the Public API tab.
   2. In Joomla!, open Control Panel, select Profile Configuration, and then the Front-end backup tab.
4. Find the Enable JSON API (remote backup) setting and change it to Yes.
5. Enter a strong, unique value in the Secret word field.
6. Select Save & Close to save your settings.

The Akeeba secret word is used to authorize remote backup requests from Watchful. You will need to enter the same value when configuring backups in Watchful.

Important: The Akeeba secret word is different from the Watchful Secret Key used to connect your website to Watchful.

Before proceeding, run a manual backup from Akeeba Backup Professional to confirm that the backup system is working correctly.

Adding an Akeeba backup profile to Watchful

Once the JSON API is enabled, you can add Akeeba Backup to your site’s configuration in Watchful.

1. Log in to Watchful and open the Sites Dashboard.
2. Select your website to open its site drawer.
3. Select Site Details to open the Edit Site modal.
4. Scroll to the Backup section.
5. Select Add profile +.
6. Expand the new backup profile and select Akeeba as the backup plugin.
7. Enter a descriptive Profile name to identify the backup configuration in Watchful.
8. Under Backup Plugin/Extension, select Akeeba Backup Pro.
9. Enter the Akeeba secret word you configured on your website (see above).
10. Select the appropriate Akeeba backup profile from the Choose a profile dropdown.
11. Configure the backup schedule as described below.
12. Select Save & Close.

The Akeeba backup profile determines which files, databases, and other information are included in the backup.

You can create additional backup profiles if you need different backup configurations for the same website.

Running a backup manually

After configuring the integration, run a manual backup from Watchful to verify that everything is working correctly.

1. Open the Sites Dashboard.
2. Select the website to open its site drawer.
3. Select Start Backup to open the backup modal.
4. Select the configured Akeeba backup profile and select Start backup.
5. Monitor the backup status and confirm that the operation completes successfully.

Note that you can also use the Add to backup queue button in this modal. This might be useful if your manual backup test is large and will take some time. See Choose a backup method in Watchful for full details on the types of backups Watchful can perform with Akeeba.

You can also open Akeeba Backup Professional on your website to review the backup and confirm that the archive was created.

Scheduling automatic backups

Watchful can automatically trigger Akeeba backups according to a schedule you define.

In the Akeeba backup profile you created above, locate Task scheduler and choose the desired frequency:

• Hourly — Run backups at a regular hourly interval.
• Daily — Run a backup each day.
• Weekly — Run backups on selected days of the week.
• Monthly — Run backups on a selected day of the month.
• Never — Disable automatic scheduling for the profile.

Depending on the frequency selected, additional scheduling options become available.

For daily, weekly, or monthly backups, configure the available day and time settings. Choose a time when your website typically receives the least traffic to reduce the impact of backup activity.

If you configure multiple backup schedules, avoid running them simultaneously. Leave sufficient time between backups for each operation to finish.

Select Save & Close to apply your changes.

Monitoring stale backups

Watchful can notify you when a website has not completed a successful backup within a specified period. This helps identify failed or missed backups before they become a problem.

After configuring your automatic backup schedule, enable stale backup detection for your website.

Follow the instructions in Monitoring stale backups to configure the stale backup interval and notifications.

Important: Set the stale backup interval to at least one day longer than your scheduled backup frequency. This provides a buffer for backups that run later than expected and helps prevent unnecessary alerts.

For example, if your backups run every 7 days, set the stale backup interval to at least 8 days.

Troubleshooting

If Watchful cannot start an Akeeba backup, check the following:

1. Confirm that Akeeba Backup Professional is installed, active, and working on your website.
2. Verify that Enable JSON API (remote backup) is enabled.
3. Confirm that the Akeeba secret word entered in Watchful exactly matches the value configured in Akeeba.
4. Check that the selected Akeeba backup profile exists and is correctly configured.
5. Run a backup directly from Akeeba to rule out a problem with the backup software itself.

For additional assistance, see Troubleshooting problems with Akeeba Backup.