I switched servers but now I can't get my vBulletin to work

[Richy T.]

Since I am not that adept in the ways of site migration and all that kind of stuff, a friend of mine who owns a hosting company is having problems moving the board over to his server.

He copied everything from my previous server over to his puter, I updated my DNS, he transferred everything over to his server, the forum won't work.

He says that I may be missing a directory but if he transferred everything over, their shouldn't be a missing directory.

What am I missing? I can't tell.

[SaintDog]

Did he move all of the files and upload the SQL file backup of the forum? Or was this a fresh install? All that is needed are your PHP files and directories for vBulletin and the SQL file that runs the database which should be there if it is a fresh install and can be dumped into a database if you are moving servers.

[Richy T.]

its not a fresh install. it has been up for almost 2 years now. we just did this via ftp
i pointed my dns back to the original server so we can figure this out.

does vbulletin do additional installs after the first one adn if so, what is the cost?

[Zachery]

Did you guys move the database?

If you havent moved the database your forums will not work, and it requires more than FTP access.

For more help you can read this : http://www.vbulletin.com/manual/movingservers.html

[Richy T.]

Thanks for your help so far. I did read this and I have to say that I don't understand this one bit. I'll be frank with you and let you know that this is all greek to me. Please understand and let me know if somebody could please translate this into English. I don't understand a thing from the first word "Telnet/SSH into your system".

Not trying to be a jerk but please don't respond with a "why the hell are you doing this if you don't know what you are doing". We all have things we know about and things we don't.

If you came on my forum and you asked me how to change your oil or even how to replace your synchros in your 5-speed(very simple stuff in my eyes), I would tell you without chastising you. Please afford me that same courtesy. I know that this is pretty basic stuff for many of you, but like I said, it's all Greek to me.

I have bolded/italicized/and redded what I don't understand.

Thanks for your help and patience.

Step One - Backup current database:

• Telnet/SSH into your system (we'll call it machine1)
• from the root directory, type
  mysqldump --opt -uUSERNAME -p databasename > /path/to/dump.sql
• this should only take about than 30 seconds to a few minutes, depending on your database size
• when it is completed, it will bring you back to the prompt
• verify that you have a dump.sql in the /path/to area you specified

Step Two - Transfer to new server

• Telnet/SSH into machine1, and from the command prompt type the following:
  cd /path/to/yourbackupdirectory
• Then type
  ftp MACHINE2
  Replace MACHINE2 with the host name (eg. www.example.com ) or IP address (eg. 192.168.0.0 ) of your new server. This should open a connection and ask for your username/password, then it should say ftp>
• Type the following, hitting enter after each line:
  bin
  cd /path/to/newdirectory
  put dump.sql
• It should take between 20 seconds and a few minutes depending on the size of the file. Now type:
• close
  quit
• verify dump.sql is in the /path/to/new area on the new server.

Step Three - Restore to new server

• Telnet/SSH into machine2
• create a database on the mysql if necessary (ask your server admin for help with this as it varies from machine to machine)
• at the prompt type
  mysql -uUSERNAME -p newdbname < /path/to/dump.sql
• this takes a couple of minutes depending on your database size, but you can track the progress either by FTP (checking the /mysql/data/newdbname and see the files appearing) or by phpMyAdmin (you should see the files appearing there)
• when it is completed, it will bring you back to the prompt

Step Four - Bringing it back online

• Go into your config.php and change the database name to the database name you created in Step 3, if necessary.
• upload config.php
• Go into your admin/index.php and then click on "options" and change the URL (if necessary) and verify the options and click "submit"

[Steve Machol]

Sorry but it's beyond the scope of what we can do right now to rewrite the current instructions - particualrly all the sections you've highlighted.

If you do not understand how to do this, then perhaps you can ask your friend for help. Since he's a host he should easliy undertand how to do this.

[Zachery]

Step One - Backup current database:

• Telnet/SSH into your system (we'll call it machine1)
• from the root directory, type
  mysqldump --opt -uUSERNAME -p databasename > /path/to/dump.sql
• this should only take about than 30 seconds to a few minutes, depending on your database size
• when it is completed, it will bring you back to the prompt
• verify that you have a dump.sql in the /path/to area you specified

First click here and download putty which is a windows based SSH / Telnet Appliction http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/.../x86/putty.exe
This will allow you to login to SSH / Telnet on Machine1

If your on a linux host and you have cpanel to login you will use your username and password same that you would login to cpanel.

you should now see somthing like $bash or $jailshell

at this command prompt you will type (make sure to change username to your database's username, databases password, and the database name where nessary)

mysqldump --opt -uUSERNAME -pPASSWORD databasename > /home/username/dump.sql
(this works for linux, if you dont know your path ask your host)

login to your FTP and check to makesure dump.sql is there.

