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Well, heck....

Started by letterman7, June 18, 2017, 09:43:31 PM

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letterman7

I'm in the process of changing servers. I have an old backup from 2015 for my site (I know, I know.... the site wasn't very active and I never regularly backed it up). In the process of moving servers, for some reason my site didn't go with it despite working with tech support from both servers. The new server offers SMF as an addon (latest version), so I loaded it and *bink!* my site was up...... as a brand new virgin site. I've tried to read through the support pages on how to upload a backup (new server uses Cpanel) which I did.... files seem to be in the correct places, but nothing has changed on the site itself. I'm extremely noobish when it comes to this.. what possibly did I miss?

And mods - if this is in the wrong section, please feel free to move.

Rick

Kindred

The contents of your site are stored in the database, not the files...   when you take or restore a backup, you need both the files and the database
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

letterman7

Oohhkay... I thought a backup did all that. I don't want to assume the database is still on the old server, but it might be. But since I moved both the hosting and domain to the new server, that database is now lost...

letterman7

Or not so lost. I got into my account on the old server, found the databases, downloaded them through the 'Myphp' in cPanel, made a copy (just in case), then loaded that database (and the current files to date - photos and posts on the forum) to the file folder on the new server and I'm waiting magically for everything to appear in it's place  :o  I know I'm missing something basic... but if everything is on the new server, I'm guessing the new version of SMF (2.014) is not opening the older files (2.010 (I think))?

Sir Osis of Liver

You can't just upload the database, you have to import it with phpmyadmin into the database the new install is connected to.
Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend,
 we were all equal in the end.

                                     - R. Waters

Kindred

And then a,so change all of the URLs and paths in the settings and database to point to the locations on the new server
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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Sir Osis of Liver

The forum files and database are different things, and have to be moved differently.  You should have a complete backup of your files, upload them to the proper directory on new server, i.e., www.yourdomain.com/forum.  You must create a new database in the MySQL database section of your host control panel, link it to your forum by updating db credentials in Settings.php.  Then you have to import the database backup from old server into new database using phpmyadmin (also in db section of cpanel).  When import is complete, update paths using repair_settings.php.  If you're having a good day, your forum should look just like it did on old server, with all content intact.  If you're having a bad day, you'll be back here again.
Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend,
 we were all equal in the end.

                                     - R. Waters

letterman7

Databases have an "sql.gz" extension and forum files are "tar.gz", correct?

Kindred

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Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

letterman7

Ok... so.. performed said suggestions by SOLiver. The hosting service (NameCheap) offers plug-ins such as SMF, so thinking that my backups aren't actually the program itself, I loaded that. I'm terribly simple when it comes to this stuff.. everything is loaded to their correct directories (or should be) but I'm still getting no results. I'd be willing to pay someone to sort this for me... PM for interest.

Kindred

Quote from: Kindred on June 19, 2017, 12:10:24 AM
And then also change all of the URLs and paths in the settings and database to point to the locations on the new server
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Sir Osis of Liver

Ashes and diamonds, foe and friend,
 we were all equal in the end.

                                     - R. Waters

letterman7

Quote from: Kindred on June 19, 2017, 10:34:15 PM
Quote from: Kindred on June 19, 2017, 12:10:24 AM
And then also change all of the URLs and paths in the settings and database to point to the locations on the new server

I've got a buddy who's more coding oriented than I sorting through it. He's almost got it back, formatting is still very wonky so he might have to reload the basic SMF forum look. He also removed the updated version of the forum software and loaded an older version.. that helped. I'll see how he does in the next couple days.

LiroyvH

For future reference, when moving from one cPanel host to the other cPanel host, use the "Generate a full backup" feature in cPanel. The new hosting provider can restore that, ensuring everything important comes back in exactly the same shape - including databases + users + passwords, mail accounts and their content, etc.
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Please do not PM for support - anything else is usually OK.

letterman7

#14
Did that, Core. I have to talk with my buddy to see where the issues are laying.. coming off of GoDaddy for various reasons and moving to NameCheap... and I think that NC hosting isn't quite what it should be. Of course, cPanel has this to say: "A full backup will create an archive of all the files and configurations on your website. You can only use this to move your account to another server, or to keep a local copy of your files. You cannot restore full backups through your cPanel interface. "

So, having the files all there is one thing. Getting them to play nicely is another. If cPanel would do full restores, that would be a whole lot easier. I wonder why it can't?

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