Database Backups

You can reach this page from the Administration menu, Database Backups.

Akeeba Panopticon stores all of its configuration — your sites, their settings, task schedules, user accounts, and everything else — in its database. The Database Backups page lets you manage backup copies of that database, so you can recover your Panopticon configuration if something goes wrong.

These are backups of Panopticon itself, not of the sites you manage. They are SQL dump files that can be imported into a fresh Panopticon installation to restore your configuration.

ℹ️ For backing up the sites you manage with Panopticon, see Backup Management.

Automatic backups

Panopticon can automatically take a daily backup of its database. Automatic backups are enabled and configured in System Configuration, under the Database Backup section:

• Automatic Database Backups: Enables or disables the daily automatic backup. Enabled by default.
• Compress Database Backups: When enabled, backup files are compressed with Gzip to save disk space. Compressed files have a .sql.gz extension. Enabled by default.
• Maximum Number Of Database Backups: How many backup files to keep. Older files are automatically deleted once this limit is reached. The default is 15.

Automatic backups run as a system task and are stored in the cache/db_backups/ directory under your Panopticon installation.

Taking a manual backup

Click the Take Backup button at the top of the page to start a manual database backup immediately. Manual backups are stored in the same cache/db_backups/ directory as automatic backups and are subject to the same maximum file count limit configured in System Configuration.

Alternatively, you can trigger a database backup from the CLI:

php cli/panopticon.php database:backup

Managing backup files

The page displays a table of all existing database backup files. Each row shows:

• Filename: The name of the backup file. Compressed files are indicated with an archive icon; plain SQL files with a code file icon.
• Created On: The date and time the backup was taken.
• Size: The size of the backup file on disk.
• Actions: Buttons to download or delete the backup file.

Download: Click the download button to save the backup file to your computer.

Delete: Click the delete button to permanently remove the backup file from the server.

Restoring a backup

To restore a database backup:

1. Set up a fresh Panopticon installation with the same database table prefix as the original.
2. Import the SQL backup file into the empty database using a tool such as phpMyAdmin, MySQL Workbench, or the MySQL command-line client.

⚠️ Importing the SQL file will overwrite any existing data in the tables. Always make sure you are importing into the correct database and that you have a recent backup before proceeding.