Is it possible to merge two vBulletin 5 installations?

[webgeek247]

Is it possible to merge two vBulletin 5 installations? Is it supported by Impex?

[In Omnibus]

It's not supported by ImpEx.

Are these the exact same versions of vB5.x? The tables have changed significantly between versions.

Even it it were possible how would a script know which data to keep and which to overwrite?

I think you would need a custom script to even attempt this. To my knowledge there is no existing product which does this.

ImpEx could merge two vB4 databases together but it would usually break links to threads, posts and other data that is no longer be valid after the import.

[Mark.B]

ImpEx does not work with vBulletin 5 at all.

[webgeek247]

It's not supported by ImpEx.

Are these the exact same versions of vB5.x? The tables have changed significantly between versions.

Even it it were possible how would a script know which data to keep and which to overwrite?

I think you would need a custom script to even attempt this. To my knowledge there is no existing product which does this.

ImpEx could merge two vB4 databases together but it would usually break links to threads, posts and other data that is no longer be valid after the import.

I have a vB4 forum that I want to merge to another forum using latest version of vBulletin 5.

I could have upgraded the vB4 forum to vB5 and then merge the vB5 forum to vB5 forum.

How to even upgrade vB4 to VB5? Only need threads, posts and profiles. Nothing else needed. I can manually assign imported threads using vB5 channel manager if needed, same for when merging vB5 to vB5. There would be no conflicting members or content because the two forums are completely different.

I just do not want to manage multiple forums as it too time consuming. I would rather put everything on one which I can do with forums.hosting because the name implies hosting any kind of forum anyway. So the forum can be web hosting forum and I could import old music forum and have music forum under say Other Forums. That is what I was planning to do anyway.

The old vB4 music forum is not in use. I have an old cPanel backup of the account.

Or do you think I should not go this route and just put the old vB4 forum back online on its own? I would rather manage everything all under one forum. I was also interested to buy other vB4/5 forums and merge them into forums.hosting this way.

[Brad Padgett]

You would definitely need a custom coder to help you out. Anything is possible if you know what your doing but it would take an excessive amount of work I can imagine. Plus impex only works on vbulletin 4 not 5. For imports to vb5 you would need to go to vb4 and then upgrade once you do that. So in order to even do this you would need to downgrade both forums to vb4, then merge and then upgrade again. Sounds like a huge hassle.

Also, if your using the latest version of vbulletin 5 chances are likely you would need to also downgrade php versions because impex supports a much lower php version then vbulletin is used to using. But if you downgrade php versions (if needed), then downgrade to vb4, merge them somehow (who knows how), and then re-upgrade to vb5 its possible though unlikely someone would know how. Best bet is to put a paid request on vb.org and hope someone knows how this is even conceivable.

To be honest I don't see it happening just trying to shoot you some hope because I know it's possible but would take an expert coder to make it happen.

[webgeek247]

Marks right. I think because the php version is now too high to support impex any longer.

With PHP selector from CloudLinux I can set any PHP version I want. I think the issue is vBulletin 5 does not support anything higher than 5.6 which ImPex probably does not support.

[Brad Padgett]

With PHP selector from CloudLinux I can set any PHP version I want. I think the issue is vBulletin 5 does not support anything higher than 5.6 which ImPex probably does not support.

True but vBulletin 5 doesn't support impex at all. You have to start with vbulletin 4 and then upgrade. That's what I was trying to say.

It's not impossible. Ask around. If Glenn can't help then maybe someone on vbulletin.org knows how. You should really put in a paid request if your willing to go that far.

[webgeek247]

You would definitely need a custom coder to help you out. Anything is possible if you know what your doing but it would take an excessive amount of work I can imagine. Plus impex only works on vbulletin 4 not 5. For imports to vb5 you would need to go to vb4 and then upgrade once you do that. So in order to even do this you would need to downgrade both forums to vb4, then merge and then upgrade again. Sounds like a huge hassle.

