Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

This is an archive of the phpBB 2.0.x support forum. Support for phpBB2 has now ended.
Forum rules
Following phpBB2's EoL, this forum is now archived for reference purposes only.
Please see the following announcement for more information: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1385785
Locked
mike=).
Registered User
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:21 pm

Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by mike=). »

As support for phpBB 2.0.x will be withdrawn on January 1st 2009, it seems I just found this place in time.
(If this is not the correct place for this post, please feel free to move it to where it belongs).

Short intro.

I run a website, with a forum for the users. The forum is an integrated part of the site.
The forum was set up 4 years ago by a friend, who is now unavailable. The software is phpBB 2.0.17

There are various problems with the forum at the moment but as the site itself requires a lot of attention, I have not had the oppurtunity to tackle the current problems previousy. I have no experience whatsoever with coding/scriptng phpBB. At present I administrate and moderate the board, that is all.

The main problems are spam (mainly russian / chinese bots) and broken or corrupt tools in the admin section.

Should I attempt to upgrade the software? Obviously 2.0.17 (2001) is hopelessly out-dated. In this case I have been warned that there will almost certainy be big problems with the skins and possibly with the navigation within the site. Or should I attempt to add a toolkit and install one or more MOD's as described in the first post? Then try to repair or install tools to do the things required? As mentioned... I have no experience at all with phpBB.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I will pm our forum link to anyone who can give advice or help in any way.

Thanks upfront

Michael.
espicom
Registered User
Posts: 17905
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:14 am
Location: Woodstock, IL

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by espicom »

Yes, upgrade. Begin by backing up your database. before any of the following.

Start by downloading the v2.0.23 files, and run the "install/update_to_latest.php" script you will find in the archive. That will prepare your database for the upgrade to 3.0.

Follow the instructions in the v3.0 install, to put the v3 board in a different directory from the v2 board. Once the install is complete, you can re-run the install program and select "convert", to bring in the data from your original board.

More information can be found in the v3 support areas.
Jeff
Fixing 1016/1030/1034 Errors | (obsolete link) | MySQL 4.1/5.x Client Error | phpBBv2 Logo in ACP
Support requests via PM are ignored!
"To be fully alive is to feel that everything is possible." - Eric Hoffer
mike=).
Registered User
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:21 pm

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by mike=). »

Thank you for your reply Jeff, and Merry Christmas !!

I will be rather limited in time for the next two days, and I shall be taking things VERY carefully so as not to damage or destroy the forum. A few questions upfront:
1. will I be doing all the work online (remote), or can some be done locally?
2. what is the database exactly? Is that the memberlist (nick+passwords), the posts made, the appearance of the forum (look, layout etc.) or the software itself?
3. cyrillic font is neccesary for the forum. Does this have to be added seperately?
4. I have a site redirect for domain.ru -> domain.com. The forum does not. Can this be implemented, i so how and when?

v2.0.23-files downloaded.

Thanks, Michael.
User avatar
ric323
Former Team Member
Posts: 22910
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:33 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Name: Ric
Contact:

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by ric323 »

mike=). wrote:1. will I be doing all the work online (remote), or can some be done locally?[/quote[
It is intended to be done online, but it is possible to do locally if you run into timeout limits set by your hosts.
This article describes how: Knowledge Base - Offline Conversions
2. what is the database exactly? Is that the memberlist (nick+passwords), the posts made, the appearance of the forum (look, layout etc.) or the software itself?
It is ALL the dynamic content of your board. Users, posts, PMs, forum names.
It is not the software itself, or your skins.
3. cyrillic font is neccesary for the forum. Does this have to be added seperately?
phpBB3 uses UTF, which supports all standard fonts, including cyrillic.
4. I have a site redirect for domain.ru -> domain.com. The forum does not. Can this be implemented, i so how and when?
[/quote]
phpBB3 will happily adapt to whatever path it is accessed by, so long as you don't change a setting in the ACP for "Force URL" to true.
The Knowledge Base contains solutions to many common problems!
How to fix "Doesn't have a default value" and "Incorrect string value: xxx for column 'post_text' " errors.
How to do a clean re-install of the latest phpBB3 version.
Problems with permissions? Read phpBB3 Permissions
mike=).
Registered User
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:21 pm

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by mike=). »

Thank you ric323 for your reply !!

I shall be working online as much as possible, using my ftp software (flashfxp) to contact and organise remote.

Ideally, I would want to setup an identical forum parallel to the existing one, with the update software, renamed as http: //www.domain.com/forum1. Then debug, check the skins, and finally when all is ok, replace the database of forum1 with the up-to-date database of ../forum, then "throw the switch" (ie re-name/replace ../forum with ../forum1). This should avoid messy re-directs and 'under construction' pages for the next weeks. Please let me know if this approach wiil NOT work.

I'll bear the other points in mind.

espicom: I have downloaded the phpBB v.2.0.23 zip from forgesource. There is no 'archive' directory. The best I can find is an "update_to_latest" file in the "install" directory. So ignoring the "install" and "upgrade" files.

