I am trying to update to Joomla 4 but would like to set up a testing environment.

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Anonymous
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to copy my Joomla 3 website and then update to 4. Without killing my online Joomla 3 website. Is this possible?

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anonymous
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If your account has Softaculous, you should be able to clone your Joomla site using Softaculous the same way that the article clones WordPress. I prefer cloning to a different domain name, rather than using Softaculous's staging functionality, just to keep things completely separated. Take backups beforehand and verify that the clone is using separate files and databases after you make a copy. Once you've done that, you should be able to experiment on your staging site without issue. 


If that does not work, the best method of setting this up will be to use a backup extension like Akeeba to 'restore' your site to another domain name. From what I've found in research, there is no built-in way to restore files to a differently named website, but it seems that Akeeba's Admin Tools has this functionality. I would suggest that you ask either the Akeeba developers or a Joomla discussion board in general for the best way to do this. Hope that helps!

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acupuncturetorbay
Quote from anonymous

You have a few options to prevent unauthorized access:

1. Joomla 4 Maintenance mode (Offline mode)
2. Block traffic with the IP Deny Manager
3. Block traffic with the .htaccess file
4. Use a subdomain that's very hard to guess and

Thank you, Inmotion has told me how to set up a subdomain and I didn't realise I could use Softaculous to clone, so I will do that and see how it works. Thank you.

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anonymous
Quote from acupuncturetorbay

Thank you Ronnie H. I did take a backup with Akeeba and I bought Akeeba professional as well. My problem is that I want to set up a copy of my site that only I can see, then I will update this to Joomla 4 and sort out all the extensions and template. When it is all working properly I will then put it back on to my live domain for people to see. Not sure if I can do that with a Subdomain or anything similar as I am not an expert. I did try installing XAMPP on my PC but just could not get that to work. It may be a simple answer. Thank you for your help.

You have a few options to prevent unauthorized access:

1. Joomla 4 Maintenance mode (Offline mode)
2. Block traffic with the IP Deny Manager
3. Block traffic with the .htaccess file
4. Use a subdomain that's very hard to guess and

Avatar
-1
acupuncturetorbay

Thank you Ronnie H. I did take a backup with Akeeba and I bought Akeeba professional as well. My problem is that I want to set up a copy of my site that only I can see, then I will update this to Joomla 4 and sort out all the extensions and template. When it is all working properly I will then put it back on to my live domain for people to see. Not sure if I can do that with a Subdomain or anything similar as I am not an expert. I did try installing XAMPP on my PC but just could not get that to work. It may be a simple answer. Thank you for your help.

Avatar
-1
anonymous
  • Answer
  • Answered

If your account has Softaculous, you should be able to clone your Joomla site using Softaculous the same way that the article clones WordPress. I prefer cloning to a different domain name, rather than using Softaculous's staging functionality, just to keep things completely separated. Take backups beforehand and verify that the clone is using separate files and databases after you make a copy. Once you've done that, you should be able to experiment on your staging site without issue. 


If that does not work, the best method of setting this up will be to use a backup extension like Akeeba to 'restore' your site to another domain name. From what I've found in research, there is no built-in way to restore files to a differently named website, but it seems that Akeeba's Admin Tools has this functionality. I would suggest that you ask either the Akeeba developers or a Joomla discussion board in general for the best way to do this. Hope that helps!