import from vb 3.0 to current-pearls of wisdom?

[goddess_dix]

Hello.

I have become the new admin of a mid-sized forum that hasn't been upgraded in quite some time. I am also moving it's hosting, and was very nervous as an inexperienced vb admin to upgrade a live forum that many releases at one time. seemed to me that would be begging something to blow up.

so i decided i'd prefer to set up the new version on the new server, figure out how to import, and get the process down first. then, when i'm ready, take the old board offline, import into the new board, and let 'em at it.

but since i've never done this and am still pretty green at running my forum, i thought i'd ask for advice.

best practices? what should i look out for? is this gonna be hard? what maintenece should i do on the current board first to help the transition go more smoothly?

i haven't read through the manual yet, but of course will as i'm getting into this deeper. just wanted to get my planning processing down.

insights and suggestions appreciated... :)

[Steve Machol]

We do not recommend importing the old data. Instead you should upgrade that forum normally.

[goddess_dix]

We do not recommend importing the old data. Instead you should upgrade that forum normally.

ok, well, is there anything special i should be aware of going up that many versions, then? as i said, i'm a bit nervous about it...

[Steve Machol]

The most important thing you need to do is make sure you make a good backup of the database first.

The only consistently reliable method of backing up and restoring a database is with shell access via telnet or ssh. This is because backing up with a PHP script like that in the Admin CP or phpMyAdmin can result in PHP timeout errors and an incomplete backup file.

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

If you don't have telnet or SSH access, some people have reported success with these scripts:

MySQLDumper:
http://www.mysqldumper.de/en/index.php

MySQLHotxcopy:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=134821&highlight=mysqlhotcopy

[goddess_dix]

thanks for your suggestions.