Health Checks Reference

This page provides a complete reference of all health checks included in Health Checker for Joomla. Each check is designed to identify potential issues with your Joomla installation across eight categories.

Status Indicators

• 🟢 Good - Everything is optimal, no action needed
• 🟡 Warning - Should be addressed, but site still functions
• 🔴 Critical - Immediate action required, site may be broken or compromised

Categories

• Content Quality (11 checks)
• Database (18 checks)
• Extensions (14 checks)
• Performance (10 checks)
• Security (21 checks)
• SEO (12 checks)
• System & Hosting (34 checks)
• Users (12 checks)

Note: The core plugin provides 129 checks across these 8 categories. Additional plugins may add more checks.

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Content Quality

Checks for content organization, quality, and accessibility issues.

Check Name	🟢 Good	🟡 Warning	🔴 Critical
Archived Content	No archived articles or small count	-	-
Category Depth	Categories nested ≤5 levels	Categories nested >5 levels	-
Draft Articles	≤20 draft articles	>20 draft articles	-
Empty Articles	≤5 articles with minimal content	>5 published articles with <50 chars content	-
Expired Content	No expired content still published	Published articles past expiry date	-
Menu Orphans	All menu items link to existing content	-	Menu items link to non-existent articles (404s)
Orphaned Articles	≤10 articles not in menus	>10 published articles not linked from menus	-
Scheduled Content	Report of future-scheduled articles	-	-
Trashed Content	≤50 articles in trash	>50 articles in trash	-
Uncategorized Content	≤10 articles in "Uncategorized"	>10 articles in "Uncategorized" category	-
Unpublished Category Articles	All published articles in published categories	Published articles in unpublished categories	-

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Database

Checks for database health, configuration, performance, and integrity.

Check Name	🟢 Good	🟡 Warning	🔴 Critical
Auto-Increment Values	All values have sufficient headroom	Auto-increment >80% of INT max	Database not available
Backup Age	Backup within last 7 days	Backup 7-30 days old OR Akeeba not installed	No backup in 30+ days OR never backed up
Connection	Database connected and responding	-	Connection failed (credentials, server down, etc.)
Connection Charset	Using utf8mb4	Using utf8/utf8mb3 or non-UTF8	Database not available
Index Usage	All tables have primary keys & indexes	Tables missing primary key OR no indexes	Database not available
Max Packet Size	max_allowed_packet ≥16MB	Between 1MB-16MB	<1MB
Orphaned Tables	Report of tables with Joomla prefix	-	Database not available
Server Version	MySQL 8.0.13+ OR MariaDB 10.4.0+	Below recommended version	Database not available
Database Size	<1GB	1-5GB (monitor growth)	>5GB
Slow Query Log	Enabled with threshold shown	Disabled	-
SQL Mode	No problematic modes	ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY enabled	Database not available
Table Charset	All tables using utf8mb4	Non-utf8mb4 tables exist	Database not available
Table Engine	All tables using InnoDB	Non-InnoDB tables (e.g., MyISAM)	Database not available
Table Prefix	3+ character prefix (not "jos_")	Default "jos_" OR ❤️ chars	-
Table Status	All tables healthy	-	Tables corrupted (NULL engine)
Transaction Isolation	REPEATABLE-READ or READ-COMMITTED	READ-UNCOMMITTED OR SERIALIZABLE	Database not available
User Privileges	Has all required privileges	Missing required privileges	Database not available
Wait Timeout	Between 30 seconds - 8 hours	<30s OR >8h	Database not available

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Extensions

Checks for extension updates, compatibility, and configuration issues.

Check Name	🟢 Good	🟡 Warning	🔴 Critical
Cache Plugin	System cache plugin enabled	Cache plugin disabled	-
Disabled Extensions	No unexpectedly disabled extensions	Extensions disabled that should be enabled	-
Joomla Core Version	Running latest stable version	Update available	Running unsupported/EOL version
Language Packs	All language packs up to date	Language pack updates available	-
Missing Updates	All extensions up to date	Extension updates available	Critical security updates available
Module Positions	All published modules in valid positions	Modules in undefined/missing template positions	-
Overrides	No outdated template overrides	Template overrides outdated compared to core	-
Plugin Order	Critical plugins in correct load order	Plugins may have suboptimal load order	-
Search Plugins	Search plugins enabled	No search plugins enabled	-
Template	Using supported, up-to-date template	Template updates available	Template incompatible with Joomla
Unused Modules	No unpublished modules detected	Many unpublished modules consuming resources	-
Update Channel	Stable channel configured	Non-stable channel (next/custom)	-
Update Minimum Stability	Minimum stability set to Stable	Minimum stability below Stable (Dev/Alpha/Beta/RC)	-
Update Sites	All update sources accessible	Some update sites unreachable	Critical update sites failing

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Performance

Checks for caching, compression, and optimization settings.

