UBB.Developers Forums UBB.threads 7 Development How Do I? Transferring entire UBB to another domain

i want to transfer my UBB to another domain. is this possible? if yes, should i chmod the data files to their proper modes?

how can i do this? can someone help me on this?

thanks in advance...

ooooooooooo


I'm not going to lie to you. transferring a ubb is difficult, and takes paitence.

first, download the files, and up them in the correct format.

then, chmod them.

then, you need to make sure the perl paths are the same, sometimes they are /usr/bin/perl, I've also had them as /home/local/perl. those will be in ubb_lib.cgi, ubb_upgrade.cgi, cp.cgi (i think) and ultimatebb.cgi. to be sure, check the instrustions that came with the ubb.

next, find your absolute paths, and reset them in your vars_config.cgi.

upload that, chmod, then go straight to your control panel.

make sure everything works (99% of the time, it doesn't right away) then go over permissions on EVERY file again.

once you have done that, everything should be ok.

close the old board, and then link to the new one, and you're done.

(See below)

[ August 22, 2001: Message edited by: Charles Capps ]

Updated:


UBB Backup & Move Instructions

NOTE: Before beginning, you should contact your web hosting provider(s) and find out information on the server(s) being used in this operation.

Please remember - restoring a backed up UBB (or moving a UBB) is IMPOSSIBLE unless you have the full zip file for that particular version. For instance, if your UBB is 6.04a, and you need to move it, you can not perform the move using the latest files from the Members Area. If you need to move your UBB but do not have the full zip file for that version, you should upgrade the board to the latest stable UBB release BEFORE moving. Do not upgrade and move at the same time.

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Part 1: DOWNLOADING / BACKING UP YOUR UBB:

If you are on NT or Windows 2000, please skip to the "DOWNLOADING YOUR UBB FROM THE SERVER USING FTP" section.

If you are on Unix or a Unix-like server:
- Do you have, and are you comfortable with the Unix command line?
- If so, do you have access to the following GNU commands?
- tar
- gzip

- If you are comfortable with using these commands, please skip to the section "USING TAR AND GZIP TO ARCHIVE YOUR UBB ON A UNIX SERVER"

- If you do not have, or are uncomfortable with using the Unix command line, please skip to the section "DOWNLOADING YOUR UBB FROM THE SERVER USING FTP"

--- --- --- --- --- ---
--- SECTION 1: DOWNLOADING YOUR UBB FROM THE SERVER USING FTP

1) Open the FTP client that you normally use to transfer files to and from your web server. NOTE: On the Win32 platform, we advise using WS_FTP.

2) Please ensure that the following file extensions are set to ASCII (or TEXT) MODE in your FTP client. Please refer to the FTP client documentation for details on how to set the extensions.
- .cgi
- .pl
- .file
- .threads
- .pm
- .html
- .htm

3) Set your FTP client to preserve file case. Please refer to the FTP client documentation for details on how to do this.

4) Create a directory on your local system. You may name it whatever you wish, however it would be wise to give it a name such as "UBB Backup - August 15 2001" to be sure you know what it contains. We will refer to this directory as the "Backup" directory.

5) In the Backup directory, create four new directories, named "noncgi", "cgi", "variables", and "members"

6) Connect to the FTP server using the FTP client.

7) Set your FTP client to use AUTOMATIC mode. If your FTP client has no automatic mode, set it to Binary mode.

8) Navigate the FTP client to your UBB's non-cgi directory.

9) Download the IMAGE (.gif, .jpg, .png) files from the non-cgi directory into your LOCAL Backup/noncgi directory. BE SURE ONLY TO DOWNLOAD THE IMAGE FILES!

9a) If you have a non-cgi/graemlins directory on the server, download that directory to your LOCAL Backup/noncgi directory (so that there is a new directory, Backup/noncgi/graemlins)

9b) If you have a non-cgi/icons directory on the server, download that directory to your LOCAL Backup/icons directory (so that there is a new directory, Backup/noncgi/icons)

10) Set your FTP client to use ASCII (or text) mode.

11) Select the following directories with your FTP client:
- Forum* (where * stands for any number)
- BanLists
- Archives
- styles
- Templates

11a) Select the following files with your FTP client:
- categories.file

Please see your FTP client documentation on how to select multiple files and directories at once.

12) Download the selected files and directories into the Backups/noncgi using your FTP client. This may take some time.

Be sure to set your FTP client to preserve the directory structure, if it asks what to do with the directories!

13) Navigate the FTP client to your UBB's Variables directory. Normally, this is the same directory as the UBB's CGI directory

14) Set your FTP client to use ASCII (or text) mode. You will use ASCII mode for all following transfers.

15) Select all files from your Variables directory that have names starting with "vars_".

16) Download all the selected files into your LOCAL Backup/variables directory.

17) Navigate the FTP client to your UBB's CGI directory.

