Moving from PhpBB to Vbulletin need advice on plugins etc

[FantomX]

I have a forum with around 10,000 members which is currently on PhpBB 3.1.10 and I am looking to move to Vbulletin.

The reasons I want to migrate are mainly that I need to implement a paid/subscription system that is robust and reliable. It must take Paypal and assign subscribers to the correct user group automatically. Also sending renewal notices would be a plus. I know PhpBB has various half finished and abandoned extensions to do this but they all seem completely flaky and I really don't want to install something that will start causing issues further down the line.

I understand there is such a function for Vbulletin? Is it a paid extra or is it part of Vbulletin out of the box so to speak?

I know there is an import tool Impex? or something like that, with Vbulletin and I also know I have to install V4 first and import to that before updating to V5. I was wondering how successful this import tool is? I know you don't have trial versions so I am a bit concerned that if I hit the button and buy a Vbulletin license the import won't work or will only partially work. Last thing I want to do is make life difficult for my forum members.

Also i read somewhere about Vbulletin having some CMS functionality? I currently also have a Wordpress front end for the forum but really it's as though I have two sites competing against each other. If there were the possibility of dropping the Wordpress part but keep some of the functionality such as advertising blocks, news articles and that sort of thing it would be ideal.

Appreciate any help and info you can provide.

TGC

[Wayne Luke]

ImpEx on vBulletin 4 is very successful It can import your phpBB and WordPress content in two different imports.

vBulletin 4 and vBulletin 5 have a Paid Subscription System built in. Both can communicate with Paypal for payment. Many sites are already using this system. In vBulletin 5, you can make Subscriptions available during the registration process. This is a standard feature and included in the license price.

With vBulletin 5, you gain access to the Site Builder Function. This allows you to place Ad modules where you like within the various pages of your site. vBulletin 4 has a tool call Ad Manager that provides similar functionality. vBulletin 4 doesn't have the custom page functionality that Site Builder provides.

[FantomX]

Thanks for the info. Is ImpEx actually inside vBulletin so it runs from there or is it a separate script run on the server?

The subscription function sounds like exactly the thing I need

[Wayne Luke]

ImpEx would install in vBulletin and you access it via the control panel.

[Trevor Hannant]

Just to clarify, ImpEx doesn't come with vBulletin by default, you will need to install this into vBulletin.

Once you have a vBulletin license, you can follow the links here to download and install ImpEx:

http://www.vbulletin.com/go/impex

[FantomX]

Ok many thanks for your help. Will post a few questions in the more general part of the forum but I think we are pretty much good to go

[FantomX]

Just come across a thread on a forum somewhere that was saying ImpEx doesn't convert passwords? That might be an issue with my 10,000 members!
If it doesn't convert passwords what happens to all my forum members when they go to log in?

[Wayne Luke]

They will have to reset their passwords.

[FantomX]

They will have to reset their passwords.

Ok so I assume they will just get a prompt to reset their passwords? What I mean by that is they are not going to arrive at the forum and simply not be able to log in? or Do I have to tell everyone that they need to click on "forgot password" and go from there?

[BirdOPrey5]

They will have to use the forgot password link. You can create a notice that shows only to people who haven't logged in that if they are logging in for the first time since the upgrade, they need to reset their password using the link, you can even put the link in the notice using basic HTML.

Notices are tools available in the Admin CP. It will prevent most users from getting too confused.

[thetgc]

Just want to make people aware that impex won't import any phpbb 3.1.x forum completely. You will have issues with post counts showing as zero and last post on each forum as 01-01-1970, 01:00 AM

You will also find user permissions are messed up with admins and moderators set as junior members.

impex has not been updated for years and the last version of phpbb it shows as supporting is version 3.0.3. Phpbb 3.1.x has an extra table in it that stores post counts but that is not imported with impex.

By the way I posted the original question but for some reason I could no longer log in with that account so I created this one.