Step Two - Transfer to new server

• Telnet/SSH into machine1, and from the command prompt type the following:
  cd /path/to/yourbackupdirectory
• Then type
  ftp MACHINE2
  Replace MACHINE2 with the host name (eg. www.example.com ) or IP address (eg. 192.168.0.0 ) of your new server. This should open a connection and ask for your username/password, then it should say ftp>
• Type the following, hitting enter after each line:
  bin
  cd /path/to/newdirectory
  put dump.sql
• It should take between 20 seconds and a few minutes depending on the size of the file. Now type:
• close
  quit
• verify dump.sql is in the /path/to/new area on the new server.

Download your dump.sql
Login to your new host. upload dump.sql

Step Three - Restore to new server

• Telnet/SSH into machine2
• create a database on the mysql if necessary (ask your server admin for help with this as it varies from machine to machine)
• at the prompt type
  mysql -uUSERNAME -p newdbname < /path/to/dump.sql
• this takes a couple of minutes depending on your database size, but you can track the progress either by FTP (checking the /mysql/data/newdbname and see the files appearing) or by phpMyAdmin (you should see the files appearing there)
• when it is completed, it will bring you back to the prompt

Login via SSH using putty to your new host, and type this command
you should be at the $bash or $jailshell prompt again
(make sure to change username to your database's username, databases password, and the database name where nessary)

mysql -uUSERNAME -pPASSWORD newdbname < /path/to/dump.sql

Once you return to the prompt your database should be successfully moved

Step Four - Bringing it back online

• Go into your config.php and change the database name to the database name you created in Step 3, if necessary.
• upload config.php
• Go into your admin/index.php and then click on "options" and change the URL (if necessary) and verify the options and click "submit"

Edit your config.php and enter the varibles like you did the first time you installed vBulletin.

Once this is done everything should be ready again and you should be set to go

hope i was of some help

[Richy T.]

thank you. i will try this out when i get home. much better and easier to understand though. thanks again.

[Richy T.]

Once you return to the prompt your database should be successfully moved
Edit your config.php and enter the varibles like you did the first time you installed vBulletin.

Once this is done everything should be ready again and you should be set to go

hope i was of some help

There is a problem here though, I didn't install it the first time. vBulletin installed it for me.

[Zachery]

ah, well then.

open your config.php
here you will find

your database name
your database username
your database password

which is most of the information that you need.

plug thos into the apporiate places, ask your host for the "path" to the root of your FTP.
plug that in where nessary also .

[jtracy]

I just wanted to take a second to thank Faranth for the excellent response he gave to this thread. Posts like his are truly helpful to those who purchase vBulletin and don't understand Telnet/SSH stuff when it comes to moving forums to another server.

vBulletin itself is fairly easy to install and very user friendly. The install feature walks you through everything. Yet when it comes to to backing up and importing a vBulletin database, that process breaks down tremendously in the "user friendly" category.

I'm facing this issue as we speak. I'm in the process of moving my forums and not being a Telnet/SSH expert, I've been frustrated that the process isn't as user friendly as the install (i.e. "export" database and "import" database features would be nice). There are nice userfriendly installer scripts if your switching from another program to vBulletin, but to go from vBulletin to vBulletin when changing servers or hosting companies is quite the challenge.

So to see someone like Faranth take the time to attempt to explain the challenging process (for non Telnet techies) in very user-friendly terms really shows the value of communities like this.

A big thank you to those who truly help on these forums. It is greatly appreciated.

[ampersand]

Im moving to a dedicated server as we speak, but I have a problem even when using SSH. I have made a database dump of my vBulletin database and uploaded it to root using ftp. I login with SSH and start importing the database, but on table vb3_post it always stops after 605 000 records when there are a total of 850 000 something..

What can I do now to make this work ?

I'm using this command

mysql -u user -p -D db_name < db_dump.sql

[Steve Machol]

How was the backup made? The most likely cause is an incomplete backup.

[ampersand]

using phpmyadmin :P

Well, now I'm doing it again but this time I split the table into smaller pieces

[Zachery]

That command needs to be run using the SSH command line, not phpmyadmin.