In the Update Servers section, you get an overview of the update sources used by your Joomla installation.
Update Sites are an important part of Joomla's update system. They provide Joomla with information about whether a new version of an installed extension is available.
What is an Update Server?
Many Joomla extensions register an Update Site during installation. This is a source provided by the extension developer that allows Joomla to retrieve information about available versions.
This information allows Joomla, among other things, to compare the installed version of an extension with the currently available version.
Smart Update Monitor uses this information provided by Joomla for update monitoring.
Why are Update Servers important?
An extension can only be reliably checked for new versions if Joomla can retrieve the required update information.
If an Update Site is unavailable, disabled, or incorrectly configured, an existing update may not be detected.
This means: No updates being displayed does not automatically mean that all extensions are up to date.
For this reason, Smart Update Monitor monitors not only available updates but also the Update Sites used by your Joomla installation.
Checking Update Servers
In the Update Servers section, you can review the relevant update sources for your Joomla installation.
This can help identify potential problems that may prevent Joomla from retrieving current version information.
If an Update Server appears to have a problem, first check whether the associated extension is still installed and whether the developer still uses the same update source.
Possible causes of problems
An Update Server may not work as expected for various reasons:
- the extension developer's server is temporarily unavailable,
- the developer has changed the address of the Update Server,
- an extension was not completely uninstalled and left an old entry behind,
- the developer no longer provides updates for the installed version,
- a valid Download ID or active subscription is required for access,
- the Update Server provides invalid or incomplete information.
An error therefore does not necessarily indicate a problem with your Joomla installation or Smart Update Monitor.
Commercial extensions
For commercial Joomla extensions, many providers protect access to new versions using a Download ID, download key, or similar access credential.
If this information is missing or the associated subscription has expired, Joomla may still be able to detect that an update exists but may not be able to download it. Depending on the provider, access to information about the available version may also be restricted.
Language packs
Installed Joomla language packs can also use their own update information.
Smart Update Monitor takes the relevant update sources for installed languages into account so that available language pack updates can also be included in the monitoring process.
An Update Server is working again
If an Update Server was temporarily unavailable, no special action is usually required.
Run another check from the dashboard by clicking Check Now. Alternatively, you can wait for the next automatic check performed by the configured Scheduled Task.
Once Joomla can successfully retrieve the update information again, the results will be updated during the next check.
Smart Update Monitor does not replace information from extension developers
Smart Update Monitor can only evaluate information made available through Joomla's update system and the respective Update Sites.
The extension does not automatically search developers' websites for new versions and therefore cannot detect updates that are not provided through the Joomla update system.
For important or security-related extensions, you should therefore also follow the release notes and security advisories provided by the respective developer.