The Joomla! Extensions Directory ™

This is just the best way to backup your joomla site. We run it with the remote control Windows application. Everynight, the Windows app triggers a backup on our sites and downloads the backup files to our local network. To restore a backup, all I have to do is upload the files and the kickstart script to my hosting account and run it. The script changes path information and prompts for database information to get me back up and running. Plus all the files and folders retain their correct permissions. And this is all in the free version!

We upgraded to the professional version because you can include databases and folders/files outside of Joomla as part of the backup. Plus you have more options for excluding items from the backup.

Akeeba just works. Its the best way to backup/restore or move/copy your Joomla site.

I have been very impressed with this component and its support. The support team understand the nature of Joomla and trying to integrate third party components to all work nicely together. Where I have had conflicts, they have been willing to work on my system and help me fix them. This is way above the level of service I expected.

I like the fact that Juga is not a hack. If you get it all terribly wrong and lock yourself out, there is a way to put things right.

In order to get the best out of the product, you will have to take time to understand how Juga works. To begin, Juga is about taking a standard Joomla user group and restricting its permissions, not granting them. If you want a user to only edit one article, you must make them a Joomla Editor but then restrict editing rights to all but that one article.

Second, Juga works on URL strings that they call Site Items. In the example above, you would find the editing URL for the article (on the front and/or admin side) and give permissions to the Juga group your user was a member of. Since their group would not be assigned to edit any other articles, they would not have any access.

I have found the component very useful when it comes to creating multiple secure areas on a single site. Each secure area is for a separate audience, with separate content for each and never the twain should meet. I found that Joomla's broad usergroups does not support this approach. One registered user area is the same as another. With Juga and its dynamic menu module and a module to hide other modules, depending on user group, I have solved this problem.

All in all, a very good component that was worth paying for.