Moving small forum from one reseller to another reseller

[kabella]

Hi everyone and I hope this is the right place to post this.

I have two resellers. I built a small forum on one of my resellers more of less just for the experience of doing a forum and now it's going to be a forum for our community.

When I built the forum I just added it on as resellerdomain.com/phpbb.php

I need to now move it to my other reseller as forum.reseller.com with it's on cPanel.

It's in the file manager on reseller one with a folder named forum.

I've read so many different transfer ways it's about melted what little brain cells I have left.

Could someone give me the best solution to do this without having a meltdown of the rest of my weak mind.

Thanks in advance.
Kabella

 

[cPanelMichael]

Hello

You can backup the account on the source server using the "Backup" option in cPanel. Then, upload the backup archive to the destination server and request that your hosting provider restores it.

Thank you.

 

[iso99]

^ Do the steps above first.

The next thing you're trying to do is changing your forum's URL from a domain name to a sub domain.

First, logon to your forum's admin backend. This varies depending on your script, but there is always a configuration option of changing your domain name. Change your forum's url to the subdomain you wish to create. After saving that option, you won't be able to access your forum yet.

Step 2, create a subdomain under your primary domain. This will create a new directory under public_html.

Step 3, move every file and directory that is being used by your forum to the subdomain's directory.

Step 4, verify if your forum is working properly.

 

[kabella]

Thanks for your reply and suggestions. Actually I had never built a forum before so I thought I would give it a try. I decided to build it around our community, showed it to some friends and have been asked to make it public but private for us.

When I built the forum, having no clue it would work at the time nor what I was doing, all I did was add it onto one of my resellers as an extension.(please note my first post) I use the reseller to test sites on that I build and do not sell any space on it.

I own another reseller that I host some of my friends the small local mom and pops business on without any charge to them. (economy still not raging here). Instead of buying a domain for the forum I just made a sub domain with it's on cPanel on the reseller's main domain.

The forum is in the root of the reseller I built it on in a folder called forum. I need to back up that folder and the databases and move them over to the other reseller. I ask my host to move it for me and they told me they didn't move forums. The forum is built and the only user is me as the admin.

I was told this could easily be done thru WHM but everything I was told was in WHM is not in any of the three resellers I have so maybe I'm getting confused.

Once again, I thank you for your fast replys.

 

[cPanelMichael]

You will not be able to transfer the account through Web Host Manager itself with only reseller access. However, you could create a new account on the destination server, and then manually copy over the files/databases associated with the forum. Use FTP to download/upload the files, and then use the "Backups" option in cPanel on the source server to download the MySQL database.

Thank you.

 

[Infopro]

I need to back up that folder and the databases and move them over to the other reseller.

In cPanel File manager, navigate into the /forums/ directory that you mentioned.
At top of window there, click Select all.
At top of window above that, find, Compress, and click that.
Select Zip Archive on popup, then click Compress Files.

That takes care of your forums files.

Back in cPanel, Files section, Backups, you should see your databases listed.
Select yours and download.

That takes care of the Database you need for the forum.

On the new cPanel account, upload the forum archive you created, to a directory of your choice.
Click it once to highlight, then click Extract, at top of window.
(delete or move out of public_html/ the archive afterward)

That takes care of the forums files being placed on the new account.

Back in the new accounts cPanel once more, cPanel, Files section, Backups again, find the Restore a MySQL Database. Select the backed up DB and restore it.

That may or may not take care of your database being placed on the new account, depending on it's size. If it's very small, this will work easy enough for you.

Your forums has a configuration file with the database username and password in it. Assuming your new cPanel account does not have that same user in the system, you'll need to add a user here so this database works your forum files.

cPanel, Databases, MySQL databases section is your next stop to do that.

Down below listed databases there, you'll see the tools to add users and databases.
Add new user, give that user a password, click Create User.

Go back there again, Down below where you added the database user, and select the new user from menu, and the newly restored DB that should be listed there on the other menu, and then click Add, to add the user to the database.

If you got this far, great news! You're almost done.

Find that configuration file in your /forums/ files, (for example in vBulletin it's located in includes/config.php) open it, and modify the lines your see in that file in relation to the database, so they reflect this new setup proper.

Under most normal circumstances, this task isn't hard. Especially with small new forums such as you describe yours is.

The details above may vary a little depending on your forum software as far as config file of course, and also if that database is large, not small. Large databases will probably not be able to be restored as mentioned.


HTH!

 

[kabella]

Thanks and that's what I needed. You went way above the call of duty to do this for me and I am much in appreciation for your time and effort.

I made a copy of it and put it in my workbook. I've also sent it to a friend in Latvia getting ready to have to do the same thing. This will be a excellent learning experience for us.

It is a small forum so maybe no problems. I'll let you now how it goes when I get time to it this evening.

Once again I thank you for your valuable time and effort for doing this for me.

kabella

 

[Infopro]

You're certainly welcome. I hope you do find it useful.

