Remote IPB Forum conversion

manoj_sin · Post by **manoj_sin** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 11:03 am

Hi All,

I am having a forum running on IPB 2.3 and I need to convert that forum to phpBB3 now, as where we are running our IPB forum, is costing us a lot (monthly).

I currently I have a web server, where I have installed the phpBB2 and installed the convert_smf_111_v1b.zip.
I have the mysql dump of IPB forum, by using which, I have created the database on my phpBB web server.
I don't have the code of IPB available with me. It's running on remote server, which I dont have access on.
I now need to convert my IPB forum to phpBB.

What all steps, I have to opt.

Please suggest.
Thanks in advance.
Manoj Sinha

D¡cky · Post by **D¡cky** » Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:06 pm

convert_smf_111_v1b.zip is for converting an SMF board, not an IPB board. You want to use the IPB convertor that is listed in Available Convertors. You will need to install phpBB3 to use this convertor.

Because you don't have the IPB files, you will need to create a dummy file. With your text editor, create a file named init.php and place it in a new directory outside of the phpBB3 directory.

manoj_sin · Post by **manoj_sin** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:19 pm

Hi Dicky,

Thanks for your reply.

Please let me know, that what would be the content of the init.php file. As I don't have any idea about it at all.

Please help me. So that I can start my conversion.

-With Best Regards,
Manoj Sinha
[email protected]

D¡cky · Post by **D¡cky** » Thu Oct 28, 2010 3:33 pm

manoj_sin wrote:Please let me know, that what would be the content of the init.php file.

The content doesn't matter. it can even be empty. The convertor only checks for the existence of the file. It doesn't read what is inside of it.

manoj_sin · Post by **manoj_sin** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 3:45 pm

Hi Dicky,

You are a champ buddy.

I have done the migration.

Now I am able to login to my new phpBB3 forum with my admin account (the username and the password, which I was having into my IPB forum), but when I click on any of the master topic, and try to get into that, I am being asked to provide the password, but when I supply the same password (it is asking just the password, not the username), it says, that incorrect password.

Please help me.

: Incorrect Password Error; phpBB_error_password.PNG (13.86 KiB) Viewed 1641 times

D¡cky · Post by **D¡cky** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:52 pm

That looks like a passworded forum. Did you have the IPB forums set with a password?

You can change the forum password in the phpBB Administration Control Panel. Click the Forums tab in the ACP and find the forum you want to change. Click the green cog wheel in the row of the forum you want to change. You will then see where to change the forum password.

manoj_sin · Post by **manoj_sin** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 2:41 pm

Hi Dicky,

I am again stuck buddy.

The forum of IBf is running in Spanish language. Due to which, the name of the users are having some unregognised characters for MySQL running with English as the default language. When I am trying to use the IBF forum's database dump here in my mysql server, I am just getting 260 users, but actually there are some arround 1700 users existing in the original IBF forum.

Can you let me know the patch / module / package, by using, I can have all the data imported to phpBB3 from IBF.

-With Best Regards,
Manoj Sinha

D¡cky · Post by **D¡cky** » Wed Dec 15, 2010 3:33 pm

Corrupt characters can be the result of exporting/importing the database with improper encoding. Looking at the characters in the database may give you a clue if this is true. It may also be that the new database uses a different MySQL collation set.

The loss of users may be due to the encoding problem or it could be due to a server timeout during the conversion process. Have you checked some posts if they converted properly? Sometimes the text is cut-off because of improper encoding.

manoj_sin · Post by **manoj_sin** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 8:54 am

Hi Dicky,

While, searching, I found that the users (members) are not being imported properly. When I do the conversion, just only 260 users are being visible in the members section, and on the other hand, there are 1700 users in Live IPB forum.

At the starting of the conversion I use to get the below message:

Author notes
» Be sure that you have edited your IPB groups in convert_ipb23.php before continuing

How can I manage this, as the conversion file shows the below content:

// Define IPB groups
/* default Group_ids
1 = Validating
2 = Guests
3 = Members
4 = Administrators
5 = Banned
6 = Co-admin
7 = Global Moderators
*/
define('IPB_ADMIN', 4);
define('IPB_MODERATOR', 7);
define('IPB_MEMBER', 3);
define('IPB_GUEST', 2);
define('IPB_VALIDATING', 1);
define('IPB_BANNED', 5);
define('IPB_CO-ADMIN', 6);

Please help me.

Thanks,
Manoj Sinha

manoj_sin · Post by **manoj_sin** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:19 pm

Hi Dicky / All,

Please help me on my last post.

I am still in the stuck position.

-With Best Regards,
Manoj Sinha

D¡cky · Post by **D¡cky** » Tue Jan 11, 2011 4:38 pm

Manoj Sinha,

Using phpMyAdmin, look at the IPB groups table and see what the group id is for each of the groups listed. Then adjust the numbers for the define statements to match your group ids. The worst that can happen if you don't do this, is that some groups may have the wrong permissions or some members may be founders or moderators when they shouldn't be.

As for only 260 members showing in the memberlist, phpBB3 does not show inactive members in the member list. Look in the phpBB3 users table with phpMyAdmin and see how many rows there are. If there are about 2000 rows, then all your members have been converted.

manoj_sin · Post by **manoj_sin** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:12 pm

Hi Dicky,

Thanks for your reply but I am having only 425 entries in my users tables, as expected some arround 2000 / 1700 entries. In my IPB forum the members table is having 4519 entries.

I am totally messed up with this conversion.

Please help me.

-With Best Regards,
Manoj Sinha

D¡cky · Post by **D¡cky** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 7:44 pm

There were no errors during the conversion of the users? Is it always the same users and the same number of users that get converted?

It is difficult to say what the problem may be. It could be a server timeout happening. You could try turning on debug by uncommenting the two debug lines in the phpBB config.php file and see if any errors pop up.

You could try looking at the IPB members table and see if you can spot any differences between the members that did get converted and those that didn't. The only other thing that can be done is to put debugging code into the convertor and try to find why it is skipping over some users.