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Joomla Master Installation

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Written by Marco Conti Monday, 27 October 2008 13:12

I have been working with Mambo and then Joomla for several years now and things have only been getting better. The real strength of Joomla, compared to other Open Source projects, in my opinion does not reside so much in the CMS itself as it does into the sheer wealth of third party add-ons available for the platform and the way they integrate almost seamlessly with Joomla.

Recently I have started a project that only a few month ago would have been impossible to put together quite so easily: a Joomla master installation.

Anyone working with Joomla for any amount of time will develop their own preferences in regard to what add-ons work best for their average job. For me some of these add-ons are the JCE text editor, the MosModule plugin and the JoomBackup component, to mention just a few. They make Joomla easier and more powerful to use but after a bit it becomes a pain to install every single one of them from scratch.

Enter the JoomBackup Component. JoomBackup allows you to backup your files and database very easily and it creates an installer that you can then transfer onto any other server and install just like any regular, basic Joomla installation. At this point, my strategy is to keep an almost empty Joomla website in a sub-directory on my server to use as a starting point for any future installation. That way, a fresh install with all my favorite add-ons takes less than a half hour compared to over an hour in some cases, and it reduces the time spent on configuring each add-on separately.

Since the originating site is live, it is rather easy to keep it updated along with my own site and my client's. Each time a new patch is released or an add-on gets updated all I have to do is install the patch and backup the site again.

Using JoomBackup

Installing JoomBackup is very straightforward. Simply download the component from and install the usual way.

Once that's done, go to "Components > JoomBackup" and create your complete backup.

Save the backup locally but be careful to use a sensitive naming system so you don't install an older version, I prefer to name my backup files yyyy-mm-dd-sitename, that way all the backups will fall in order in your directory. When you need to install a new website use the Joombackup installation files instead of the Joomla one.

JB can save your backups with a built in installer. Essentially, you'll be able to install Joomla as usual and end up with a perfect clone of your master website.

Personally, I prefer to use the manual method as I find it faster, but it does require some familiarity with your web host tools. Once again, I find that Cpanel/WHM offers the best tools available, bar none.

Here is what I do to install a master Joomla website:

Backup your files and database locally with JoomBackUp
Go to your Cpanel and create a new database.
Make note of your new database name, Username and password.
NOTE: If you are installing in the same account, you don't need to create a new database user. Just assign the same user/pass to the new database.
Upload your backup archive to your server. Here the X3 skin in Cpanel gives you the best interface possible.
Expand the files on the server
Go to your PhpMyAdmin (in Cpanel: databases > PhpMyAdmin)
There you'll see your DB name. Click on it.
Now click on "Import" and select the local db backup you saved earlier. Click "Upload".
After the DB has been restored, go to your file manager, select "configuration.php" and click on "edit"
In the file you'll see several items that may or may not need changing depending on where you are installing the new site and how much have you changed the various names and paths. Normally, these are the items you want to look at:
- var $log_path = '/home/(your account name)/public_html/logs';
- var $tmp_path = '/home/(your account name)/public_html/tmp';
- var $ftp_user = 'username';
- var $ftp_pass = 'xxxxxxxxxx';
- var $user = 'account_username';
- var $db = 'account_dbname';
- var $password = 'xxxxxxxxxxxxx';
NOTE: The last three items in BOLD are your database username, db name and password. These are the ones you need to change to reflect the new database. The other items are also important to link the path to the local Joomla files. If you are moving to a completely different account you'll need to "extract" those paths from your current file system.
Once you are done entering the new paths and names, you are ready to go to your site and test that everything went OK.

It really looks a lot scarier than it really is. But if you are not confident you'll be able to do it, just check the JoomBackUp documentation on how to use the built in installer. It takes a bit longer in my opinion, but it is an easier environment to work in if you don't want to mess around with the code. Either way, using a master Joomla installation can save a lot of time.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Soon I will write a more comprehensive tutorial with screenshots and more detailed explanations of each step.

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Thanks for the article...but where is the JoomBackup Component?

I search a lot of...but dont find it! smilies/cry.gif

Only find this: "jombackup.systembot.v15" ....but is a plugin.

Any help?

DM , September 02, 2009

Thanks for Your info

Great thanks for you, i want to make joomla sites with similar component and modul, but i don't want to install and install again new joomla installation. With your article i just know how to save my time for installing new joomla installation on my new site.

sincerely yours,

onotemplate.com

*sorry for my bad english