How 2 Guide - Backups, Upgrades, and Recovery!
 

I wanted to post this here just like I did for vBulletin.com, you can locate this same tutorial there via this link: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?335689-[Suite-OR-Forum]-How-2-Guide-Backups-Upgrades-and-Recovery!

If your unsure of ANY steps below please post but remember I color coded each section so when your scrolling for info bare in mind what's in blue pretty much relates to the blue text area and the other colors accordingly as well etc etc ;).

Upgrading is an important process and should not be taken lightly. Please be aware you should always do a backup and here is the best way to be perfectly safe about it:

Section 1 - Don't be stubborn, read the instructions you Grinch :p.

1. Check the Minimum Requirements found here:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...m-Requirements
Also found here:
http://www.vbulletin.com/faq.php#faq-125
If your Hosting account/Server is not up to par with the minimum requirements it might not upgrade at all or cause you more trouble then it's worth! Some host will move you to another server with the minimum requirements if available or perhaps for an additional fee or monthly cost.

1a. Trevor Hannant has released a very detailed Guide to Upgrading including screenshots so I highly recommend you view all of Trevor's upgrading instructions, they might be just what you need for a super simple upgrade then you can skip the upgrade information below and simply use this forum tutorial if you need to recover your forum or learn some useful information on backups!

Please see all five parts via the vBulletin CMS however here are the links:

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/conte...uctions/view/1
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/conte...uctions/view/2
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/conte...uctions/view/3
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/conte...uctions/view/4
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/conte...uctions/view/5

1b. Another bit of helpful information is Wayne Lukes information on upgrading to 4.0 located here:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/conte...-vBulletin-4-0

2. Test the backup to see if it will restore in a test environment.
3. If it restores then use it to test the upgrade but remember to disable all mods in admincp product manager and via Section 4 below in the config file.
4. If the upgrade was successful... now what? You decide! Change your forums folder name and rename the test one to be your forum, redo cookies to prevent login problems using tools.php and any posts since the time of the backup used are lost... or tell your members now about upgrading and close the board and repeat? Make that choice now and simply read for your parts below it's quite simple to keep up with otherwise post a comment and await a reply.
5. Well this is step number five so did it work? If so great copy this article and save on your computer with your vbulletin files so you don't have to track it down later if needed - always be prepared!

Now if you need more details on how to backup, test or restore here is some more information for you.

PLEASE NOTE YOU SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTING TO UPGRADE A LIVE SITE TO vBulletin 4.0!

Section 2 - Patience is a virtue.

1. If your upgrading a live site please take the proper precautions such as testing in advance as listed above in Section 1.
2. You are allowed to run a vbtest under your license I suggest you install or upgrade a backup of your live site first to make sure it goes smoothly IF you are going to in fact upgrade, disregarding our warnings of upgrading a live site. More information on that is here: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...-READ-ME-FIRST
3. IF YOUR FORUM IS HEAVILY MODIFIED/CUSTOMIZED EITHER IN TERMS OF CUSTOM MODIFICATIONS AND OR STYLES AND YOUR DISREGARDING THE RECOMMENDATION NOT TO UPGRADE A LIVE SITE - I DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU UPGRADE AT THIS TIME, THAT IS STRICTLY IMO BUT I FEEL INEXPERIENCED OWNERS SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT UPGRADING A LIVE SITE THAT HAS BEEN HEAVILY CUSTOMIZED.

Section 3 - Better Safe than Sorry.

1. Backup your Database and Files so you can restore to your current version on your live board now i.e. 3.5/3.6/3.7/3.8 etc if anything goes wrong or to use for making a test site.

How to do this Mike?

Database Backup - Cpanel? phpMyAdmin? Do you have any of these? If so let's review some options in each:

Cpanel:

There is an option to copy a database using Cpanel but I have not been successful on with it and found simply exporting using cPanel the using BigDump to import into a new databse saved me time trying to figure out other ways with each host being slightly different.To backup follow these steps:

1. Close your forum.
2. Use Cpanel to access your phpMyAdmin.
3. In phpMyAdmin, select the database you want to copy from the menu on the left.
4. Click export, then click choose "save as file" and save it you your computer along with your vbulletin files.

MySQLDumper:

Can be found here: http://www.mysqldumper.net/ & Special Thanks to FF|Skyrider for the reminder!! http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...=1#post1840565)
1. Follow the information on installing it, run a backup and test a restore. Simple enough and secure using htaccess although I still find BigDump (listed below) to be easier.

