changing servers

[xb5869]

this may be a stupid question for you guys that know alot about this stuff, but how do i change servers for my forum, but not lose everything thats on it already? I want to keep everything the way it is, just transfer servers..

[peterska2]

Export your database (get at least 3 copies in case of corruption).

Edit your config.php to have the new information in.

Then upload your files to the new server and import the database.

Log in, change the forum paths in the vBOptions > Site Name/URL Settings

You are done.

[majorxp]

if you use the admincp to backup, open your backup file in a text editor (like pspad) and make sure the last line says something like 'backup complete' or something...

..restoring a partial backup will ruin your day...

o...and I forget where, but someone posted some sql to safely replace the domain names in message posts and whatnot. You will have to manually do the domain replacements any custom phrases you may have (since VB does not support a find and replace on custom phrases).

[xb5869]

you guys make it sound so easy... i will screw it up :banana:

[Ntfu2]

if you have SSH and assuming you are exporting to a host with the same version of MySQL

Get a DBdump

mysqldump -u username -p -h localhost database_name >dbbackup.sql

Then tar your whole directory(will be something like /home/username/

tar -cvvf backup.tar /path/to/folder

Then move the backup

mv backup.tar public_html

then login to new server via SSH

wget http://www.yoursiteaddress.com/backup.tar

Move the file outside of the webroot

mv backup.tar ../

Untar

tar -xvf backup.tar

Login to create your database. Give it the same name as your old one with same user and pw. If you cant simply edit the config.php file

Restore DB

mysql -u username -p -h localhost database_name <dbbackup.sql

all should work