Importing from a very large PHPBB board.

[BryceW]

I currently own a existing vb license for one of my boards and I am looking to bring a PHPBB board of mine over to VB as well. Before I go purchasing another license I have a few questions.

1. Does the importer work for the latest version PHPBB 2.0.21?

2. Has the importer been tested/used on large boards? Mine is currently 29,900+ users and 1.3 million posts.

3. Will the topic ID's be the same, eg.
PHPBB: www.site.com/viewtopic.php?t=1234
VB: www.site.com/showthread.php?p=1234

So I can do something like a mod rewrite or a 302 to forward visitors that arrived via a thread link?

4. What problems can I expect after the changeover? I heard that passwords cannot be transfered? is this correct?

Thanks in advance.

[Quillz]

I currently own a existing vb license for one of my boards and I am looking to bring a PHPBB board of mine over to VB as well. Before I go purchasing another license I have a few questions.

1. Does the importer work for the latest version PHPBB 2.0.21?

2. Has the importer been tested/used on large boards? Mine is currently 29,900+ users and 1.3 million posts.

3. Will the topic ID's be the same, eg.
PHPBB: www.site.com/viewtopic.php?t=1234
VB: www.site.com/showthread.php?p=1234

So I can do something like a mod rewrite or a 302 to forward visitors that arrived via a thread link?

4. What problems can I expect after the changeover? I heard that passwords cannot be transfered? is this correct?

Thanks in advance.
Yes, the latest version of ImpEx should cover phpBB 2.0.21. Passwords will be lost, due to the way that vB handles password encryption. And no, the imported topic IDs will not be the same, again, because of the way that vB handles threads.

[BryceW]

Since passwords will be lost, how do my users gain access to their accounts once the transfered has occured? will they be prompted to enter a new password or something?

I heard that the difference between topic ID's from PHPBB to VB are incremented by a certain amount, eg.

PHPBB: www.site.com/viewtopic.php?t=1234 (http://www.site.com/viewtopic.php?t=1234)
VB: www.site.com/showthread.php?p=1238 (http://www.site.com/showthread.php?p=1234)

Though this is all hearsay, can someone confirm or deny this?

[Reeve of Shinra]

Actually I believe you can import phpbb passwords into vbulletin but I am sure someone else will come along and confirm that in a few.

If it didn't, the member can request thier password via the lost password link and it iwll get emailed over to them.

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/impex_phpbb2


As for hte topic Id's... vbulletin uses its own but I believe the old topic id's are still kept in the db. I am not sure what you reasons are but you can possible script around it and see if there is a certain increment like you mentioned.

[BryceW]

*Bump*

I assure you im not a time waster, im very convinced on converting my phpbb board over to VB after using VB on another site of mine.

[Colin F]

Re the topic ids: there is a 404 script that you can use so that old links should still work.

And yes, the importer has been used on large forums as well.

Are any of your other questions still open?

[BryceW]

Is the 404 script official or a 3rd party script?

With the passwords, Quillz has already mentioned that the passwords will be lost, the question of how does everyone get their passwords back/reset once the forum is converted it VB is still open.

[Colin F]

That's an official part of the ImpEx package.

Your users will have to use the reset password function to reset their passwords. You can also send a mass email to let them know about this, providing a link.

[feldon23]

If passwords ARE lost in phpBB, then hopefully someone will update the User Manual to indicate this. It shows that passwords must be reset for IPB but not phpBB and I gave someone advice yesterday based on that information.

[TrumpetMaster]

I'd like further clarification on this. I just bought a VB liscense and my webmaster is going to be switching our phpbb over to VB in the next coming days.

So what exactly should my users expect when they go to log in once we have switched to the VB?

There passwords will no longer work? What exactly happens when they try to log in? Will they be prompted to set up a new password?

[Colin F]

They'll receive a 'Wrong Password' message as far as I know, and they can retrieve a new password by using the 'Forgot Password' link.

You can prevent a bit of confusion by posting an announcement warning your users about this, or send them an email letting them now. You can link the page to the 'Forgot Password' link there as well.

[Dermot]

just send them an email through your acp b4 you reopen your forum telling them you have changed forum software to a better more stable software for their benefit and the only small problem with this is that they will need to request new passwords by following the lost password link simple as that

[TrumpetMaster]

Why am I getting such a different answer over at the Admin Zone. Most people over there tell me the old phpbb passwords will work when I switch to VB? :confused:


http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24392

[Steve Machol]

phpBB passwords are imported.

[monky91]

Why am I getting such a different answer over at the Admin Zone. Most people over there tell me the old phpbb passwords will work when I switch to VB? :confused:


http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24392

Yes, just IPB's password cant be import

[feldon23]

I was wondering why the user manual wouldn't have mentioned if there was a problem with passwords.

[Steve Machol]

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/impex_phpbb2

Users

Majority of profile and avatars.
(username, email, usergroup, password, aim, icq, joindate, homepage, lastactivity, yahoo, msn, posts, Occupation, Location, Interests, avatars)

[TrumpetMaster]

Thank you!


phpBB passwords are imported.