Upgrade 7.2-7.6 question

Hangin' Around Joined: Nov 02, 2004 Posts: 31

Good morning!

Background
I'm currently running a site (7.2) that I'd like to upgrade to 7.6. It's a site I've taken over during the last year or so that someone else had run previously and installed a lot of extra stuff. I'd rather do a clean install so I can get rid of the crap that was installed over the last few years BUT I'd like to keep my forums, members, content (pages, news, etc.)

Guess it's like loading a fresh Windows install but keeping all my (current) programs. I don't care about having to reload Sentinel and some other blocks/modules but I'd hate to lose the important stuff I listed above.

Questions
1. If I restore the database, that keeps all the tables that are not needed any longer (that were maybe installed by scripts that are no longer used). Are there particular tables I should keep in order to preserve the info? Then I can just use the new tables that are created with the fresh install.

2. Should I just restore the whole db and sort through the tables, dropping the ones that are no longer necessary? I guess with this there are upgrades/updates to the db that are made with the new version so I'm hesitant to do this, though I guess I could run the 7.2->7.3, 7.3-7.4, etc upgrade scripts to correct that.

Summary
I'd like to do the best way possible with minimal headache and worry about losing everything. Guess if I make a good backup I should be okay but I'd rather it be smooth.

Thanks in advance. Very Happy

Subject Matter Expert Joined: Feb 23, 2004 Posts: 358

Do a good solid db backup (all tables, including ones you may end up dropping).

Prepare to make a second backup. This time, use the nuke.sql as a template, and only select the tables from your old db that match table names from the nuke.sql.

Install the 7.6 filesystem. Do NOT install any 3rd party or modified Modules at this time!

Restore the second backup as your main db. Edit your config.php. Run all upgrade scripts as necessary. Go into phpMyAdmin, and shut off any unnecessary blocks (these unsupported blocks are what cause a huge majority of problems/errors with upgrading). This is done by editing the 'active' field to 0 (zero). The only blocks that should be set to 1 are: modules (site menu), administration, and login.

At this point, you should have all Users, Forums, News articles, FAQ, Content, etc all restored and ready to go. You now have a 'default' Nuke install, but populated with all of your old data.

The rest of the process doesn't necessarily go in any order... you can start turning on blocks, 1 at a time, and see if they throw errors or behave erratically. You may need to upload some images or language files, etc., to make some of the old blocks work again. Some blocks may require certain modules to be re-installed, and as well, you can start adding modules back in that you want to keep. Any tables required by modules being brought over will be in your 1st backup, so they are easy to pull back over. Any db tables that you want to start out as 'empty' (like last seen, etc.), you can just bring over the structure and no data.

Doing it like this, bringing old stuff over 1 at a time and adding db entries as needed, will leave you with a clean db and only the tables you're going to end up using long-term. You gotta have patience for this, and work slow. There may be certain file edits necessary, etc. If you turn on too many things at once, you'll have so many errors it will be hard to sort out.

PHrEEk

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:48 pm

Thanks for the info. I guess I can import the 2nd db and have config.php pointing to that instead of the old one, just to test it out right?

I see where you're going with the update and it makes sense. Comparing the old tables to the new "fresh" one is what I was thinking. Can phpmyadmin make a backup file of only selected tables? I always do a full backup, then figured I'd drop unused tables. But your way sounds better.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 2:18 pm

mrkablooey wrote:

Thanks for the info. I guess I can import the 2nd db and have config.php pointing to that instead of the old one, just to test it out right?

That's fine... whatever works Wink

mrkablooey wrote:

I see where you're going with the update and it makes sense. Comparing the old tables to the new "fresh" one is what I was thinking. Can phpmyadmin make a backup file of only selected tables? I always do a full backup, then figured I'd drop unused tables. But your way sounds better.

Yes, phpMyAdmin can backup only selected tables. Load the db and select the Export tab. By default, all of the tables are highlighted abd prepared to be backed up. Use Shift-click and CTRL click to select only the tables you want for a particular backup job. You can backup just 1 table if you want to. Then you can select 'features' for the backup, such as structure only, data only, or structure and data. Usually, the bbsearch_wordlist and bbsearch_wordmatch tables are the largest, so I usually back them up as individual backups for ease in restoring later.

PHrEEk

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 2:22 pm

okay, great! for the backup i want structure AND data, right? Wink