UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.classic UBB.classic 6 Support Import one UBB.c into another

I'm currently running two seperate boards (UBB.c v6.7.1) and want to combine them. Here are my questions/concerns:

1 - Can it be done?
2 - If so, what is the result? This is the big one. What happens to duplicate forums, members, etc.? Are they lost, overwritten?

I once did this, and it went quite well.

1. Well, yeah <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

2. Forums are added (ie, if the goal forum has 20 forums, the imported forums start at 21)
I don't know about members though, as I don't think I had any duplicate accounts

If I can locate it (it's somewhere) I am planning on importing my old board to my new one; but that depends on if I can find the backup lol...

For duplicate login names, the existing login name will inherit all posts that belong to the imported user. This could create problems for very common names...

Thanks everyone. Now that I'm in this it appears that I need a YAML file on the importing server in order to make this happen.

I'm having a hard time finding these files that I can use to import from one UBB.c to another.

Any help?

EDIT:

Okay, I think I found the YAML file I need at http://www.infopop.com/yaml/classic.yaml.

Yes, that's the one. Just put it in the importexport directory with the .txt files created by the export of the other board.

Thanks Charles. My import has been running now for almost 5 hours. Does the importing board need to stay closed during the import process, or is it possible to open it back up prior to completion?

EDIT:

Now were going on 12 HOURS!!! Is this normal? The board being imported had 60 forums, 200,000 topics and 1100 members.

Yikes! 16 hours now. Is there any way to see how much is left to process?

Does the importing board need to stay closed during the import process

Only if you want it to go faster.

200,000 topics?

Depends largely on how much memory you have and how fast your discs can write all those files out.

Well, at 18 hours now I want this thing to crank as fast as possible.

Sorry, that would be 200,000 posts, not topics.

I may have to bite the bullet and open them back up. Our users have now been without their community for a day and they are getting a bit testy. Do you know if it will cause any problems with the import if the board is open, or will it just slow it down?

The board will automatically close if you try to open it. It must remain closed through the entire process, as opening it could cause data loss.

FTR, under the best conditions, importing that much data takes only around two to four hours. Your server must be quite loaded for this much of a delay.

I apologize for the lack of any indication of progress on the import screens, that's yet another bug. You're the first person that I know of that's actually used the importer in Classic at all, to be completely truthful. <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Loaded in what way? I have 50% of my disc space available and I began this late last night when there was little traffic on our site.

My fear is that is has somehow hung up and I have no way to know.

Should I be able to see its progress on the server? Should I see the forums added, members added, etc.? Right now if I FTP into the nonCGI directory no forums have been added. In the Members directory no members have been added. Is this normal?

what does the page in the CP say?

We are now extracting data from the dumped files.

Currently processing: Message Data.

» Continuing...

And it's been refreshing every minute or so since the import started.

that's not good, that means you haven't even started writing the files

It's safe to stop it. Go ahead and open your board. Delete any import material in the cache directory but don't delete anything in your import/export directory. Charles will be looking at your ticket and examining what did get extracted, why not all of it, and why it hung, so that he can help you get it finished.

that's not good doesn't sound good. <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

It just doesn't make sense that the import is going on 21 hours and it's not half way through. Charles, please tell me this thing writes the new files WAY quicker than the extract.

EDIT:

Thanks, I wrote the above prior to seeing your reply David. Will do. But if I delete all the cache how will Charles be able to see how much was done? I'll leave it alone for now.

Still waiting to hear from someone on this - either here or in my trouble ticket.

your trouble ticket has been responded to numerous times and I see that you've replied to a query from Don as recently as 7 minutes ago.

In light of that I don't understand your last post at all. 7 minutes. <img src="https://www.ubbcentral.com/boards/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I do appreciate the help you guys are providing, but before you jump my case you should look at the time stamps.

Don replied to the ticket AFTER my above post and 20 hours after I had provided him with the information he requested in the ticket.

BTW, I sent the email you requested.

Got it. Charles should have the new files for you shortly.