Transferring Servers

[MrCaspan]

So I am attempting to transfer the site PokerForum.ca to a new host and it seems I have got it 90% transferred to the new server but I cannot log in to the new server. I am using a temporary domain name for the new server while i am testing tat the new server and I have changed the values for the site name redirects etc to this new name but basically when I try to log in it accepts my login the says its redirecting and then the home page of the test server comes up again and I am not logged in.. Any suggestion on how to move the application to a new server and change the name temporarily for testing?

[Wayne Luke]

You would have to login directly to the AdminCP and change the domain to point to the temporary domain under Settings -> Options -> Site Name / URL / Contact Details. You have to log in from the exact URL specified.

[MrCaspan]

So if you can understand this causes a catch 22 issue. For instance. If I am on the live site and I disable it and then change the settings before I move it i cannot get into the live AdminCP to change it back because the settings redirect me to the test site.. If I don't change it before I move it to the test site I try to log into the AdminCP it redirects to the live site.

The only way I was able to do this was to do a manual manipulation of the database values in 'setting' table to get this to work. Was i missing some step here? I did get it transferred to the new server but I know you guys don't recommend manually editing the database so if I shouldn't was curious how you would do this then!

[Wayne Luke]

In vBulletin 4.X, you should be able to access the AdminCP regardless of the URL it is installed on and make the changes. At least, I have been able to do this consistently.

In vBulletin 5.X, we provide a utility to change the site's URL within tools.php.

[MrCaspan]

Okay cool. Every time i tried to hit the website using the IP address it would just redirect to the live site. I never tried hitting the AdminCP directly with a URL. Ill try that next time!

[Mattwhf]

Any suggestion on how to move the application to a new server and change the name temporarily for testing?

Transfer database and files to new server and you need to setup it like a real site. Don't forget to make directory password for your site to stop search engine crawl your temporary site, it can be a big problem if you forget this.