To make the database backup, I have gone to Database Utilities : Backup in the phpBB administration section. Then selected the options: "full backup" YES, "additional tables" NONE, "Gzip compress file" NO.
The file is stored on my local machine as phpbb_db_backup.sql .

I have copied the /domain.com/html/forum/ directory and renamed /domain.com/html/forum1/. This will be the one I'm working on. Checked, ../forum1/ is fully functional. The other one is hard-linked to the rest of the website. Screencap included of the ../forum1/ directory.
Start by downloading the v2.0.23 files, and run the "install/update_to_latest.php" script you will find in the archive. That will prepare your database for the upgrade to 3.0.
Which database should I prepare? If I want to prepare the ../forum1/ database online, then surely I will need the "install" directory online (ie at remote)? Not sure of next step.
(please be patient with me...I'm doing my best, and trying to understand things correctly at the same time).

Thanks, Mike

Image
User avatar
ric323
Former Team Member
Posts: 22910
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:33 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Name: Ric
Contact:

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by ric323 »

mike=). wrote: Ideally, I would want to setup an identical forum parallel to the existing one, with the update software, renamed as http: //www.domain.com/forum1. Then debug, check the skins, and finally when all is ok, replace the database of forum1 with the up-to-date database of ../forum, then "throw the switch" (ie re-name/replace ../forum with ../forum1). This should avoid messy re-directs and 'under construction' pages for the next weeks. Please let me know if this approach wiil NOT work.
You will have to set up a second database, and copy the information across if you want to do the update to .23 in parallel.
It is possible to do it all on your own PC. Have a look at Knowledge Base - Offline Conversions
espicom: I have downloaded the phpBB v.2.0.23 zip from forgesource. There is no 'archive' directory. The best I can find is an "update_to_latest" file in the "install" directory. So ignoring the "install" and "upgrade" files.
"The archive" means the ZIP file. It will have contained a folder called "install", which contained a file called "update_to_latest.php"
To make the database backup, I have gone to Database Utilities : Backup in the phpBB administration section. Then selected the options: "full backup" YES, "additional tables" NONE, "Gzip compress file" NO.
The file is stored on my local machine as phpbb_db_backup.sql .
Did the backup appear to complete normally? No frozen screens?
(The built in backup facility is prone to timeout errors, which would give you a truncated backup. This article says how to do it with phpMyAdmin. Knowledge Base - How to move a phpBB 2.0.x board to a new server
I have copied the /domain.com/html/forum/ directory and renamed /domain.com/html/forum1/. This will be the one I'm working on. Checked, ../forum1/ is fully functional. The other one is hard-linked to the rest of the website. Screencap included of the ../forum1/ directory.
Start by downloading the v2.0.23 files, and run the "install/update_to_latest.php" script you will find in the archive. That will prepare your database for the upgrade to 3.0.
Which database should I prepare? If I want to prepare the ../forum1/ database online, then surely I will need the "install" directory online (ie at remote)? Not sure of next step.
(please be patient with me...I'm doing my best, and trying to understand things correctly at the same time).
Both your boards are accessing the same database right now!
The Knowledge Base contains solutions to many common problems!
How to fix "Doesn't have a default value" and "Incorrect string value: xxx for column 'post_text' " errors.
How to do a clean re-install of the latest phpBB3 version.
Problems with permissions? Read phpBB3 Permissions
mike=).
Registered User
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:21 pm

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by mike=). »

ric323 wrote:
mike=). wrote: Ideally, I would want to setup an identical forum parallel to the existing one, with the update software, renamed as http: //www.domain.com/forum1. Then debug, check the skins, and finally when all is ok, replace the database of forum1 with the up-to-date database of ../forum, then "throw the switch" (ie re-name/replace ../forum with ../forum1). This should avoid messy re-directs and 'under construction' pages for the next weeks. Please let me know if this approach wiil NOT work.
You will have to set up a second database, and copy the information across if you want to do the update to .23 in parallel.
It is possible to do it all on your own PC. Have a look at Knowledge Base - Offline Conversions
I'll be doing it on remote. 2 reasons: 1) I am flat out of memory on my main PC, and I have an .htaccess problem to resolve before I can use Apache. 2) the site is hosted on a fast dedicated server, with easy access.
ric323 wrote:
To make the database backup, I have gone to Database Utilities : Backup in the phpBB administration section. Then selected the options: "full backup" YES, "additional tables" NONE, "Gzip compress file" NO.
The file is stored on my local machine as phpbb_db_backup.sql .
Did the backup appear to complete normally? No frozen screens?
(The built in backup facility is prone to timeout errors, which would give you a truncated backup. This article says how to do it with phpMyAdmin. Knowledge Base - How to move a phpBB 2.0.x board to a new server
The backup appears to be ok. I'll make a few more watching for timeouts, and checking file-sizes. I probably won't need the backup anyway, as there are now two databases on remote, and one downloaded by ftp on local.
ric323 wrote:
I have copied the /domain.com/html/forum/ directory and renamed /domain.com/html/forum1/. This will be the one I'm working on. Checked, ../forum1/ is fully functional. The other one is hard-linked to the rest of the website. Screencap included of the ../forum1/ directory.
Start by downloading the v2.0.23 files, and run the "install/update_to_latest.php" script you will find in the archive. That will prepare your database for the upgrade to 3.0.
Which database should I prepare? If I want to prepare the ../forum1/ database online, then surely I will need the "install" directory online (ie at remote)? Not sure of next step.
(please be patient with me...I'm doing my best, and trying to understand things correctly at the same time).
Both your boards are accessing the same database right now!
As I will be working with the forum software on remote, am I correct in assuming that there is no point in having two forum databases (public and 'beta')?

