THE IMPORTANCE OF SYSTEMATIC BACKUP COPYING OF WEBSITES AND LOCAL SERVER ENVIRONMENTS USING JOOMLA, XAMPP AND AKEEBA BACKUP AS EXAMPLES

Abstract

The article substantiates the importance of systematic website backups on the CMS Joomla and the local XAMPP server environment as a key element in the secure local development of educational web projects. The high probability of data loss causes the problem due to technical failures (storage failure, MySQL errors such as “Error: MySQL shutdown unexpectedly”), software conflicts (faulty updates), and organisational risks (human factor), which are particularly critical in the educational context of semester web projects. An analysis of current publications has revealed a lack of comprehensive recommendations for integrating backup into educational process. Practical recommendations have been developed for creating, storing, and restoring backups using the Akeeba Backup component and archiving the XAMPP folder. The study is structured around five tasks: risk analysis and prevention during local development; backing up a Joomla website using Akeeba Backup; backing up the local XAMPP server environment; creating scenarios for restoring a web project from backup copies; and determining the educational effect. The paper proposes an approach based on two-level backup: at the website level (CMS Joomla, full website backups), and at the local server level (archiving XAMPP environment with the website). Typical recovery scenarios are systematised: within the existing/new XAMPP, complete recovery of the local server environment, and deployment of the XAMPP archive received from a third party. It is noted that the implementation of a two-level backup approach into the structure of academic disciplines will help minimise the risks of data loss, reduce the time required to restore web projects, develop the professional competencies of future web development specialists using CMS Joomla, and foster a responsible attitude towards organising a secure web project lifecycle. The material in this article is used to teach educational components on the use of CMS and local server environments during the development of educational web projects in the form of websites