[split from] Need assistance with upgrade

[margverite]

I am admin on a 3.0.11 board. The man who set up the system is not around.
I mostly just do writing on it.

I've known that I've had to upgrade for a long time, but have been daunted with the prospect.
Today I got a new domain to test out Phpbb, because I was afraid if I messed with the one that was running I could break it.

I want to practice with the software on the new install and when I feel comfortable try to back -up and upgrade the old .
I need to know how to do a full back - up.
I backed up the public_html file and the databases but I don't think that included the images.

Will the old databases still work once I upgrade?
Will I be able to use the new site as a "mirror site" for back - up?
The hosting company told me they could point the old domain to the new.

Thank you for any help you are able to give. I am 100% newbie

[JimA]

If you back-up all phpBB files and the database, that should include the images/attachments. If you have a problem with transferring attachments, read this: KB - Transferring attachment files with Filezilla

When you do the upgrade on your live board, the changes will be made to your live database, so it will become unusable for your old 3.0 board and will become usable for your new 3.1 board. So therefore it is important to have a proper database back-up, in case something goes wrong with your upgrade.

I'm not sure what you mean with having a mirror site, could you elaborate?

[margverite]

Hi Jim,

Thank you for your helpful reply.

When I first thought of "mirror," I was thinking of what happens on YouTube where when a video which may be taken down (or lost for some reason), is "mirrored" at another location for safe - keeping.

In thinking of how this would relate to a BBS Forum. It gets more complicated.

I thought perhaps of shutting down the original board for new postings but leaving it up so citations and links would still be available? I thought of this since I'm not sure I can copy the original style when I upgrade. And I may want to take advantage of newer features?

If the site becomes unstable in the future; for instance if the server that it is on gets moth-balled [I'm told it's parked on a old server], then this would not work?

I not sure how the pointing of the domain works, but I'm thinking that would mess up the old links. So if we move to a new, but related domain name, I would just put a sticky notice at the top to describe / link where the further conversation was being held?

Aside from all this, I did not download the site properly over the past few days, so the .jpgs will not come through.. The file looks to be about 1 1/2 gigs short of what is parked on the server.

I tried to download today with the new settings and got an error message; a certification error and also a statement in the Filzilla scrolling information, that "server does not support non-ascii characters" And I can not download. Support was not able to help me, other than to say I should be able to download it and that they don't support download of binary..

It was suggested that I try another FTP client..by the tech. Don't have time to try that right now.


Marguerite

[Lumpy Burgertushie]

sounds like the tech does not know what he is talking about.

of course they support downloading binary.

if you are going to use filezilla then you must set it to always download in binary. most other ftp programs do this by default. downloading in binary is the preferred way to download everything.

ascii only works for text based files like php /html/ etc. and will ruin true binary files like zips/jpg/ etc.

however, binary will not harm text based files at all.

so, use binary always and be safe.

now, since apparently your host does not know what it is doing, I would suggest you do find a different ftp program so that there is no concern about that.

then, use that ftp to download the complete phpbb files to your computer.

use phpmyadmin or whatever your host provides for exporting your database.

save that sql file to your computer as well.

once you have those two things, it won't matter what else you do , you will always be just a few clicks away from a complete recovery if things go south.


there is no need to create any kind of "mirror" for this.
even if the new board crashes and you lose it all you will still have the backups from the old one on your computer and can use that to start over.

however, remember to keep good backups of the new board as well. how often you do that depends on how busy your board is. if you only get a few posts a week then backing up weekly would probably work just fine.
if you get hundreds of posts per day then daily backups are what you would need to do.
oh, and there is no need for a new domain name for any of this process unless you just want one.


luck,
robert

[margverite]

Hi, I was able to download to an external hard - drive even though the ftp would still not work to download to "C" drive.

I figure it must be that there are two types of Filezilla , one for portables and one for desktop situated hard - drives , and I had the wrong one installed for ordinary download? It could also be that I had no security certificate [since installed/remedied] and the Filzilla hung because of that.

Here is the error message I received.

errorcertificatesymcforum640private.jpg

I clicked "carry on" and the transfer still hung.

I belatedly remembered that the Forum needs to be shut down for the back -up, so I am going to do that and try another complete back - up. Again, the number of the gigs I download from public_html did not match the number said to be sitting on the server.

thank you for all help / work done to bring me through this !

Next step I think I have to read the manual [hope it's all done by Jan. when support ends] and open up [ execute ] the program I downloaded for the upgraded bbs.] I will also re - download the database.

[margverite]

Should read, "I will also re-download the Database structure through the Admin Control Panel"

margverite

[margverite]

I was able to turn the Board off for the download of the public_html file off the server via FTP

Do I need to take more files than that down, from that location and by that method. ? I noticed there were more files sitting there.

Also, I went into the Admin panel through the Forum interface and found where I am supposed to do the Database backup.

I've become confused. In the Admin panel off the Forum there are several choices as to what to back -up.
I don't know what the correct choice is anymore. I mis-placed the notes left by the man who set up the Forum.

The choices are Full, Structure only, Data only
g zip / text
store files locally or download ; tht one I understand.
And finally to "Select all"

I assume I click Full and Select all and text? and download.
That's what I just did and it didn't take long.

The cPanel from my hosting site is very confusing to me and I'm not sure I could do the same backup of the Database from there; OR If there is more to do from there.

Next I need to upload a Forum to a domain I bought to play with it and test. Should I upload the new stable 3.2 since that is the final goal. Or do I need to go first to 3.1? Thanks.

marguerite

[margverite]

Thank you Robert, I'm going ahead now.

I'm going to attempt to create a 3.0.11 on my new server and upload the backup, and see if it works.

Then I can mess with the upgrade on the board which is not live.

As you can see from my previous post I have very little idea what I'm doing.
But at least I know I'm in the dark.

Bye for now. Here it goes.. I probably won't be able to find a 3.0.11 version anymore?

[margverite]

I already thought of a potential problem.

I named the database something new on the new server.. Phew.

That means the lynch - pin of the entire operation , the most important file, will be named wrong?

damn.

[Lumpy Burgertushie]

the name of the database does not matter.

as long as you edit your config.php file to reflect the correct database info.

robert

[stevemaury]

I would not bother to backup the 3 search_* tables. You can rebuild them later.

[margverite]

I'm getting this error message when it's checking to see if everything is correct for install

"HTTP input character conversion is improperly configured"

HTTP output character conversion:
mbstring.http_output must be set to pass.

I have no idea how to fix that.

margverite

[margverite]

I sent a message about it to the tech support.
They were supposed to give me the port location for the server, but after a 8 hour wait, they emailed me but did not give me that info..

phew.

thanks for any advise or help or pointers you are able to give.

marguerite

[Lumpy Burgertushie]

not really sure why you are going through all of this. you could have had your board updated in about 10 minutes if you had just followed the instructions when you first started.

however, to answer your question about the server ports. in probably 99.99% of the time, you do not have to put anything in those blanks when doing an install.
the defaults are almost always fine.

also, there is no reason for you to be doing an install to begin with.

if your goal is to create a copy of your board to test the update/upgrade then you just do the backup from your live server. then you use those files to upload to the new test server. you import your database backup to the new database and you are done.

there is no need to even access the forms for installing etc.

once you have the duplicate of your old board on the new server, then you can do the upgrade by following the instructions. none of which include filling out any of those forms for an install.



robert

[margverite]

Thank you , Robert

I went into the htaccess and put in some code recommended..

Now I'm getting:

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, [no address given] and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

I did not know that if I uploaded the back up files that would be the Forum. I guess I just need to read the manual. I have now idea how to upload them either.

margverite.