Ready to update now....not sure of next step
User avatar
ric323
Former Team Member
Posts: 22910
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:33 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Name: Ric
Contact:

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by ric323 »

If you want to work completely independant of your original board, then you need a duplicate seperate database for the second phpBB2 board (and you will then need a third database for the phpBB3 board).

I say this because the update_to_latest script modifies the database. The 2.0.17 board shouldn't mind that this has happened, but it won't be maintaining the extra fields correctly, so you are safest to experiment with a totally seperate database.
The Knowledge Base contains solutions to many common problems!
How to fix "Doesn't have a default value" and "Incorrect string value: xxx for column 'post_text' " errors.
How to do a clean re-install of the latest phpBB3 version.
Problems with permissions? Read phpBB3 Permissions
mike=).
Registered User
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:21 pm

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by mike=). »

ric323 wrote:If you want to work completely independant of your original board, then you need a duplicate seperate database for the second phpBB2 board (and you will then need a third database for the phpBB3 board).

I say this because the update_to_latest script modifies the database. The 2.0.17 board shouldn't mind that this has happened, but it won't be maintaining the extra fields correctly, so you are safest to experiment with a totally seperate database.
I think a duplicate seperate database for the second phpBB2 board is what I have now.
The first: http: //www.domain.com/forum/
The second: http: //www.domain.com/forum1/
{I have sent you the actual urls by pm, if you want to have a look. You might have some more suggestions.}
Yes, I would prefer to work completely independant, so that if I make any errors, I can simply start again, assuming the upgrade is irreversable. And I'm worried about the skins not working properly with current browsers after the upgrade.

How can I run the update_to_latest.php so that it modifies ../forum2/ and does not modify ../forum/?
And as the .php is not an application, how does it work?

Thank you for your time and patience ric !!
User avatar
ric323
Former Team Member
Posts: 22910
Joined: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:33 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Name: Ric
Contact:

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by ric323 »

mike=). wrote:I think a duplicate seperate database for the second phpBB2 board is what I have now.
The first: http: //www.domain.com/forum/
The second: http: //www.domain.com/forum1/
The URL of the board says nothing about what database it is using, that is controlled by the config.php file in each of those addresses. If you just copied config.php from the first board to the second board, then they ARE using the same database. The database is NOT stored inside the folder.
The Knowledge Base contains solutions to many common problems!
How to fix "Doesn't have a default value" and "Incorrect string value: xxx for column 'post_text' " errors.
How to do a clean re-install of the latest phpBB3 version.
Problems with permissions? Read phpBB3 Permissions
mike=).
Registered User
Posts: 19
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2008 4:21 pm

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by mike=). »

ric323 wrote:
mike=). wrote:I think a duplicate seperate database for the second phpBB2 board is what I have now.
The first: http: //www.domain.com/forum/
The second: http: //www.domain.com/forum1/
The URL of the board says nothing about what database it is using, that is controlled by the config.php file in each of those addresses. If you just copied config.php from the first board to the second board, then they ARE using the same database. The database is NOT stored inside the folder.
I copied the entire forum directory by ftp, then renamed and added to remote.
The config.php file is included in the forum directory.
What should I have done? (I have no knowledge of mysql, and only basic knowledge of php)

<?php

// phpBB 2.x auto-generated config file
// Do not change anything in this file!

$dbms = 'mysql';

$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbname = 'domain_ru_-_phpbb';
$dbuser = 'domain';
$dbpasswd = 'password';

$table_prefix = 'phpbb_';

define('PHPBB_INSTALLED', true);

?>
espicom
Registered User
Posts: 17905
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 1:14 am
Location: Woodstock, IL

Re: Upgrade from phpBB 2.0.17 -> ??? and debug

Post by espicom »

What Ric is getting at is that the database the forum uses and the directory that the files are in have nothing to do with each other - you can move the files around, and still "talk" to the same database. That is what the config.php file tells the programs... where the database is on the MySQL server, and what they're named.

Your host should provide a "database console" program, such as phpmyadmin, to allow you to do things like create a new database (not all hosts allow this), back up your data, and run SQL queries against it. You need to locate this program.

At the very least, and especially if you want to do this "off-line", you will want to do a database backup. The knowledge base article on moving your forum to another server covers what you need to do for that.
Jeff
Fixing 1016/1030/1034 Errors | (obsolete link) | MySQL 4.1/5.x Client Error | phpBBv2 Logo in ACP
Support requests via PM are ignored!
"To be fully alive is to feel that everything is possible." - Eric Hoffer
Locked

Return to “2.0.x Support Forum”