You need to enter the FULL PATH to the newly created directory.

Well, 56m is the file size compressed (sql.gz). I don't know too much about how Impex works, but I was under the impression that we were dealing with SSH access, not FTP access. This is an area that he works in for a living, so maybe I'm just conveying what he said to me improperly.

Suffice to say, I was asked to trim it down some, so I'd like to explore all my options. I also would like to figure out how to purge everyone's signatures, because I'm going to institute new signature rules and want everyone to start from scratch. Does anyone know how to do that?

Apparently this person doesnt know what they are doing in either case.

I would get someone else to do what you need done, impex is an easy click and go interface, xfering a 56mb db from one server to another is just a simple cmd as well in ssh.

You don't need ImpEx to transfer servers.

For instructions see the manual Moving Servers

I appreciate the info and I realize that everyone is just trying to help. Thank you for that. But I may have given too much information when I mentioned the reason why we were doing it. There are other reasons, which I've mentioned, that I want to make the database smaller. I'm not the one moving the servers, nor am I the one with any practical knowledge of how to do that or even the proper access. I intend on learning, but in the meantime, my only concern and question right now is how to make the database smaller.

Snake, the person doing the transfer is the person who owns the new server, so there is no one else to get to do that. But I assure you, he knows what he's doing, since this is part and parcel of his profession. I'm the one who doesn't know what he's doing, so I'm likely not conveying the information I have accuarately. In fact, I guarantee it. That's probably why we shouldn't focus on what I mentioned about moving servers (since it's likely inaccurate), and just focus on the part about making the database smaller. That's what I primarily would like to know. (Like purging signatures, I'm really interested in finding out if that's possible) The server transfer stuff, while greatly appreciated, is part of another lesson for me, for another time.

Moving attachments etc out to the filesystem will make the database smaller.

Pruning signatures etc. will most likely hardly make a difference.

Removing signatures is a simple sql command

[sql]Update usertextfield Set signature = " ";[/sql]

It will make little difference to the size of your database, which is frankly quite small already.

As for 56M taking 10 hours - that's a joke - it's about the speed of an ancient 11K modem.

For a server to server transfer you should be talking a couple of minutes at most.

Thank you, Paul, and Marco. Like I said, I had other reasons for purging signatures, other then making the backup smaller. Sigs have been getting a little out of hand lately, and this will help start everyone from square one with some new sig rules in place.

I probably shouldn't have mentioned the transfer thing, because I'm pretty sure I don't know what I'm talking about. All that information is stuff I "put together" from conversations I've had via email, rather then actual firsthand information. I think the backup was about 56M, but I'm not entirely certain. Our forum has been around for nearly 5 years, so there has to be some size issues going on.

Thank you again, and other then moving/deleting attachments (which I'm pretty sure are not in the database, but I'll check), am I correct in assuming that's the extent of trimming things down?

If your forum has been up for 5 years, I'd expect the database to be more than 56MB.

also you can remove all pm's this will keep your database more small by insert this sql
and after this insert this
soory my english is poor :)