Check Name	🟢 Good	🟡 Warning	🔴 Critical
Browser Caching	Browser caching headers configured	No browser caching headers	-
Database Query Cache	Query caching enabled	Query caching disabled	-
Gzip Compression	Gzip compression enabled	Gzip disabled	-
Image Optimization	Images optimized for web	Large unoptimized images detected	-
Lazy Loading	Lazy loading enabled for images	Lazy loading disabled	-
Media Manager Thumbnails	Thumbnail generation enabled	Thumbnail generation disabled	-
Page Cache	Page caching enabled	Page caching disabled (consider enabling)	-
Redirects	No excessive redirect chains	Multiple redirect chains detected	-
Smart Search Index	Smart Search index up to date	Index outdated	Smart Search broken/not configured
System Cache	System cache enabled	System cache disabled	-

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Security

Checks for security vulnerabilities, configuration issues, and attack vectors.

Check Name	🟢 Good	🟡 Warning	🔴 Critical
Action Logs Enabled	Action logs enabled & recording	Action logs disabled	-
Admin Username	No "admin" or "administrator" accounts	Super admin using common username	-
API Authentication	API tokens properly configured	API authentication weak/missing	API publicly accessible without auth
configuration.php Permissions	File permissions 444 (read-only)	File writable (644/666)	File publicly writable (777)
Content Security Policy	CSP headers configured	No CSP headers	-
CORS Configuration	CORS properly restricted	CORS allows all origins (*)	-
Index File	No placeholder index files in site root	Placeholder files found (index.html, etc.)	-
Debug Mode	Debug disabled	Debug enabled (exposes sensitive info)	-
Default Secret	Unique secret configured	Using default/weak secret	-
Error Reporting	Error reporting disabled for public	PHP errors displayed to visitors	-
Force SSL	SSL required for admin & site	SSL not enforced	Site accessible without HTTPS
.htaccess Protection	.htaccess protecting sensitive folders	Missing .htaccess protections	Sensitive folders publicly accessible
HTTPS Redirect	All HTTP redirects to HTTPS	Mixed HTTP/HTTPS	No HTTPS redirect
Mail Security	Secure mail configuration (SMTP/TLS)	Using PHP mail() function	Mail credentials in plain text
Password Policy	Strong password policy enforced	Weak password requirements	No password policy
Privacy Dashboard	Privacy tools configured	Privacy features disabled	-
reCAPTCHA	reCAPTCHA enabled on forms	No CAPTCHA protection	-
Session Handler	Using database/Redis for sessions	Using file-based sessions	Session files world-readable
Session Lifetime	Session timeout 15-60 minutes	Timeout <15min OR >60min	Sessions never expire
Two-Factor Auth	2FA required for admin accounts	2FA optional/disabled	No 2FA configured
User Actions Log	User activity logging enabled	User Actions Log plugin disabled	-
X-Frame-Options (Deprecated)	Clickjacking protection enabled	No X-Frame-Options header (consider CSP frame-ancestors instead)	-

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SEO

Checks for search engine optimization and discoverability.

Check Name	🟢 Good	🟡 Warning	🔴 Critical
Alt Text	All images have alt attributes	>10% of images missing alt text	-
Broken Links	No broken internal links	Broken internal links detected	Many broken links (>50)
Canonical URLs	Canonical URLs configured	Duplicate content without canonicals	-
Facebook Open Graph	Essential OG tags present (og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url)	Missing Facebook Open Graph tags	-
Meta Keywords	Not using deprecated meta keywords tag	Using meta keywords (ignored by search engines)	-
Open Graph Plugin	Open Graph plugin installed & enabled	No Open Graph plugin detected	-
robots.txt	robots.txt exists and properly configured	robots.txt missing or blocking important content	robots.txt blocks all crawlers
SEF URLs	Search engine friendly URLs enabled	SEF URLs disabled	-
Site Meta Description	Global meta description configured	Missing global meta description	-
Sitemap	XML sitemap exists and accessible	Sitemap missing or outdated	Sitemap contains errors
Structured Data	Schema.org markup present	No structured data markup	-
X/Twitter Cards	Twitter Card meta tags present (or OG fallbacks)	Missing Twitter Card tags	-

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System & Hosting

Checks for server configuration, PHP settings, and required extensions.

