We are currently still building up the English documentation; not all sections have been translated yet. Please note that there may still be German screenshots or links to German pages even on pages that have already been translated. This guide mostly addresses English speaking users in Germany.
Restoring JTL-Shop database backups
Your task/initial situation
Option 1: Backup is up to date
- Now proceed as described under Restoring a backup.
Option 2: Backup is not up to date
If the backup is not up to date, additional steps are necessary. A backup is considered out of date if:
Changes in the back end
If you have made changes in the back end of JTL-Shop after the backup, proceed as follows:
- Make all changes that have been made since the time of the backup again after importing the backup.
- Depending on the changes made, check whether further individual measures are required. If you made changes to standard features of JTL-Shop, you are welcome to ask us for help via ticket in the JTL-Customer Centre. For additional features (e.g. plug-ins), please contact the respective developer.
Synchronisation with JTL-Wawi after the backup
Every change in JTL-Wawi and JTL-Shop that is relevant for the other system is automatically reconciled during synchronisation. Once this change has been transmitted, the respective system assumes that the other system knows of the change. If a backup is imported into JTL-Shop that is missing a change that was transmitted via synchronisation, neither JTL-Wawi nor JTL-Wawi can know this.
- All changes to the item master data that have been synchronised after the backup will no longer be available in JTL-Shop after the backup has been restored (the databases are asynchronous).
It is therefore possible that items, categories, characteristics, etc. will no longer be up to date. There are two ways to remedy this:
Option 1 (not recommended, usually only an option for recent backups): You know exactly what has been changed and is not up to date. Trigger the synchronisation again manually for these objects.
Option 2 (recommended): Transfer the relevant data to JTL-Shop again using the complete synchronisation.
You can, for example, determine that no categories are sent. This is useful when you know that no categories were changed since the backup but are not sure whether changes were made to items or stock levels. You could trigger a synchronisation for everything but categories or for items and nothing else.
In most cases, a complete synchronisation will be more appropriate since it also covers data that has been deleted in JTL-Shop. If, for example, you deleted items after the backup was created, then these items will also be back in JTL-Shop again after the backup has been imported.
If you know which items you deleted and the inactive items still exist in JTL-Wawi, you can reactivate the items. Afterwards, carry out a complete synchronisation and then deactivate the items again to delete them in JTL-Shop.
If the deleted elements no longer exist in JTL-Wawi, it is not possible to delete or deactivate them again in JTL-Shop.
In that case, you need to delete all item data in JTL-Shop before the complete synchronisation.
Learn how to do this in the following description.
- Changes made to customer data and/or settings such as the payment and shipping status will no longer be available after the restoring the backup. Unfortunately, there is no automated solution. You need to manually update the data.
Customer data: If you know which customer data has been changed, you can click on In allen Onlineshops aktualisieren (Update in all online shops) again in JTL-Wawi (see Updating data in online shops) or switch the customer groups back and forth in order to update them and possibly send credit again (see Increasing the online shop credit of a customer).
Order data: If you know which orders have been changed, you can use the option Bestellung im Webshop aktualisieren (Update order in online shop).
Maintenance mode was not active after backup
In this case, it is possible that there were new customer accounts and/or orders in JTL-Shop that still exist in JTL-Wawi but are no longer present in JTL-Shop. Unfortunately, it is not possible to send orders from JTL-Wawi back to JTL-Shop again.
Take the following steps if JTL-Shop was no longer in maintenance mode after the backup:
- Put JTL-Shop into maintenance mode. Under no circumstances must customers become active in the online shop before the following steps have been carried out!
Order IDs
The order IDs of JTL-Shop are no longer up to date. In JTL-Wawi, check the most recent order from this online shop for its External sales order ID (the shop order ID) and compare it to the most current order ID in JTL-Shop under Orders. The missing IDs (i.e. the missing orders) in between must
This ensures that the next order number assigned is consecutive to the last one in JTL-Wawi.
Internal counters
There are internal counters (database table keys) which are also not up to date and would create a conflict when transferring new orders/customer accounts to JTL-Wawi. It would also be possible for customer accounts of different customers to become mixed up.
These internal counters are automatically updated during the synchronisation. This means that ff you have carried out all other necessary steps, the first synchronisation will increase these internal keys in JTL-Shop accordingly. It is therefore important that at least one synchronisation is carried out before you deactivate the maintenance mode and customers register and/or order.
Restoring backups
Otherwise, after importing the older shop database, you will be prompted in the back end to carry out an update to the new database even though its is already the right version. If you carry out the migrations, you end up with a newer database version that does not match the shop files.
As a rule, you should leave the import of backups to a system administrator or your hosting provider. Should you nevertheless (have to) import a backup yourself, we will briefly explain your options via phpMyAdmin here.
We will not go into detail about phpMyAdmin itself in the description. When in doubt, consult an expert or access training materials available online.
- Open phpMyAdmin and in the Databases section, select the database for which you want to import a backup.
- Switch to the Import tab.
- When importing via phpMyAdmin, there is not too much to consider. Click on Browse and select the file to be imported from your local hard drive.
- Keep the default selections for all other settings and click OK.
Troubleshooting
Orders cannot be sent
Sometimes it can happen that orders are not correctly transferred after the backup has been imported and are stuck in JTL-Wawi under Onlineshop > Bestellungen (Online shop > Orders). The respective error message reads something like:
- Check whether the orders are old or new.
Old orders: Orders with the same customers, line items and order IDs already exist in JTL-Wawi as sales orders.
Solution before JTL-Wawi 1.3: Do not delete these orders under Onlineshop > Bestellungen (Online shop > Orders). This would also delete them in JTL-Shop.
Deleting these twice-sent orders is only possible directly via the JTL-Wawi database. Please contact the JTL-Wawi Support team by opening a ticket.
Solution as of JTL-Wawi 1.3: Select the affected orders and click on the Löschen nur in JTL-Wawi (Delete only in JTL-Wawi) button. The orders are now only removed from JTL-Wawi.
New orders: These are orders with other customers, line items and the same or different order IDs.
Do not delete these orders under Onlineshop > Bestellungen (Online shop > Orders). This would also delete them in JTL-Shop. Since they are not saved in JTL-Wawi, they would be gone completely.
The correct transfer of these orders is only possible after direct intervention in the databases of JTL-Shop and JTL-Wawi. Please contact the JTL-Shop Support team by opening a ticket.
Special requirements for JTL-Shop when a backup is imported into JTL-Wawi
For various reasons it may be necessary to restore a backup of JTL-Wawi.
Basically, there are two possible scenarios. Either the backup is up to date or not up to date.
Backup is up to date
If the backup is up to date, nothing further needs to be considered with regard to JTL-Shop.
Backup is not up to date
If the backup is not up to date, additional steps are necessary. In relation to JTL-Shop, a backup of JTL-Wawi is not considered up to date if JTL-Wawi has been synchronised with JTL-Shop after the backup was created.
Please note the following:
Orders: Orders are the most critical factor in that case. In JTL-Wawi, check the most recent order from this shop for its External sales order ID (the shop order ID) and compare it to the most current order ID under Orders in JTL-Shop. All orders that are missing in JTL-Wawi can be selected here via the check box and then pencilled in for the next synchronisation. This allows you to get the orders back into JTL-Wawi.
Item master data: If the backup is not up to date, this means that the item master data in JTL-Shop is newer than in JTL-Wawi. However, the data is also asynchronous and JTL-Wawi is in charge. This means that the old data (e.g. item stocks and prices) will overwrite the more current data as soon as it is transferred to the shop. There is only one thing you can do about it: update the data in JTL-Wawi again.