BigDump:

Some host though have timeouts or limited sessions in place as mentioned above so you attempting to restore it will never work unless you use something like BIGDUMP. Here is some more info on automated backups (do this when you have time) which has links for BIGDUMP so you can upload a large Database.

1. See the info below, I like to give credit and that's where I found the reference on google.

http://www.xoops.org/modules/smartfaq/faq.php?faqid=214

From that page, credit to XOOPS see post for details on author:

Quote:

Restore Bigdump, The script Thanks Alexey Ozerov (alexey at ozerov.de) for this script that imports big SQL dump files on limited sessions servers. Script Valid with IE 6.0 SP1, mozilla 1.x and Netscape 4.8. Description: Staggered import of large MySQL Dumps (like phpMyAdmin 2.x dumps and even GZip compressed dumps). Do you want to restore a large backup of your mySQL database (or a part of it) into a new or the same mySQL database? Maybe you can't access the server shell and you can't import the dump using phpMyAdmin due to hard memory/runtime limit of the web-server. BigDump will achieve this even with webservers with hard runtime limit and those in safe mode in a couple of short sessions. Download: http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/20922.html Installation and configuration One unique script. Modify setup vars ( DB connection and gzip file URL) and upload it on your server. Use This is a manual operation (Databases are not usually restored daily) Post gziped sql Dump at devoted URL and run the script. Comment Simple, ths script is an excellent DB_Backup complement. No more sql files cut to fit phpMyAdmin sessions that a so boring (and dagerous) as your DBs bocomes too big.

When using phpMyAdmin here are the setting I normally check (within the yellow highlighted area in the image) that I normally check before exporting, otherwise some systems default options checked will not work properly if re-importing ;)

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2009/11/14.png

1a.Check out this information as well posted by Floris!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jhumon (Post 1841528) Hello users and team how do i restore my databases after upgrading to 4.0 ? can anyone help me in this ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floris (Post 1841534) http://vbulletin.com/go/restore

Section 4 - Practice Makes Perfect.

Now that you have made a test site (or if upgrading now on a live site) you need to do a few things first to make sure it all goes smoothly. You have backed up and either already rushed off and upgraded or you have restored a copy of your database and your ready to create a test environment for mods or to test an upgrade on! Let's see how to restore the files below:

1. If your making a backup of your site to test for mods or an upgrade copy the folder your forum is in and rename it then upload back to your server via FTP (i.e. Filezilla) or the Cpanel File Manager or Legacy File Manager (Retain a copy of the original files and do not alter them). Filezilla I find to be quicker than Cpanel file managers but long story short you want to make a backup all the files, every single folder and file. Why? Well if you have problems while upgrading to 4.0 you have already uploaded the new files so they will not work if you try to restore if the upgrade fails OR if making a test site you need ca copy of the original files to properly restore the site exactly as it is. Some FTP Clients do not automatically upload files in the correct mode, please read the install information provided by vBulletin to upload the correct files in the correct mode i.e. ASCII or Binary etc.

2. Download your current version (3.6 or 3.7/3.8 etc etc) and I mean the exact same version your forum is running now before the upgrade this will be needed to restore if required. Also retain an unaltered copy fo your entire forum folder on your computer as listed above in step 2.

3. Turn off ALL MODIFICATIONS. You can do this by disabling them all but the best and highly recommended way of doing this is by locating your config.php file and edit it (make a copy of it first and do not use notepad to edit use an external editor such as notepad ++ google it etc) and at the top below <php? add this:

Code:

---

define('DISABLE_HOOKS', true);

---

*YOU MUST DISABLE MODS BEFORE UPGRADING, not afterwards when it failed the first time, NOW.

3a. Revert back to your Default style, this is important and can be the difference between a viewable forum after your upgrade. If you do not have a default style or have modified it in some way please remember you can simply create a new fresh default style via the Style Manager.

** DELETE ALL OLD vBulletin 3.x Styles this can cause problems when upgrading if you do not! Only revert to default OR make a new Default for your 3.x before you upgrade!!

3b. While your in the config file of whatever site your upgrading be sure to change the database details to match the new database!!!

3c. In your browser navigate to your forums url i.e. http://www.yoursite.com/forum/install/upgrade.php provide your customer number and then follow the prompts on screen and upgrade!

Did it work? If yes then great! Enjoy :D

Quick Tips
* Don't forget to turn back on the mods so your CMS and Blog will work, you can now uninstall unwanted 3.x mods one at a time until they are removed if you did not uninstall them before upgrading and remember to delete the files associated with the modifications as well.

