please explain backup and restore

All

I am new to Opencart but i had a fundamental assumption about this functionality...
I selected all tables and did a backup on a production site built for me
i had installed the exact same version of opencart 2.0.1.1 on a test site and did a restore from the file i backed up

there were many things missing and i need someone to explain why the backup is missing these

the theme is not restored
all products are missing
all images are missing..
in fact virtually everything is missing... except product groups and store name

if these do not backup everything, why have them there?
more to the point... how do i clone or backup the production site please

thanks

george

Well, if you did a backup by the Admin Database Backup/Restore Function, you only backed
up the DATA Content of the DB Tables, but not the DB Tables themselfs. But you sure did
not back up your Theme, or anything else, belonging to the OC Software.
But if you want to BACK UP an entire DB, including it's Tables, to eventually re-use this
Data in another Shop Setup, where a Theme, an empty DB, and Images are already part of it,
you'll need to do this by Use of the SERVER MyAdmin Tools.
Ernie

thanks very much... i had not realized...

btw i am the original poster but had to create another account because my originalaccount couldn't reply.

anyway,,,, i assume that if i use ftp on the original store and copy all the structure from the root of the store i can simply ftp this to another domain and it will appear exactly the same???

let me know please or please advise how i setup the ftp files else where

thanks

george

yes, you may use the FTP way of doing this, but depending on the Hoster, you
could also copy/paste the entire Shop Directory within the Server ADMIN Console,
if you have multiple sites on the same Hosting account. But then, you have to download
and change the both config.php files as well as the .htaccess file content, to match
the new http-links, Paths and directories, after moving the Software, to make it work again.
Ernie

No.. I have asked my client to obtain ftp credentials from the original developer.. He has paid all his charges but has little confidence in them.. It's slightly more complicated because he has asked me to setup a new domain... So I am hoping an ftp download and restore and tweak if settings for domain will do the trick...

I can understand how to extract all the directories and subdirectories but what about the database?? Im sure the original developer will not provide me with a database backup...

so I still need to understand the exact steps I need.
Should I create a new empty database then install a copy of the same version of Opencart, then take a backup of the original site and restore to new site and then copy the old site ftp diectories to the new site???

I could really do with some precise instructions please

thanks

george

Use ftp to get all the files. I wouldn't bother getting the image cache folder contents though as that can be recreated later. Just make sure you have the cache folder but not it's contents.

set-up new domain on new hosting

if they wont give you access to the old database e.g. access to the hosting control panel, grab something like phpmyadmin and upload it via ftp. you will get the database details from the config.php file.

You should then be able to do a full database export including all tables and data

You can then import that to a fresh new database on your new hosting.

Finally, edit the config.php and admin/config.php and update the details for the new domain, server paths and database details.

Also check the .htaccess file incase there are any old domain references in there which you may need to update to the new domain.

perfect...

thank you VERY MUCH!!!