18) Select all the files from your CGI directory that do NOT start with "vars_".

18a) Select all directories under the CGI directory, EXCEPT the Members directory, if you have placed it there.

19) Download all the selected files into your LOCAL Backup/cgi directory.

Be sure to set your FTP client to preserve the directory structure, if it asks what to do with the directories!

20) Select all the files from your Members directory

20a) Select all directories under the Members directory

21) Download all the selected files into your LOCAL Backup/members directory.

Be sure to set your FTP client to preserve the directory structure, if it asks what to do with the directories!

22) Your backup is now complete. If you are moving your UBB, please skip to Part 2.


--- --- --- --- --- ---
--- SECTION 2: USING TAR AND GZIP TO ARCHIVE YOUR UBB ON A UNIX SERVER

WARNING: This area is for experienced users only. If you are unsure of your abilities to use the Unix command line, you should use a standard FTP backup. See the section "DOWNLOADING YOUR UBB FROM THE SERVER USING FTP".

NOTE: We assume that you are using the GNU utilities. The syntax and options we will use may be key to the GNU utilities. You may be unable to perform the exact commands using non-GNU edition of the tools.

WARNING: These procedures may create extremely large files for a short period of time. These files may double the ammount of disk space that your UBB uses. Please be careful that you do not encounter a disk space quota!

1) Log in to your server.

2) Change directories to your UBB's CGI directory

3) Issue the following command:
tar cvfz UBBCGI.tar.gz cp*.cgi u*.cgi Modules

3a) If your tar warns that it does not know the switch 'z', issue the following two commands instead:
tar cvf UBBCGI.tar cp*.cgi u*.cgi Modules
gzip UBBCGI.tar

4) Change directories to your UBB's Variables directory. Normally, this is the same directory as your CGI directory.

5) Issue the following command:
tar cvfz VARIABLES.tar.gz vars*.cgi

5a) If your tar does not know 'z', issue the following two commands instead:
tar cvf VARIABLES.tar vars*.cgi
gzip VARIABLES.tar

6) Change directories to your UBB's noncgi directory.

7) Issue the following command:
tar cvfz NONCGI.tar.gz *.jpg *.gif *.png ca*.file BanLists graemlins styles Templates

7a) If you have a braindead tar, issue the following two commands instead:
tar cvf NONCGI.tar *.jpg *.gif *.png ca*.file BanLists graemlins styles Templates
gzip NONCGI.tar

8) Issue the following command:
tar cvfz FORUMS.tar.gz Forum*

8a) If you have a braindead tar, issue the following two commands instead:
tar cvf FORUMS.tar Forum*
gzip FORUMS.tar

WARNING: Your server may respond with an error message similar to "Argument list too long" with the above tar commands. This occurs when there are too many files to be included in the archive at once. In this case, you will need to create a "Forum#.tar" file for each of your forums. For instance, to compress Forum 1:
tar cfvz Forum1.tar.gz Forum1

or

tar cfv Forum1.tar Forum1
gzip Forum1.tar

Or to compress Forum87:
tar cfvz Forum87.tar.gz Forum87

or

tar cfv Forum87.tar Forum87
gzip Forum87.tar

9) Change directories to your UBB's Members directory.

10) Issue the following command:
tar cvfz MEMBERS.tar.gz *

10a) If you have a braindead tar, issue the following two commands instead:
tar cvf MEMBERS.tar *
gzip MEMBERS.tar

11) You download the .tar.gz files you have created:
- noncgi/NONCGI.tar.gz
- cgi/UBBCGI.tar.gz
- variables/VARIABLES.tar.gz
- noncgi/FORUMS.tar.gz
or
- noncgi/Forum*.tar.gz
- members/MEMBERS.tar.gz

12) Create a directory on your local system. You may name it whatever you wish, however it would be wise to give it a name such as "UBB Backup - August 15 2001" to be sure you know what it contains. We will refer to this directory as the "Backup" directory.

13) In the Backup directory, create four new directories, named "noncgi", "cgi", "variables", and "members"

14) Unzip the MEMBERS.tar.gz file into the Backup/members directory.

15) Unzip the FORUMS.tar.gz (or Forum*.tar.gz) and NONCGI.tar.gz files into your Backup/noncgi directory.

16) Unzip the VARIABLES.tar.gz file into your Backup/variables directory.

17) Unzip the UBBCGI.tar.gz file into your Backup/cgi directory.

18) Once the contents of the Backup directory look proper (i.e. all the files are in place, in the proper directories), DELETE the .tar.gz files from your local system and from the server.

--- --- --- --- --- ---
--- SECTION 3: USING A ZIP CLIENT TO ARCHIVE YOUR UBB FROM THE WINDOWS TERMINAL

NOTE: This section assumes that you have access to Windows Terminal Services, VNC, PCAnywhere, or some similar product which allows you to see the Windows desktop on your server.

