Merging two vb sites

[DavidWebb]

I'm considering merging two vb sites - is there anything I should consider?

The source board (the data that is being merged into my board) is a 3.5.x board.
The target board (the data that is accepting the transfer) is a 3.6.1 board.
No module issues.
No SQL errors.

There are some differences between the sites, such as profile fields, but what types of things do I need to take in consideration when merging a vb board with another vb board?

I suspect the actual merge should be painless, but I'm wanting to prepare for this ahead of time. :) Thanks in advance.

[Jerry]

but I'm wanting to prepare for this ahead of time. :) Thanks in advance.

Excellent choice :) Music to my ears.

1) Take a back up of the target database just before the import.

2) Restore that database to a test site and set up for an import.

2) Merge the users on email address during that module.

3) Follow the after import instructions. (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/impex_cleanup)

4) goto 2 and test until happy

Repeat until happy with whole process.

[DavidWebb]

Sounds simple enough. :)
So, I really shouldn't have to worry about minor things such as profile fields?

[Jerry]

Sounds simple enough. :)
So, I really shouldn't have to worry about minor things such as profile fields?

All default data will be imported, if you have custom fields they currently wont.

ImpEx will merge the users for you, so the target users will have the imported users data associated with them.

[DavidWebb]

All default data will be imported, if you have custom fields they currently wont.

ImpEx will merge the users for you, so the target users will have the imported users data associated with them.
Just what I wanted to hear :) Thanks.

[DavidWebb]

I did the import this morning but had to laugh. When importing users and associating users, I associated the admin of the old site to the user that he signed up on my site but when importing, it said it failed and after it shows it imported it with my user id. LOL

[Jerry]

You can't associate with a user in vBulletin that is an admin via ImpEx though it sounds like your trying to associate an old source admin to a regular user.

I would suggest merging on email address then merging admins with the admincp one you are 101% sure the import is ok.

[DavidWebb]

I'll keep this in mind on the next go-round as I had crashed my site and am in the process of re uploading the backed up database.

[DavidWebb]

I would suggest merging on email address then merging admins with the admincp one you are 101% sure the import is ok.I tried this and it did the same thing. I skipped the Associate Users module. The funny thing is that I noticed a user that I had merged a long time ago showed up in posts as my user on the imported information.

For example

Instead of

Target ID 1
Target ID old 3
Imported Admin 1
Imported user (aka Target ID 1)

it shows

Target ID 1
Target ID old 3
Target ID 1 in place of Admin 1
Target ID old 3 in place of Imported user

So now, after trying to clean up the import and getting a massive crash (again), I'm reuploading the database again.

[DavidWebb]

Update: as a 3rd try. I deleted the rogue user and that fixed that problem but I just realized something - All users, except for the ones that say imported_username are incorrect. I suspect this is what has been plaguing me the times before. This is really starting to aggrivate me. The target forums are fine, the imported forums are fine. The imported users are mostly wrong.

[Jerry]

The funny thing is that I noticed a user that I had merged a long time ago showed up in posts as my user on the imported information.

A user from a previous import ?



Instead of

Target ID 1
Target ID old 3
Imported Admin 1
Imported user (aka Target ID 1)

it shows

Target ID 1
Target ID old 3
Target ID 1 in place of Admin 1
Target ID old 3 in place of Imported user


I have no idea what you are trying to say there.

You have :

source.userid
target.userid
target.importuserid

source.userid and target.importuserid will be the same.

Do not attempt to merge admins with ImpEx.

[Jerry]

Update: as a 3rd try. I deleted the rogue user and that fixed that problem but I just realized something - All users, except for the ones that say imported_username are incorrect. I suspect this is what has been plaguing me the times before. This is really starting to aggrivate me. The target forums are fine, the imported forums are fine. The imported users are mostly wrong.

Rogue in the source or target ?

If they have imported_ prepended to them, its means ImpEx found a user with the same username.

[DavidWebb]

Sorry for the confusion.

The situation was that at one time I had two accounts Admin (userid 1) and another account (the original admin) from my original forums phpnuke (which I've called my rogue user). I merged the users, but didn't realize I had to delete the user after merging them to remove it. I figured that if I merged the user when I first moved to vbulletin, it would remove the old user and never looked back. I found out it merged the posts, info, threads I posted in, etc., but never removed the user (I was naive). This is what I called the rogue user.

For all purposes, I am not trying to import admins here. I am


A user from a previous import ?YES! :) - which I just figured out


Do not attempt to merge admins with ImpEx.I don't want to - and am TRYING wholeheartedly to avoid this. I tried a second import today and both have failed.


Rogue in the source or target ?target (as mentioned above)

I'm at a loss here.

First, I tried to Associate Users - which I found out that I shouldn't do that, so after trying to fix it, I crashed my site, and had to reupload my database.

Second, I learned NOT to Associate Users and Imported Users based on email address - as recommended. This didn't work as I still had users showing up incorrect. I had users who were supposed to be one person, and looking at the forums (at forumhome) they looked right. If you went to the thread level, they were someone else entirely. I tried to fix that and it crashed my site, and had to reupload my database.

Third, I decided NOT to Import Users based on email address - it did the same thing as importing users based on email address.

I've lost a lot a lot of hours on doing this. This is why I wanted to prepare for this in the first place. I would have been able to do a test site, but when I attempted that as soon as I tried logging in it flagged my site as being incorrect (wanting me to actually redirect to the actual site rather than my test site).

[Jerry]

Ok I understand what you are saying now, though I am confused as to why it is happening, I've done maybe merge imports and have crashed a few, though never come across this.

Can you start a support ticket and ask for me.

[DavidWebb]

Done - and I appreciate the help - I've tried twice more today failing again.

[Jerry]

Done - and I appreciate the help - I've tried twice more today failing again.

Got your ticket now, all very strange, seeing as I merged vb.org, just as you are trying with your sites with no issues at all :confused: