Restore Into New Build

TheEngineer · April 22, 2019, 12:49:31 PM

My forum crashed over the weekend (https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=567344.0). I tried getting my host to revert us to a backup, but their backups apparently don't have all of the tables in them.

I just did a clean install of SMF onto the same server. I hoped I could pull down an export of the old site and then import it into the new one. When importing I get just a generic phpMyAdmin Error red bar with no information in it. I'm guessing I'm missing something... I just want to recover my posts, users and attachments. I can redo the pages and reinstall the mods we had.

Doug Heffernan · April 22, 2019, 12:59:05 PM

For restoring/backing up medium/large databases phpmyadmin is not the best tool to do it. That is because most hosts have restrictions on file sizes for phpmyadmins. Imo it is better to use other tools, such as bigdump for import or mysqldumper for both import and export.

Kindred · April 22, 2019, 03:06:51 PM

if your database is missing tables, then you are just plain out of luck.

Seriously... you can't restore just some tables, because there are interactions and links BETWEEN various tables.

Sir Osis of Liver · April 22, 2019, 03:50:37 PM

Thought you looked familiar. Believe I did some work on your forum quite some time ago, can't find any notes. Anyway, it's remotely possible to rebuild a database that's missing tables, depending on which tables are missing. I've done it once on a large db that was purchased from a free host, and was missing a dozen tables. I know others here have done it. Not too difficult to replace settings table, have done that couple of times. Would need access to your cpanel to see what you have. If you want assistance, pm me here. Will have time to work on it tonight.

Doug Heffernan · April 22, 2019, 04:34:33 PM

Quote from: Sir Osis of Liver on April 22, 2019, 03:50:37 PM
I've done it once on a large db that was purchased from a free host, and was missing a dozen tables.

Really? Wow lol.

TheEngineer · April 22, 2019, 05:05:30 PM

Quote from: Sir Osis of Liver on April 22, 2019, 03:50:37 PM
Thought you looked familiar. Believe I did some work on your forum quite some time ago, can't find any notes. Anyway, it's remotely possible to rebuild a database that's missing tables, depending on which tables are missing. I've done it once on a large db that was purchased from a free host, and was missing a dozen tables. I know others here have done it. Not too difficult to replace settings table, have done that couple of times. Would need access to your cpanel to see what you have. If you want assistance, pm me here. Will have time to work on it tonight.

You sure did! You helped me with the UTF-8 conversion from you know where...

TheEngineer · April 22, 2019, 05:09:14 PM

My site is officially back up and running! It wasn't fun, but it worked.

I tried having the site restored by the host. Their restore points did not include the whole database, which is odd. I had them put it back to where I was this morning.

I installed a brand new SMF instance on my server. I manually, one by one, copied the tables from my crashed instance over to the new one. I ran the maintenance routine and voila! My site is mostly back up and running. I had to manually move the attachments over to the new install as well, but that wasn't a big deal to do within the server itself. Finally, I'm reinstalling my mods and we should be back to good.

The only thing that I have found to be missing are the thread view counts and PMs

TheEngineer · April 22, 2019, 05:23:01 PM

Anyone know what table PMs are in?

Doug Heffernan · April 22, 2019, 05:42:34 PM

Quote from: TheEngineer on April 22, 2019, 05:23:01 PM
Anyone know what table PMs are in?

smf_personal_messages and smf_pm_recipients where all the pm info is stored. You have also the smf_pm_rules table.

TheEngineer · April 22, 2019, 07:53:38 PM

Quote from: doug_ips on April 22, 2019, 05:42:34 PM
Quote from: TheEngineer on April 22, 2019, 05:23:01 PM
Anyone know what table PMs are in?

smf_personal_messages and smf_pm_recipients where all the pm info is stored. You have also the smf_pm_rules table.

Both tables are empty

Doug Heffernan · April 23, 2019, 08:31:19 AM

Quote from: TheEngineer on April 22, 2019, 07:53:38 PM
Quote from: doug_ips on April 22, 2019, 05:42:34 PM
Quote from: TheEngineer on April 22, 2019, 05:23:01 PM
Anyone know what table PMs are in?

smf_personal_messages and smf_pm_recipients where all the pm info is stored. You have also the smf_pm_rules table.
Both tables are empty

That means that all pm content is gone.

TheEngineer · April 23, 2019, 01:09:22 PM

Quote from: doug_ips on April 23, 2019, 08:31:19 AM
That means that all pm content is gone.

I had a feeling. That stinks, but ultimately this is largely great news for us. I pulled down a backup and I'll get into the regular habit of doing that. We're going to move to a new host that does it for us more reliably.

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Restore Into New Build