Also, if your using the latest version of vbulletin 5 chances are likely you would need to also downgrade php versions because impex supports a much lower php version then vbulletin is used to using. But if you downgrade php versions (if needed), then downgrade to vb4, merge them somehow (who knows how), and then re-upgrade to vb5 its possible though unlikely someone would know how. Best bet is to put a paid request on vb.org and hope someone knows how this is even conceivable.

To be honest I don't see it happening just trying to shoot you some hope because I know it's possible but would take an expert coder to make it happen.

Sounds like the best way is for a merger script to be made for vBulletin 5 and do a direct vBulletin 5 to vBulletin 5 merge, would just need to upgrade the vB4 forum to vB5 first. Of course, it is in the interest of forum software company to not allow such because they want more active vBulletin licences. But the first to offer such I would probably move to that platform. I do not like being limited and being forced to pay hundreds/thousands of dollars to pay for custom job where really it should already be available for free, IMO.

[Brad Padgett]

Sounds like the best way is for a merger script to be made for vBulletin 5 and do a direct vBulletin 5 to vBulletin 5 merge, would just need to upgrade the vB4 forum to vB5 first. Of course, it is in the interest of forum software company to not allow such because they want more active vBulletin licences. But the first to offer such I would probably move to that platform. I do not like being limited and being forced to pay hundreds/thousands of dollars to pay for custom job where really it should already be available for free, IMO.

I agree. I don't really know what the logic is behind them not having a built in importer for vbulletin 5 nonetheless needing Zachery's custom modification in order to even have one for vbulletin 4. However, it seems that they get enough sales to not really care.

Though I agree that an importer is necessary and can guarantee their sales would be up even more if they created one. Not to go off topic so I'll make my thread leave now

Good luck webgeek. Hope you find a way.

[Mark.B]

ImpEx doesn't work with vB5 because it was never written to do so....nothing to do with php versions. vB5's database structure is completely different to vB4's.
The company stopped developing ImpEx before vB5 was written.
ImpEx was then made open source, it should still work with vB4 but not vB5.

[webgeek247]

ImpEx doesn't work with vB5 because it was never written to do so....nothing to do with php versions. vB5's database structure is completely different to vB4's.
The company stopped developing ImpEx before vB5 was written.
ImpEx was then made open source, it should still work with vB4 but not vB5.

Are there any vBulletin Staff who can do such work? If so, please PM ME with quote. The vB4 forum I want to merge into vB5 should be easy because I think the vB4 forum only has 2,000 members and 11,000 posts. I will restore the vB4 forum on test server to check the stats.

[webgeek247]

I also asked at https://theadminzone.com/threads/is-...ations.144707/

Is it not just possible to make sure ID number for threads, posts and profiles are different and copy those tables from the one database to the other and then use the rebuild forum information tools etc to rebuild all the information?

Again, this is only for threads, posts and username/email address that needs to be merged. Nothing else matters.

[In Omnibus]

I also asked at https://theadminzone.com/threads/is-...ations.144707/

Is it not just possible to make sure ID number for threads, posts and profiles are different and copy those tables from the one database to the other and then use the rebuild forum information tools etc to rebuild all the information?

Again, this is only for threads, posts and username/email address that needs to be merged. Nothing else matters.

The URL structures for vB4.x and vB5.x are not the same.

[webgeek247]

The URL structures for vB4.x and vB5.x are not the same.

I know. I meant upgrade vB4 to vB5 and then do what I mentioned.

[IggyP]

I think the issue is vBulletin 5 does not support anything higher than 5.6 which ImPex probably does not support.

not sure what that mean exactly but vb5 supports modern php just not the reverse....to merge all that data you will have one big problem which is all those user id#s thread id# etc etc....everything has unique # on it which would be in conflict as it already exists in 2 places...so hmm...even for a custom script that is alot of running around but im curious what anyone will say