IPB 2.0 -> vB 3.0.8 Quandries

[RagingPenguin]

Ok, my IPB 2.0 license expires in September. I have already purchased a vB owned license to replace it as my former owned license is now being used elsewhere. However, I have some questions before attempting this.

1) Has impex been updated for 3.0.8?

2) Do the IPB files need to be present?

- I intend to place vB in the folder IPB currently resides in.

3) At what point may I delete the IPB database?

4) How are passwords updated?

The sooner I get solid answers, the sooner I can migrate this site back to vB.

[Steve Machol]

1. Yes, Impex will work with 3.0.8.

2. You don't need to IPB files. You do need the IPB database.

3. Once you are sure everything has been imported correctly and is the way you want it.

4. The passwords cannot be imported. Your users will need to reset their passwords with this link:

http://www.yoursite.com/forums/login.php?do=lostpw

[RagingPenguin]

RE: 4) Will the board prompt them to do this itself or do I need to mass email the members?

[Steve Machol]

You need to mass email them. It's also a good idea to post a link on your forums home page with this as well.

[RagingPenguin]

Much obliged. I'll attempt this tomorrow assuming 3.5 final isn't release overnight. :)

[RagingPenguin]

Wonderful. The results of my import, and about two days of post-import tweaking, can be seen here. Please note that not all buttons and images have been redone.

http://wizardingrealm.com

[Floris]

That took quite a long time then. What kind of issues did you run into while running the ipb>vb import?

[RagingPenguin]

Well...I'm not sure it's worth addressing on a grand scale. But since you asked. I'm somewhat picky (if past rants don't reveal that, I don't know what will) and like sequential records id's for things.

I had about 20 usergroups defined initially. Instead of allowing me to map UG1 to Administrators for example, it just added the group. In effect, I had to manually adjust each group "down" so that all the users where in native vB usergroups where possible. I was left with eight spare usergroups. I didn't want to delete them so I nulled out thier rights and named them Reserved 1-8. It would've been nice to see a two column prompt screen just prior to several of the step to allow for mapping.

In any case, the rest of the time was spent setting up basic vB options, usergroup permissions, avatars, attachment settings, the style, anti-aliasing images against black, and other usual stuff.

It wasn't that bad really, just time consuming. The only thing I have to live with is, because of the failure to allow mapping of imported forums, my forums start at id=3. I can live with that one thing.

Oh and I just removed the blank index.html....hehe.

[Jerry]

The reasons for adding additional usergroups is so you can manager the users, opposed to impex assuming they are the same, when merging boards you need to be able to differentiate between the imported groups, if they are going to be treated differently or not. If ImpEx forces the users into a specific group then you can not do this.

[Floris]

Thank you for the information! And enjoy your improved vbulletin powered community.

[RagingPenguin]

That's what I'm talking about. If we had a mapper just before the imports...

IPB Usergroup.[maps to].VB Usergroup
-------------.---------.------------
Headmasters.............Adminstrators
Students................Registered Users
...[more]...
Death Eater.............[Create New]

The above would list the IPB stuff on the left, and offer the stock vB groups, plus "create new", in a drop down. This way you could map things. In the above, all users in Headmasters will port into Administrators, those in Death Eaters will get a new group.

Same principle can apply to other things to. In any case, I won't be using impex again as both my main boards are now vB...still...



And thanks Floris! :)

[Jerry]

I belive having a 'move all users in one group to another tool' would be better as this would keep the usergroups clean untill the end of the import and ensure that the import knew where users were in what group and can check numbers etc.

[RagingPenguin]

Either way it's moot to me now as I did manually. :) Thanks for listening though.