GL!

 

[kabella]

You're certainly welcome. I hope you do find it useful.

GL!

Thank you again, and I think you should make your directions a Sticky. A lot of people need or want to move a forum and like me didn't know how. You made it direct and not rambling and babbling around about how to do it.

 

[Infopro]

On a side note, that was my 11,000th post on these forums!

Might bring you good luck with your forums, who knows. :p

 

[kabella]

11,000...cPanel must be paying you a huge salary :D And I do feel good about being your 11K post.

I followed your directions and everything seemed to have worked like a charm.
I found the config file in the inc folder and changed the new db and admin in the editor and saved it.


The only issue I have now is the forum is not showing up live on the new server.

 

[Infopro]

You might want to check the domain name here to make sure you've got it right:
/http://www.intodns.com/

 

[kabella]

Ok, I checked the subdomain with the link you gave me and it's working and thank you for the link.

I checked it in the browser again this morning and got a mybb forum sql error but, it's a phpbb forum. There is not a mybb forum on either server and no mybb database on server 1 either.

SQL Error:
1045-Access denied for user "username_username for server1_phpb721 @localhost (using password: YES)
Query:
[READ] Unable to connect to MySQL Server then give me a link to the mybb community.

I have no clue and I don't understand the password yes thingy.

 

[cPanelMichael]

Open cPanel, browse to MySQL Databases, and check to make sure the MySQL username is added to the database, and that the names match what's used in your script configuration file.

Thank you.

 

[kabella]

This is what I have:

$config['database']['type'] = 'mysqli';
$config['database']['database'] = 'rabunfor_cqgtejwj_phpb721 ';
$config['database']['table_prefix'] = 'mybb_';

$config['database']['hostname'] = 'localhost';
$config['database']['username'] = 'rabunfor_cqgtejwj_phpb721 ';
$config['database']['password'] = 'S3i]PlP6-4';

 

[Infopro]

That website does not check sub.domains unfortunately.

This is what I have:

That's not a config from the file for a phpbb there, it is indeed from a mybb config file.

As cPanelMichael suggested, go back and look at what you actually have so far.

For example, when you uploaded/restored the database to the account, as I mentioned previously it will be showing on the MySQL Databases page. So, looking at that page, down bottom, do you see a database called:
abunfor_cqgtejwj_phpb721

If yes, to the right of that, do you see a user listed under the Users column called:
abunfor_cqgtejwj_phpb721


When you downloaded the database from the other server, was it called something like:
cqgtejwj_phpb721

Or something completely different?


Adding this here for good measure:
/https://www.phpbb.com/kb/article/rebuilding-your-configphp-file/

 

[kabella]

I have a confession to make...I forgot that I had tried a mybb and didn't like it compared to the phpbb and I forgot to delete it but I did delete the db for it. I just discovered that tonight when I realized I had moved the wrong forum over.

I deleted it and moved the correct one which is the phpbb forum. The screenshot shows you what's in cPanel when I moved the db over.

Here is what's in the config file

// phpBB 3.0.x auto-generated configuration file
$dbms = 'mysql';
$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbport = '';
$dbname = 'cqgtejwj_phpb721';
$dbuser = 'cqgtejwj_phpb721';
$dbpasswd = '(PX!7S613d';
$table_prefix = 'phpbb_';
$acm_type = 'file';
$load_extensions = '';

@define('PHPBB_INSTALLED', true);
// @define('DEBUG', true);

Here is the error I get now that I've replaced the correct forum;

General Error
SQL ERROR [ mysql4 ]
Access denied for user 'cqgtejwj_phpb721'@'localhost' (using password: YES) [1045]
An sql error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact an administrator if this problem persists.

I apologize for my mistake. I'm not a db person and this is my first forum but this has been a good learning experience for me and one I feel like i needed.

 

[Infopro]

Not a problem at all really, I suspected that to be the case. We've all been there once or twice.

You might want to read the long post above from the top again to get this sorted. I say that because if you look at the screenshot you posted, the listed database is still waiting on a user to be added to it. (User column is blank in your SS) I mentioned associating a user to the database, earlier.

At bottom of your screenshot we can see you have a user, and you have a database. Click Add, under the "Add User to Database" that you see there to add him to the database.

When you do click Add, stop for a moment. The result page will tell you what just happened. It'll be something like:

"User rabunfor_admin added to rabunfor_cqgtejwj_phpb721 database"

You need those details, they're the NEW details you need to add to that config file. As well as the password for rabunfor_admin of course.

These 3 items may be all you need to edit:
$dbname = 'cqgtejwj_phpb721';
$dbuser = 'cqgtejwj_phpb721';
$dbpasswd = '(PX!7S613d';

BTW, never post passwords anywhere, ever. To modify that users password, you do it in that same area. Type in the name again to the Add new user section, type in a new password, and save.