Moving just members?

[Spaz21]

Hi there,

Our club forums are currently running on vBulletin 3.0.13 and we're looking to move to SMF 1.1.5.  We have been messing around with the SMF install on a separate server currently to make sure it's going to meet our needs.  With the converter will it convert from this old of a vBulletin install?  Also... can the converter pull information from a separate server over to the test one to make sure the conversion will go smoothly when we do it on the live server?

Some of the forum categories are different on the new forums than the old vBulletin boards... when we convert does it do an automatic straight conversion... or can we specify which forum on vBulletin goes to which on SMF?  Same for member permission groups..... the groups are different on our SMF... can we do the same thing as i asked for the posts?

Thanks 

[brianjw]

With the converter will it convert from this old of a vBulletin install?

The best way to do it is make a backup and try. If it doesn't work, then restore the backup and it will be as it was before. (backup including website and databases) Then, you can upgrade vbulletin to its latest version and then use the converter which is guaranteed to work on recent versions.

Also... can the converter pull information from a separate server over to the test one to make sure the conversion will go smoothly when we do it on the live server?

What you can do is go to your FTP and make a seperate folder on your webserver. In this example we'll call the folder /testvb/. Just set it up like a normal vb install (databases and all) then make some posts at a few test accounts, etc. and then run the converter script over it. That is the best way to test if it will work.

Some of the forum categories are different on the new forums than the old vBulletin boards... when we convert does it do an automatic straight conversion... or can we specify which forum on vBulletin goes to which on SMF?  Same for member permission groups..... the groups are different on our SMF... can we do the same thing as i asked for the posts?

I do not know this as I am not experienced AT ALL with vbulletin. But from other people doing it (and using the search function here) it looks like it should convert the boards but the membergroups you will have to create again. Creating the membergroups and editing the permissions is easy in SMF so don't sweat it.

brianjw