Converter - phpBB 2.0.22 to phpBB 3.0.12

[mack the knife]

Hi there, over the coming weekend I'm going to attempt to convert an old phpBB 2.0.22 board up the latest version phpBB 3.0.12.

It looks fairly straight forward and I'm keeping my fingers crossed it goes without hitch.

The database is 562mbs and Gzip compression is on in the control panel. Do I need to turn Gzip compression off in the control panel in 2.0.22 first before I begin?

My other question is can I upgrade straight up to 3.0.12 using the coverter?

I've seen a few posts from people saying they done it in steps using earlier versions first.

Cheers,

Mack

[KevC]

You can go straight to 3.0.12.
Personally I'd turn gzip off I think, just to give it one less thing to deal with.

Your phpBB2 database will not be affected by the conversion so you can do a trial and see what happens without danger. You may find you'll have to do it offline though with such a large DB.

Here's a couple of canned responses with more info

Information on how to convert from phpBB2 to phpBB3 is here.

Basically, you must have both phpBB2 and phpBB3 installed on the same server. After you have finished installing phpBB3 you will have the option to convert your phpBB2 board using the built in converter. The information it asks you for is related to the phpBB2 installation and can be found in its config.php file on the server. All of your users, posts, forums, PMs etc are converted. However, styles and MODs are not (with the exception of the birthday and attachment MODs which are supported by the converter). The phpBB2 database is not converted per se, it is merely read and converted/moved to the new phpBB3 database, so if it goes wrong your old board will not be affected at all. At the end of the conversion, once you’re happy it’s all working, your phpBB2 database and files can be backed up and removed if you so wish. They are not connected to the new installation in any way.

Timeouts, blank screens and “500 internal error” messages suggest that your server is not coping with the conversion. You can ask your hosts if they can give you some leeway on the settings for a couple of hours while you try to convert, you can look in the site logs to see if there are clues for the blank screens or you can do the conversion offline
Offline Conversions

[mack the knife]

Thanks Kevin, I'll see how it goes over the weekend and if I start getting those errors I'll ask them if they can give me some leeway during the conversion.

Cheers,

Mack

[mack the knife]

Hi Kevin,

Just one more question for now concerning "rebuilding search index". I know the conversion does not include this and it is done later. Does the inbuilt one in phpBB3 allow for rebuilding search in large databases? I'm wondering if the inbuilt one in version 3 will do the job or will I need to ask my host for more leeway when rebuilding the search index too after hopefully successfully converting v2 to v3?

Thanks,

Mack

[KevC]

Yes there's an admin panel option to rebuild the search tables. That can be quite a hefty process. I once did that offline and just restored the new search tables.

[mack the knife]

Thanks Kevin, that's good to know. I know what you mean about it taking ages though. Last time I done a rebuild was a few years ago on the same board I'm looking to update and I think it took about 9 hours, so it's definitely going to take much longer this time. As long as it works I'm happy to wait. I've told everyone on the forum there to expect the site to be closed all weekend and possibly Monday while I'm doing this so I'm in no hurry.

Thanks again,

Mack

[mack the knife]

Hi again,

Well I've just started the conversion and I'm not sure if it is actually happening.

Connected to the old phpBB 2 database without issue, then I clicked on convert

First of all I got the following message on screen multiple times...

phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/install/convertors/functions_phpbb20.php on line 414: include(): Failed opening './../../forum/language/lang_/lang_main.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:')
[phpBB Debug] PHP Warning: in file [ROOT]/install/index.php on line 361: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at [ROOT]/includes/functions.php:3887)

Then the page went a sort of grey colour (I can still see the error messages on screen) but there is no more lines of code appearing on the screen, it just seems to have stopped, however in my tab bar in my browser it is still saying "conversion in process.

Is this still actually converting?

Cheers,

Mack

[KevC]

I suspect it's stopped. Looks like you don't have a default language set.

Follow this

viewtopic.php?p=7376485#p7376485

[mack the knife]

Hi Kevin,

I submitted the query but it's saying "You have to choose at least one column to display". Which column or columns do I choose?

Cheers,

Mack

[KevC]

You need to do that in the phpmyadmin SQL tab, not the query one.

Executing SQL Queries in phpMyAdmin

[mack the knife]

Thanks Kevin that fixed it, carrying on with conversion... currently step 17 of 28

Mack

[mack the knife]

Just got this error message...

Post ID: 86429 Message parser error:
Your message contains too few characters.

Is it safe to continue conversion?

Mack

[KevC]

It's probably a message where someone just wrote a smilie or something like that. You could find and edit it. The topic ID is in the URL.

It should be ok to carry on. Your 2x board is not being touched so if it doesn't work it's fine to run it again.

[mack the knife]

Cheers Kevin,

I think I'll just carry on and if that pops up again I'll just carry on with the conversion and see how I get on.

Mack

[mack the knife]

Hi Kevin,

The conversion completed successfully which is great, however I can't login to the board now. Getting this message on log in - It was not possible to convert your password when updating this bulletin board’s software. Please request a new password.

When I set up the empty phpBB board I used my username "Mack" and a gmail address and I got confirmation there saying the phpBB 3 board was installed succesfully.

However after the conversion it's not letting me in with the log in details I originally set up. When I click "I forgot my password" it tells me "The e-mail/username information submitted could not be found."

Any ideas whats happened?

Thanks,

Mack