UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.threads Version 7/8 Support Moving to new web host

Hi,

We are moving to a new web host. I wasn't around when the forum was installed. I'm assuming I can just copy the ubbthreads folder over to the new host and copy the database over and everything should work, right?

Thanks

That's most of it. After everything is moved, you'll need to edit the config.inc.php file and alter the database info and path info in that file to what is needed for the new host.

Great. So that's all?

That's pretty much it. If you're running a 7.x version, then once everything has been moved and the config file updated you'll login and go into the control panel and clear the cache so it rebuilds everything with the new location/info.

Ok great thanks.

Hi am also planning to move... again. Moved the pre ubbthreads board 2 AND 3 years ago but don't remember how I did it. Can I find step by step instructions somewhere around here, particularly with the database? Although I successfully set mine up I really don't get what the database is and where it's located. Not sure I even have it when I do a full backup of my site because I don't know where to look. This forum's been online for 10 years now so I think its about time I figure this out

Also, I'm currently running 7.3.1. Is it preferable to upgrade to 7.5.3 before or after the move.

Need some educating- thanks.

Moving is fairly straightforward, so I can give a brief rundown on the steps.

1) Close Forum
2) Zip up entire Forum directory
3) Get a full dump of your database, through command line or phpmyadmin.
4) Transfer forum zip and database dump to new server.
5) Unzip your forum directory in the proper location on the new server
6) Import your database on the new server
7) Edit includes/config.inc.php. You'll need to edit the database settings, paths and urls throughout that file
8) Login to new forum, go into control panel and clear the cache.


The database portion may be your hardest part since you said you're unfamiliar with it. If you have SSH access to the server, then you can use mysqldump to get a dump. If you only have FTP access, then your host probably provides something like phpmyadmin where you can get a dump. Some hosts will help with this and do the dump for you.

If you get stuck on moving, we do offer a service to do this for you.

As for when to upgrade. It's really a preference thing. I normally always upgrade before moving.

Just for note, the "How Do I" forum has a sticky on how to move a forum

You'd think I would have known that. In my defense, I'm still sick and it was early

Swine flu will get you every time. Heh Heh

Thanks all. I'll have both posts in front of my when I make the move.
My host has phpMyAdmin in my control panel. Do I select the database in phpMyAdmin and then export it?

yes you can, however if you have a largish database it might time out. All depends upon the size of your forums.

Is THIS a large forum?
Hey, as I post I'm the "Featured Member"

I reckon you should be okay - all depends upon the current server.

However give it a go

I recently moved a bigger forum and got timeouts on the MySQL import.

However this outstanding utility sorted it!

(Be aware that it doesn't like extended inserts.)

I did not read all of the info in the link.
But Driv what is a extended insert?

Okay I take that back I read the note on extended inserts but I still don't get it.
How do you know you have a extended insert?

When you export via PHPMyAdmin - you can select what sort of export mechanism you want.

Extended inserts is just one option.

Oh,Okay. I see it now, it is selected by default and I never changed the setting.
I still don't get the purpose of it's function though???

I git it now. Thanks Giz.

I'm currently doing the export in phpmyadmin in another browser. Its been about an hour and I'm still getting a spinning wheel. Should it be taking this long or is there a problem?

Probably not it may have timed out.
What size is the database?
And what export options did you use?

Table: 64 table(s)
Action: Sum
Records: 74,712
Type: MyISAM
Collation: latin1_swedish_ci
Size35.7 MiB
Overhead: 71.9 KiB

I just clicked GO on the following screen:


Also, I'm on Mac OS X. I can access UNIX via Terminal but am not familiar with UNIX. How risky would this be?

Okay if you did not select the save as file box on the bottom left then it will not download it is trying to build a screen to view the backup then you would need to still copy it which would be to large for your clipboard.
When save as file is selected you will be prompted where to save the file on your desktop machine just like when you download a file anywhere else.
If still takes to long you could also select compression zipped at the bottom

Thanks, I now have a downloaded .sql file. I'll try moving everything to another host as a test and see if it works. I'll post my results either way. Thanks again for the help.

Not knowing how large your file is and your connection speed.
But I just backed up a 20MB db. It took about 90 seconds

Now I'm in the import section of phpmyadmin on another host.
I've selected the file.
I have an option for the Character set of the file

and
SQL compatibility mode

Any suggestions?

That is the same settings I use.
Which is usually the default .
If you have any issues then you will need to compare the two sites for Version difference of MYSQl and MySQL charset

Yes, you're exporting a TON of data, through a web script... It can take forever, and it will likely time out if the stream goes past a certain timeframe (or file size); hence why my backup recommendations (in the admin help forum) say to use SSH to backup data (plus it'd only take a few minutes)

When importing you can run into the same hurtles; but with the options presented for an import, the defaults should work fine.

Well I let the phpMyadmin upload go all night and no success. I'm giving up on that.

Sorry Gizmo I'm sure your backup recommendations are the way to go but I have no clue on how to even attempt it. Guess I'll try BigDump next when I have time but its back to work this morning-thanks.

BigDump error from ftp upload:
Stopped at the line 385.
At this place the current query includes more than 300 dump lines. That can happen if your dump file was created by some tool which doesn't place a semicolon followed by a linebreak at the end of each query, or if your dump contains extended inserts. Please read the BigDump FAQs for more infos.
NOTE: FAQs were of no help to me.

BigDump error from desktop upload:
[18-May-2009 11:27:43] PHP Warning: POST Content-Length of 23702218 bytes exceeds the limit of 8388608 bytes in Unknown on line 0

Status:
1. DB is too large (22.6 mb) for phpmyadmin to import (export worked.)
2. BigDump is giving me errors.
3. Typing commands is too scary for me.

Any other suggestions or is my forum trapped on its current web host!
Thanks

If you are going to shy away for ssh then you still have a couple of options which is more steps.
But first remember what was said about extended inserts. You had that option selected when you exported so you would need to export another file and turn off that setting. That may be why bigdump failed.

First option try another export using zip at the bottom. When you import it select the zip file to import do not extract it on your desktop. it will be a much smaller file but the server will pause for a few moments while it is extracting the zip

Other option is when you export the DB break it up into a few download files by selecting a few tables at a time. The big tables will be the posts.

Then import each backup file one at a time.

Or the really slow way is to make a backup from the UBB control panel. It will make a backup file for each of the 65 tables. Then you would need to import 65 times. Once per file.

Whatever option you try make sure your new database is empty, no tables or data because you may have some corrupted tables due to the import failure.

All I can say is on my server I have a limit set to 50mb for importing with phpadmin. Your 30MB DB would take probably 4 or 5 minutes to export or import on my server but I also have a fairly fast upload speed on my ISP service.

WORKED!
Extended inserts off and bigdump worked for me on my test site.
Now that I feel I can reproduce what i just did, I'll go ahead and arrange forthe new host. Thanks so much for your patience Ruben, I'm making a pdf of this post and keeping it in the folder I have for this move.

It is a hair pulling experience the first time for everyone. But once you do it a couple of times it is really simple when you think about it.
But I am glad one of the methods worked for you.
At least now you know how to backup a DB. And it really is more important than backing up the forum software. Because without the DB there is noting to see. If you have the original zip file you can restore the forum but you still need the database.

Yes, It's always good to learn something especially when you're working for free!
Thanks again-
Maria