2nd Import

[weblife]

Hi

I successfully transfered my old forum database to my VB forum a few weeks ago and everything went fairly smoothly

Since then, another forum has asked to join my forum and they want to transfer their members, topics and threads into my forum

So this then becomes a 2nd import and it may become a little "complicated" so I wanted to get some expert opnions first

The data base is on a different server, so how would I set up the config file

sourceexists = TRUE

sourcedatabasetype = mysql

sourceserver = ??????

Being a similar forum many of the forums have the same name and also some of the members have the same user names, how do I over come this problem?

I guess with the forum names I am thinking to making old forum names into ONE large forum and then import it, that will solve the problem of forums being the same name

I regards to members it is a massive job to link all the members with their current vb user name - if I just import them, what happens if the user name already exists???

Also any other TIPs or advice b4 I do the transfer would be appreciated :)

Thanks in advance!

PS> the other forum is Powered by phpBB 2.0.4

[Steve Machol]

I am pretty sure you are going to need to transfer that database to your server and do the import this way.

[weblife]

Hi Steve

So if I save the sql data base thro the phpbb admin panel to my local files and then upload it to the server where the VB forum is located, will that work or is there a better way to do it??

Also any thoughts about users and forum names

I guess with the forum names I am thinking to making old forum names into ONE large forum and then import it, that will solve the problem of forums being the same name

I regards to members it is a massive job to link all the members with their current vb user name - if I just import them, what happens if the user name already exists???

[Steve Machol]

The only reliable method of backing up and restoring a database is with shell access via telnet or ssh. Please see the instructions here:

Backup:
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/maintenance_ssh_backup

Restore:
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/maintenance_ssh_restore

[weblife]

Hi Steve

Can it be done an "easier" way or is that the "ONLY" way?

[Steve Machol]

The is the easiest and most reliable method. Doing this with phpMyAdmin is possible, but it's harder and less reliable:

Backup with phpMyAdmin:
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/maintenance_phpmyadmin_backup

Restore with phpMyAdmin:
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/maintenance_phpmyadmin_restore

[weblife]

Hi Steve or anyone else that may be able to help :)

I have spent hours on this and am not having much success :(

I have followed everything in the back up and restore documents linked above but everytime I try to "restore" on my server thro my php admin it just hangs

When backing up its says:

Use __DB__ for database name, __TABLE__ for table name and options for time specification, extension will be automagically added. Any other text will be preserved

What should I enter in the field - "File name template"??

Also I have "gzipped" the file, its a little over 3 MEG

Then when I try to restore it, I click "gzipped" file and GO and it just hangs

Any ideas???

Thanks....

[weblife]

Hi Steve

I managed to get the db transfered, by breaking up the db, that worked fine

Then I imported it to VB, that worked fine

Then I ran all the UPDATE COUNTER options in the VB CP and I now have the "NEW transfered forum" but the whole OLD forum, topics, posts and members are gone

So I have asked my the host data center to do a full back up from 12 hours ago, so that will put things back to normal

Any ideas what I did wrong and why the old data base disappeared??

I think it may have happened when I ran UPDATE ORPHAN forums, threads and posts :(

Please Help a fellow VBer in need :D

[Steve Machol]

Sorry I have no idea what you did. :confused:

[weblife]

Hi Steve

Well if you import "another" forum into an existing VB forum what is meant to happen with the users and forums etc?

Has there been situations reported b4 where the import deletes the smaller of the forums?

Thanks...

[Steve Machol]

Imports add data, they don't delete it.

[weblife]

Hi Steve, thanks for the reply!

When I redo it all, can you please suggest to me what "UPDATE COUNTERS OPTIONS" NOT to run

I beleive that all the old users and threads were deleted when I ran ALL the the update counter options

May this have been the problem?

Thanks

[Steve Machol]

No, updating the counters would not have deleted that data. I really don't know what happened.

[weblife]

Hi Steve

I have now restored the original DB and am about to Import the SECOND db from another forum

Because it is a second Import it already shows figures in the import section

Should I run this query b4 importing the other forum??

run this query:

DELETE FROM datastore WHERE title='ImpExSession';

Then try the import again.

PS> The Imp Ex config file is now configured for the 2nd database

Thanks again:)

[weblife]

Hi, just wondering if someone can help

When I do the 1st forum import everything is fine 1500 users but when I do the second import from a "smaller" forum 95 users, only 4 users get transfered across

I have tried so many times but it is just not working, any ideas what is going wrong?

When a second import is done does ImPex look for duplicated, user names, user numbers or e-mails

If I was to put a pre-fix in front of all the user names, user numbers and e-mail addresses would that work??

Thanks!

If anyone could help it would really really be great, becuse I am at a loss as to whats going on:confused:

[weblife]

After a week I have finally got the forums combined

www.web-life.org/vb/ (http://www.web-life.org/vb/)

After working with a Tech and trying to import the 2nd phpbb forum "numerous" times we gave up on that method as it appears that there is a bug in Impex when it comes to DUPLICATED User Ids

We even tried changing both phpbb forums into VB forums and then tried to merge them, once again no luck there, half the users were deleted

The only method that worked was to merge the 2 phpbb forums FIRST using the method below and then import to VB

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1123325#1123325 (http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1123325#1123325)