** If your experiencing some problems with links not working properly or something seems funky try:
(Thanks Birute for the Reminder!)
a) Clear your cookies, CLOSE your browser and then launch your browser again i.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera etc etc.
b) If that does not remedy it try: AdminCP > Maintenance > Update Counters and start updating! READ them all carefully as some can reset statistics you wish to retain and they will not be recoverable once the counters are updated unless you fall back to the most recent backup and possibly redo the upgrade process so be very careful and if anything refer to the older vBulletin 3 Manual as much of it stil pertains to the 4.0 version it just needs a bit of updating but for reference it's perfect: http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/

===================================

If the backup worked and your forum is upgraded and running fine please stop reading this guide now and go have fun with vBulletin 4.0! If you have any Bugs please confirm they are not specific to only you for some reason i.e. MySQL or PHP versions (Although you should have confirmed the minimum requirements were met before upgrading regardless).

===================================

Section 5 - What a bloody mess...

Continuing with this Guide from here down means you had a failed upgrade and wish to restore!

Big forum or you just don't want your live site to stay down while you wait on a fix.. is there a fix? Frantic are you? Well simply restore back to your previous version if you saved a copy of your forum files and database as you were told to above!

Depending on where the install script failed, it might not have modified you current database so you see errors because it's new files for 4.0 not communicating properly w/ the 3.x database ;). Simply re-upload your previous versions files as if you were updating and then run the upgrade script, there is an option to run it anyways please click that and proceed.

If it did not alter the DB then you should see your live site back up! If it still shows errors then you might be in trouble and want to restore back to your previous version or if you did not make a backup now might be the time to submit a support ticket otherwise without a backup you will need to do a fresh install and have all your members re-register.

Section 6 - The mop bucket.

1. You can try restoring your database via phpMyAdmin but some host have file upload or session limits/timeouts in place. You can ask them to restore it for you which is the quickest way.

They won't restore or charge $$$.$$ ?

Now you must do the rest plain and simple, buck up and let's get this done Good Sir! (or Lady ;))

1a. Restore it yourself by using Cpanel, MySQLDumper, or BigDump as listed above in Section 3 - Better Safe than Sorry and remember when restoring to change the config file details to the new database and you might have to run the tools.php as listed above in Section 1 - Don't be stubborn, read the instructions a copy of it is located in your do_not_upload folder that came with your vBulletin forum or suite download. Again, in regards to restoring your Database, if your not having success and it's getting to you that bad simply contact your host and ask for their assistance.

1b. Your files... Upload all of them back to the same directory and all the files are as they were with the database now restored!

Now check and see if it's restored? I hope it goes well for many of you, I had to save a 3.8 forum a while back from an owner who jumped then gun and tried to install herself http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...of-upgrade-php so I thought I would post this up since many will be here for 4.0 ?'s and support just like many will only be on vbulletin.com!
______________________________

Very sound advice.

Thanks Paul! I just felt the need to post something on this... I know years ago when I was inexperienced or like an owner I helped out last night... it seems your world can end when the forum you own is down for the count... sometimes it seems the referee simply quit counting at 4 or 5 lol!

No, get up ROCK!!!

:p

Mike

Moving to the Articles forum (I hope that's OK). Very, very good advice!!! I can't believe how many users are not making backups, or not disabling their plugins, or not checking the php/mysql requirements.

Thanks Lynne! I know, I was shocked myself... Hopefully this helps some if they read it before they start!

--------------- Added [DATE]1258247024[/DATE] at [TIME]1258247024[/TIME] ---------------

Updated w/ restore via BIGDUMP and other info ;).

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...g-to-4-0/page4

I successfully imported a 3.8 to 4.0 fubar'd upgrade to a fresh install of 4.0 via IMPEX and it's working!

:D

If you are using cPanel, you can "copy" your database to another - new one and then neednt make any backup . If there is error, then you can use the new database without restore :D

alot of people are making these mistakes because it doesn't specify in the readme when they download. maybe that should be included so the noobs don't forget to do this.

You are correct, thanks for the reminder I'm so used to doing it the long drawn out way due to host lol :D

I first thought that but sometimes LESS info is better because too much can be confusing, basically everyone needs to do their homework before purchasing and or admin'n their own forum (that sounded blunt, not intended that way but it's the truth honestly :() and remember they are not noobs... that's only for gaming imo where you have the right to be such, running a forum that you want to benefit you and the members takes time and a lot of "homework" being done before you even open it to the public ;)

Mike

Updated 12.23.09, removed Beta comments and updated for 3.x to 4.x Backups, Upgrades, and Recovery in General.

Mike