Size of Site

[AHTaylor1968]

Joomla: 2.5.24
php:5.4.31
VM: 2.6.10

I am just about finishing my site which is currently located on the server but in a sub-directory (test). I have been backing up via FTP (transferring the "test" folder which contains my site onto my external drive.

However, after reading lots of posts I realised this is not really the way to do a backup. Installed Akeeba and ran first backup. The backup was halted with the following message:

Couldnt write to the archive file; check the output directory permissions and make sure you have enough disk space available.


I presumed from this that either I did not have the "permission" to archive onto the server or there was not enough space.

I did try the backup about 3 times and then I got this message yesterday which then meant I could not access the site at all!

Bandwith exceeded

Contacted Host provider who has said that they can see 3 partial duplications of my site (i tried the backup three times) on their server which has taken up too much room and that is why I have the bandwith message. Was told my site is enormous! So deleted the backups via backend which I hope has removed them from the server? But my problem is why is my site so big? How do I find out what is taking up so much space? It is a Gallery so I have about 50/60 products images - I am using Virtuemart to display my shop and have used images of 60px by 60px so I would not have thought that was too big.

I have looked at the "test" folder via FTP and this shows the "test" folder is 653260 bytes (637kb).   Is this the whole site are am I missing another part somewhere?  And is this "massive" for what I would consider a small site?

Any comments or possible routes of enquiry I can take would be greatly appreciated.

[jjk]

My Akeeba backup file (.jpa) is approximately 130000kb (130mb) and holds approximately 700 products with 1600 images. But that's actually still a pretty small shop.
When you use Akeeba backup, make shure that you configure it to exclude the backup folder. Otherwise it includes older backups. Also check if the backup also includes your life site and or other subfolders.

[AHTaylor1968]

 Thank you!

The information you have given confirms that my site is tiny!  I only have 60 products with an image for each plus the images for the site etc.

I will have another look at the configuration of akeeba to check etc.  Im still really baffled as to why my host is saying the site is enormous though.  When I look at the test folder which holds by current development site it shows it is 663640 bytes but I presume this is not the whole of my site - is there another part?  Will the DB be held within this folder is that held somewhere else.  How can I locate the database and check its size - I only have access to the server via ftp.  do I need cpanel or phpmyadmin access to check my database?

Thanks

[jjk]

I think you are counting your website size wrong. A fresh installation of Joomla with VirtueMart and Akeeba backup (without added content) will be somewhere between 27mb and 30mb, depending on the installed program versions. If you want to check your database, you definitely need cpanel or Plesk (there are other administration panels, too)  AND phpmyadmin access. But that's standard with every usable webhosting package. With the number of products mentionend in my first reply, my database is approximately 30 mb on the server (almost half ot that if I export it and save it on my own PC - because  the database overhead is stripped upon export).

[PRO]

did you set the folder for the output directory?

[AHTaylor1968]

Thanks for the replies.

My host did not give me cpanel or phpmyadmin as standard - I was just given the server login details so I could access through FTP. 

My host has now increased my space on the server (although I was under the impression I had "loads of space" anyway!

I am going to run akeeba again - do you have to set the output directory to the server or can I run the backup directly onto my computer?  Or is it better to backup to server and then just download file to computer for added backup!

Thanks again for your help.

[jjk]

My host did not give me cpanel or phpmyadmin as standard

I would recommend to use a hosting package which does give you access to cpanel and phpmyadmin. In practice you will occationally need that for maintenance and for database backups. Having access to the database tables may also be necessary in case you have to restore the database (for example if your site gets hacked).

By default Akeeba stores the backup at: your-root-folder/administrator/components/com_akeeba/backup as a *.jpa file. You can download it from there to your own PC via ftp. I would also recommend to install xampp (https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html) on your PC. It allows you to keep a working copy of your live site on your own PC.

[AHTaylor1968]

Thanks JJk!

I have been on to host and they have given me the login details for cpanel.  Not sure why they did not give this initially!

Which do you consider the best option?  The xampp option so I have a copy of site on local machine or having a duplicate copy of the website on the server to use for development work.  Im unsure which route to take.

Thanks

[jjk]

Personally I prefer to have a copy of my live website on my own PC (Two different locations are safer than one). Last year my hoster's server hard disk slowly died and because it it died slowly, the hard disk errors were also copied to the backup hard disk. So I was glad to have a copy on my PC. A few other website owners who did rely on the server backups had rebuild their site from scratch again. Also, on your own PC, you have a more options for testing and experimenting.