Check Name	🟢 Good	🟡 Warning	🔴 Critical
Apache Modules	Required modules loaded	Optional modules missing	Required modules missing
Core Directories	All 14 core directories present	-	Core directories missing (lists which)
cURL Extension	cURL installed and working	cURL missing (some features unavailable)	-
Disk Space	>5GB free space	1-5GB free	<1GB free space
DOM Extension	DOM extension installed	-	DOM extension missing
EXIF Extension	EXIF installed	EXIF missing (image metadata unavailable)	-
Failed Tasks	No failed scheduled tasks	Some tasks failing	Critical tasks failing repeatedly
FileInfo Extension	FileInfo installed	-	FileInfo missing
GD or Imagick	Image library installed	-	No image library available
Intl Extension	Intl extension installed	Intl missing (i18n issues)	-
JSON Extension	JSON installed	-	JSON extension missing
Log File Size	Log directory ≤100MB	Log directory 100-500MB	Log directory >500MB
Mail Function	PHP mail() function working	mail() not available	-
max_execution_time	≥60 seconds	30-60 seconds	<30 seconds
max_input_time	≥60 seconds	30-60 seconds	<30 seconds
max_input_vars	≥2500	1000-2500	<1000
Mbstring Extension	Mbstring installed	-	Mbstring missing
memory_limit	≥256MB	128-256MB	<128MB
OPcache	OPcache enabled and configured	OPcache disabled	-
OpenSSL Extension	OpenSSL installed	-	OpenSSL missing
Output Buffering	Output buffering properly configured	Problematic buffer settings	-
Overdue Tasks	No overdue scheduled tasks	Tasks overdue by <24h	Tasks overdue by >24h
PDO MySQL	PDO MySQL extension installed	-	PDO MySQL missing
PHP End-of-Life	PHP under active support	PHP in security-only support or nearing EOL	PHP past end-of-life date
PHP SAPI	Running under recommended SAPI	Using CGI/FastCGI	Using deprecated SAPI
PHP Version	PHP 8.2+	PHP 8.1 (below recommended)	PHP <8.1 (unsupported)
post_max_size	≥64MB	8-64MB	<8MB
Realpath Cache	Adequate realpath cache	Cache too small	-
Server Time	Server time matches expected timezone	Time offset detected	Major time difference (>1 hour)
Session Save Path	Session save path writable	Session path not writable	-
SimpleXML Extension	SimpleXML installed	-	SimpleXML missing
Temp Directory	Temp directory writable	Temp directory issues	Temp directory not writable
upload_max_filesize	≥64MB	2-64MB	<2MB
ZIP Extension	ZIP extension installed	-	ZIP extension missing

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Users

Checks for user account security and configuration.

Check Name	🟢 Good	🟡 Warning	🔴 Critical
Admin Email	Unique email for each admin	Multiple admins sharing email	-
Blocked Users	No unexpectedly blocked users	>10 blocked user accounts	-
Default User Group	Appropriate default registration group	Default group has elevated permissions	Default group is Super Admin
Duplicate Emails	All users have unique emails	Multiple users sharing email addresses	-
Inactive Users	<10% users inactive >1 year	>10% users inactive >1 year	-
Last Login	Admin accounts logged in recently	Admin accounts inactive >90 days	Admin accounts never used
Password Expiry	Password expiry policy enforced	No password expiration	Passwords never expire
Super Admin Count	2-5 super admin accounts	1 super admin OR >5 super admins	-
User Fields	Custom user fields configured properly	Issues with custom fields	-
User Groups	User groups properly configured	Unusual group permissions	Public group has admin access
User Notes	User notes used appropriately	-	-
User Registration	Registration settings appropriate	Registration open without controls	-

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Need More Checks?

Health Checker for Joomla is extensible! Developers can add custom health checks through the plugin API.

• Extension Developers: Add checks specific to your extension
• Third-party Integrations: Monitor external services (Akeeba Backup, Admin Tools, etc.)
• Custom Requirements: Build checks for your organization's specific needs

Learn how to create custom health checks →

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Running Health Checks

To run all health checks:

1. Navigate to Components → Health Checker
2. Click Run Health Check in the toolbar
3. Review results organized by category and status
4. Take action on Critical and Warning items

Learn more about running health checks →