upgrade from 3.0.7 to 3.6.5... advice!

[Zingu]

ok... the time is nigh.

I gotta finally upgrade our big board from 3.0.7 to 3.6.5.
1 million+ posts.

what should I expect that might not be obvious?
any special considerations I need to make?

or is it just basically still following eva2000s method? upside is that there aren't many, if any, hacks to worry about.



diving in makes me nervous, so I want to be extra sure. suggestions appreciated.

[peterska2]

Backup your database.
Download 3.6.5.
Backup your database again.
Edit the config.php file with your database information (you can't use a 3.0.x config file with 3.5.x or 3.6.x).
Backup your database one more time.
Backup your files.
Upload the 3.6.5 files to your server overwriting the existing files.
Point your browser to yourforums/install/upgrade.php
Follow the upgrade script through to the end
Delete install/install.php
Revert all templates.

Done.

(Yes, you have taken 3 backups - but best to be safe than sorry)

[bigbadbob0]

I just upgraded from 3.0.10 to 3.6.5 last weekend (760,000 posts). I did a test upgrade on a completely offline system. The biggest gotcha is by far the templates. You ned to revert a ton of them and without a decent diff system I just started a thread for people to point out my mistakes. I only missed a few places.

3.6.5 is slower than 3.0. It's roughly 40% slower to view the /forums/index.php during peak hours. My graphs literally jump post-upgrade. CPU usage is also up ~30% during peak times.

These numbers are based on the monitoring I've been doing with cricket for over a year.

[Zingu]

Backup your database.
Download 3.6.5.
Backup your database again.
Edit the config.php file with your database information (you can't use a 3.0.x config file with 3.5.x or 3.6.x).
Backup your database one more time.
Backup your files.
Upload the 3.6.5 files to your server overwriting the existing files.
Point your browser to yourforums/install/upgrade.php
Follow the upgrade script through to the end
Delete install/install.php
Revert all templates.

Done.

(Yes, you have taken 3 backups - but best to be safe than sorry)

thanks.

how long would one backup take? I'm looking about about 50,000 threads, 18,000 users, 1,000,000 posts. :/

[Steve Machol]

A lot will depend on how many attachments you have. It could take several hours.

[Zingu]

A lot will depend on how many attachments you have. It could take several hours.

wow. for ONE backup? or all three? +_+

hotlinked images allowed only. none as attachments.

[Steve Machol]

Sorry, I was thinking of the upgrade not the backup. However you never answered the question about attachemtns. The time to backup will depend on the server speed and configuration, how busy the server is, and how large your database is.

[Zingu]

Sorry, I was thinking of the upgrade not the backup. However you never answered the question about attachemtns. The time to backup will depend on the server speed and configuration, how busy the server is, and how large your database is.

my bad, thought I did. ^^

no attachments. .... so that should help with the ease of things.

several hours for the whole process ain't so bad though. :) PER backup...I was like...er.... 3 times???!?!?! lol

[Zingu]

n00b question...
(not even sure this makes sense but...)

if I have stuff saved (attachments, avatars etc) to filesystem.... where exactly ARE those files?

In eva2000s backup method she writes:

Attachments in filesystem: At this stage if you also have attachments in your file system, ensure you copy them to the new /forum2 location as well.


where are they (what folder) so that I can copy them? (assuming i don't necessary want to copy my ENTIRE root or /forums root folder.)

Sorry...let me amend that...
are there any locations OTHER than the "attachments" folder I should be looking for these file backups?

[Steve Machol]

You specified the location of these directories here:

Admin CP -> Attachments -> Attachment Storage Type

Admin CP -> Avatars -> User Picture Storage Type

[adhari_com]

I agree to this, vBulletin has increased my server load by more than that alot!

[tektsu]

I gotta finally upgrade our big board from 3.0.7 to 3.6.5.
1 million+ posts.

what should I expect that might not be obvious?
any special considerations I need to make?


I've got the same upgrade to make. It's been like pulling teeth, so far. :( I have some hacks, some highly modified templates, and vbadvanced CMPS with quite a few custom modules and pages. All the custom pages fail for a number of reasons. None of the problems are insurmountable, but there are a heck of a lot of them.

The first thing I found: $DB_site is gone (it looks like it's been replaced by $db.) phpinclude_start is gone as well, replaced by the admittedly cool-looking plug-in system. The templates are different enough (and it's been a couple of years since I set them up the first time) so there that has not been trivial either. Every time I turn around, some new issue is biting me on the butt.

Of course, this is my first try at such an upgrade, so I'm probably making it harder that it should be... I expect it's go much easier next time I try, and one of the first things I've learned is: don't wait two years between upgrades! :D