Someone moved Forum - Crash

[Sir Osis of Liver]

If you can pm access to your host control panel, I'll have a look tonight.  Need to know which is the original database, if it's still accessible, and/or where are the backups?  It's not difficult to recover a forum (everything's easy if you know how to do it), but something's not right and it's difficult to determine from here.

[Kindred]

It is not difficult ... i have done it over 100 times, usually in less than 10 mins


There is something wrong with your process.
See the instructions on how to move a forum in the wiki. Same process.

[Siirist]

If you can pm access to your host control panel, I'll have a look tonight.  Need to know which is the original database, if it's still accessible, and/or where are the backups?  It's not difficult to recover a forum (everything's easy if you know how to do it), but something's not right and it's difficult to determine from here.

Thank you Sir

Sent you a pm with the database name, username, username password, and access to cPanel and phpMyAdmin.

Siirist

[Siirist]

It is not difficult ... i have done it over 100 times, usually in less than 10 mins

I know, right?!

There is something wrong with your process.
See the instructions on how to move a forum in the wiki. Same process.

Yeah, I wasn't the one who moved it, so yeah . . .

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Ok, it's up and running.  Was unable to import the sql, duplicate primary error, but the gz zip imported ok.  Take a look and see if everything's there.

[Colin]

Wahoo, nice going.

[Siirist]

Ok, it's up and running.  Take a look and see if everything's there.

You Sir, are AWESOME!!   

I replied to your PM, and asked if it would be beneficial to post what you did here before marking this as solved, because,

I still don't know:
How to do whatever it was you did to "recover" the forum database;
or
the proper method to back-up a forum (I know that I can go to Admin > Forum Maintenance > Database > Backup Database > "Download a backup copy of your forums database in case of emergency.
ticked Save the table structure.
ticked Save the table data (the important stuff).
ticked Compress the file with gzip.

But what to do with this after I save it . . .

Was unable to import the sql, duplicate primary error, but the gz zip imported ok. 

1) Does this mean that I always have to go to phpMyAdmin and then import the gz zip?

2) And what about what Kindred said,

Don't delete the database... but do drop all the ,existing tables before importing

Filled with appreciation,
Siirist

[Illori]

you should not backup a database from the admin panel. you should use phpmyadmin or similar.

[Siirist]

you should not backup a database from the admin panel. you should use phpmyadmin or similar.

Found Backing up your Database in the Online Manual (under Backup), though it also has the information on how to restore.
I get the backing up part. Though the restore is "challenging".

If you cannot restore the database, you should verify that the .sql file you have obtained has proper SQL syntax and commands inside it (to CREATE your tables and INSERT data into them, it may also DROP old tables before creating new ones). Make sure it it looks complete (CREATE and INSERT for all your SMF tables), before assuming that it is a good backup. Spot check a few tables to see if all their data is in the backup (note that the order of records may differ between the database "browse" display and what is in the backup file).

If you used phpMyAdmin it may end with: /*!40101 SET CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT=@OLD_CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT */;
/*!40101 SET CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS=@OLD_CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS */;
/*!40101 SET COLLATION_CONNECTION=@OLD_COLLATION_CONNECTION */;

Wait, what?!

and

Restoring your Database with phpMyAdmin
To restore your backed-up database, you do exactly the same as to back up, except that instead of clicking "Export", you click "Import". You then navigate to your backup file by clicking "Choose" under "Location of the text file".

Don't delete the database... but do drop all the ,existing tables before importing

Hmmm . . . .

Siirist

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Just on for a minute, be back tonight, but basically it appears you have a number of backups, all of which are different.  Guessing that someone tried to 'fix' the database when the initial import didn't work, a really bad idea if you don't know what you're doing.   The gzip imported cleanly, all tables have default smf_ prefix, just had to fix $db_prefix in Settings.php, ran repair_settings.php, and it worked.  Minor problem with DeepBlue theme, reinstalled it and looks ok.  Will see what the backup options are in your cpanel, but don't expect much with that host.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Looking around your cpanel, you have three options for database backup:

database tools -> phpmyadmin - you can export any db to your local computer.

files -> Site Backup Pro - it's supposed to backup all your files and databases daily.

advanced -> Cron Jobs - this takes some doing to set up auto backups, but it should work.


phpmyadmin requires manual backup of each db, you would have to remember to do it regularly.  It's usually pretty reliable, until your db gets up around 20-30mb or so, then it may timeout without error on some hosts, and you end up with an incomplete backup (same problem as with SMF admin backup, for similar reasons).  If you backup religiously, and always do each db twice and confirm file size is same, this is an ok option.

Site Backup Pro is supposed to do daily backups, but appears to be screwed up.  For reasons unknown, it is not displaying the db for the new forum install, but is showing the others.  Looks like you get only the one most recent backup. so if the db breaks and you don't pick up on it right away, you're out of luck.  You have the basic version, with an option to upgrade to Pro version ($).  You can take this up with host support.

Cron Jobs are supported, this might be best way to go.  No way to know how reliable it is on a crappy host until you try it.


My host runs a cpanel backup utility that backs up all files and databases daily, and keeps past 30 days available for download or restore.  In addition, I have cron jobs running that do daily db backups and save past 30 days to a directory in my account.  I'm comfortable with that.


¡Oofah! Just looked at your host's rates, you're paying waaaaay too much for what you're getting.

[Siirist]

Looking around YOUR cpanel

Wow, thank you SO MUCH Sir! 

Will likely go with phpMyAdmin option. 

Regarding cost, the service is paid through July 2017.

I have looked around at other providers and will make the transition in July.

A factor that is unseen is that I am hosting 17 websites with this provider. 

Reason for transition is more about getting a few dedicated IPs and Shared SSL (which will move to individual SSL by year-end)

Again, Thank You So Very Much,
Siirist
PS - Marked as solved

[Steve]

PS - Marked as solved

It wasn't but it is now.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

If we're done, get rid of the Sir Osis admin account, sirosis FTP account, and change your host account password.

Good luck!

[Shambles]

Nice one, liver boy.

[Steve]

Indeed.