[Suite] Test/Upgrade plan, what do you think of this?

[kersti]

Like most people here I have a fairly active forum running and am looking forward to moving to the new version. And like everyone here I want to do this with as little fuss as possible. This is my vague plan for upgrading but I'm not sure if it'll work that well, can you all please pick any holes you can in it?

Background

• My forum has a small group of premium members who pay for extra privileges, one of which is the right to view (ie test) any changes if possible
• Most of these members have minimal experience and understanding, while a couple are actually professional testers
• All my members are incredibly understanding, so I would be happy to start again and add in plugins and fix the design as we go along

Setup

• Close the site for the duration of the test site setup
• Ensure my current site is upgraded to latest version of 3.8.x
• Backup - database dump and copy of all the files in htdocs
• Set up web space at my host for an alternative domain (ie my current site is www.abc.com, set up www.abc2.com which I also own but am not using)
• Install VBulletin 4 in the new space

• Option A
  • Point to the current site database (can I do this? how can I do this?)
  • Allow my testers to take a look at the site, all the posts they make would then also be on the old site
• Option B
  • Import the database from the old site to the new
  • When I want to go live I would re import, losing everything that my testers have added
• Option C
  • Just give my testers a raw site to play with
  • When I want to go live I would re import, losing everything that my testers have added

Go Live

• For go live I would then repoint the DNS for the existing domain to the new test site, update the database and then be good to go

OK, what am I missing????

[Peter_AUS]

Personally I think you would be better off with a test bed site which can be destroyed and not interfere with your real site at all. The testing from the testers will be irrelevant in regards to what they post, on your real board. The point of it is to test and see what works, breaks, needs fixing, and see how the changes to the stylevars go before even thinking of doing anything whit the real site.

Make the new site from a backup of your 3.8.x site with a copy of your data in its own database. Then remove any mods that you have in place completely, then do the upgrade as normal to version 4.0.x and play around with it. It took me around 6 different attempts to get it right the first time I installed version 4 suite, it might be easier now it is gold, but reading the forums, not sure that statement is the truth at all. Myself I am sticking with 3.8.4 and waiting until it becomes at the least 4.1.x and then will have a look at it again. The CMS to me is a complete waste of time, needs to be separate from the forum structure and a lot more user friendly than it is now.

A lot of mods have been updated for version 4 already so you should be able to see what has been and what hasn't to get some of your mods back in to the new version 4. Just lock the test bed to the testers.

Good luck.

[kersti]

Well, upgrading my site from 3.8.2 to 3.8.4 as a first step has gone completely belly-up. Yes, I have a backup of the DB so not too worried, but the site itself is pretty much a write off - none of the plugins I have seem to be working. Looks like I may have to upgrade sooner than I had hoped...