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Question about importing from VBulletin to Vanilla

edited February 2012 in Vanilla 2.0 - 2.8

Hi,

I hope there will be a very quick "no it won't" answer to this question.

I really like Vanilla and I want to move my VBulletin posts and users across to it. My existing forum is very busy right now so my question is simple -

Once I run the VBulletin to Vanilla import tool will I still be able to run my VBulletin forum as usual (i.e. I want to ensure that running the exporter/importer script won't delete or break the existing VBulletin SQL database in any way)?

The reason I ask is I want to test how well the import tool works and keep running my existing VBulletin forum for a few days.

Thanks,
Rob

Best Answers

  • x00x00 MVP
    edited February 2012 Answer ✓

    The importer does not change the source database. It extracts the data and packages it so it can be imported. Having said that it is always good idea to make you own backups.

    The new database is from a snapshot of the old forum, so new post on the old forum, after the import, with no be linked after the fact.

    grep is your friend.

  • LincLinc Detroit Admin
    Answer ✓

    Always make a backup first.

    No, the export doesn't touch the existing data. It will use temporary tables to facilitate some data dumping.

Answers

  • 422422 Developer MVP

    I believe @lincoln has done this succesfully. Good luck and even better move :)

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • x00x00 MVP
    edited February 2012 Answer ✓

    The importer does not change the source database. It extracts the data and packages it so it can be imported. Having said that it is always good idea to make you own backups.

    The new database is from a snapshot of the old forum, so new post on the old forum, after the import, with no be linked after the fact.

    grep is your friend.

  • LincLinc Detroit Admin
    Answer ✓

    Always make a backup first.

    No, the export doesn't touch the existing data. It will use temporary tables to facilitate some data dumping.

  • Thanks very muich all. That's my question answered. I realise the point about it capturing the forum at the point it is exported and my users are aware of that. Thanks Lincoln for the reassurance over not touching the existing data and yes, I always back-up as a precatution anyhow.

    I thought this would be the case as my other experiences with this software have all been good ones with all options taken care of. It's a great piece of software - thanks!

  • thought this would be the case as my other experiences with this software have all been good ones with all options taken care of. It's a great piece of software - thanks!

    It is great, but it is important to understand it is about as far removed from vBulletin in ethos as you can get. It is also relatively in its infancy. There will be niggles, but you with it a flexible framework.

    grep is your friend.

  • Thank you, I appreciate it is very different and I really like that. I think it is much more to my needs.

    I have a further question though, which I hope is OK:

    My Vbulletin SQL database is big - over 1GB - as the forum has been going for about six years.

    So, I thought I should save to the server. But I have two problems:

    1. I created a new folder underneath my Vbulletin forum folder called "files" and gave it all permissions (0777) and dropped the Vanilla import file into it. But when I try to access the vanilla file I get an "Internal Server Error" - any suggestions on what is causing it? Is it that I can't create a new folder in Vbulletin like this (I realise Vbulletin q's are not this site's forte but just wondering if anyone can help)

    2. So, as an alternative, I tried saving to server just from my VBulletin forum folder (not from a sub folder) and that promptly crashed the SQL database. Is that because - a) I currently have a lot of online users on and therefore I need to switch off my forum for a few hours to do the import or b) my database is so large this importer may not work?

    Any thoughts on how to transfer a database of this size would be really appreciated.

    Thanks very much for all the comments and answers so far.

    Rob

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