1) Use Windows Explorer to locate your UBB directory structure.

2) Create a Temporary directory in a convenient place, such as the Desktop.

3) Open a second Explorer window, and navigate to the Temporary directory

4) Make copies of your UBB's CGI, Variables, Non-CGI, and Members directories, inside the Temporary directory

5) Delete the noncgi/cache-(something) directory inside the Temporary directory.

6) Use the zip client to create a single archive from the Temporary directory. Use the "preserve directories" option.

7) Delete the Temporary directory.

8) Use a file transfer client (your terminal client may have an option to do so) to obtain the zip file.

9) Unzip the zip file on your LOCAL system.

10) Create a directory on your local system. You may name it whatever you wish, however it would be wise to give it a name such as "UBB Backup - August 15 2001" to be sure you know what it contains. We will refer to this directory as the "Backup" directory.

11) In the Backup directory, create four new directories, named "noncgi", "cgi", "variables", and "members"

12) From the zip file directory, MOVE the contents of the Members directory into the Backup/members directory

13) From the zip file directory, MOVE the contents of the noncgi directory into the Backups/noncgi directory

14) From the zip file directory, MOVE the contents of the cgi directory into the Backups/cgi directory

15) From the zip file directory, MOVE the contents of the variables directory into the Backups/variables directory.

NOTE: You may not have a variables directory seperately. Normally you can find the variables files in the CGI directory. They are given names that start with "vars_". Move these into the Variables directory instead.


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Part 2: RESTORING YOUR UBB FILES

NOTE: This section assumes that you have a directory on your local machine containing the backed up UBB files. We will refer to this directory as the Backup directory.

1) Set up the UBB on the server. Use the UBB zip file that you used to first install the UBB. DO NOT USE THE UBB SCRIPT FILES THAT YOU DOWNLOADED IN THE BACKUP.

2) Verify that the newly installed UBB is functioning properly. Register members, post topics and replies, send private messages, etc. Verify as many functions as possible. Do not attempt to restore files to a UBB that is not functioning properly.

NOTE: Messages and member profiles created during testing will be deleted during the restoration.

3) Please ensure that the following file extensions are set to ASCII (or TEXT) MODE in your FTP client. Please refer to the FTP client documentation for details on how to set the extensions.
- .cgi
- .pl
- .file
- .threads
- .pm
- .html
- .htm

4) Set your FTP client to preserve file case. Please refer to the FTP client documentation for details on how to do this.

5) Point your FTP client to the UBB's Variables directory on the server.

6) From the Backup/Variables directory on your local machine, upload ALL files *EXCEPT FOR vars_config.cgi*. DO NOT OVERWRITE vars_config.cgi UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

7) If you are on a Unix server, you will need to set permissions on the vars_ files. Normally, '777' or '-rwxrwxrwx' is required. Please consult your hosting provider if they require different permissions for files that need to be written to by CGI scripts. Please consult your FTP client documentation for instructions on setting file permissions.

8) Point your FTP client to the UBB's NonCGI directory on the server.

9) From the Backup/NonCGI directory on your local machine, upload all of the files and directories.

Be sure to set your FTP client to preserve the directory structure, if it asks what to do with the directories!

10) If you are on a Unix server, you will need to set permissions on the NonCGI files. Normally, '777' or '-rwxrwxrwx' is required. Please consult your hosting provider if they require different permissions for files that need to be written to by CGI scripts. Please consult your FTP client documentation for instructions on setting file permissions.

NOTE: You will need to set permissions on each file individually. Setting permissions on a directory does not set permissions on each file within it! If you have access to a command prompt, you may use a single command to perform this task. Change directories to your UBB's NonCGI directory and issue this command: chmod -R 777 *

11) Point your FTP client to the UBB's Members directory on the server.

12) From the Backup/Members directory on your local machine, upload all of the files and directories.

Be sure to set your FTP client to preserve the directory structure, if it asks what to do with the directories!

13) If you are on a Unix server, you will need to set permissions on the Member files. Normally, '777' or '-rwxrwxrwx' is required. Please consult your hosting provider if they require different permissions for files that need to be written to by CGI scripts. Please consult your FTP client documentation for instructions on setting file permissions.

NOTE: You will need to set permissions on each file individually. Setting permissions on a directory does not set permissions on each file within it! If you have access to a command prompt, you may use a single command to perform this task. Change directories to your UBB's NonCGI directory and issue this command: chmod -R 777 *

14) Close your FTP client and open your UBB control panel in a browser window. You should be able to log in using your old user name and password.

15) Select Maintenance -> Upgrade Your UBB. Click the Upgrade button.

NOTE: If you are using a UBB version prior to 6.1.0, you will not have an "Upgrade Your UBB" function. You should instead ignore this step and continue with the instructions.

16) Select Maintenance -> Rebuild Forum Stat Files. Select "All Forums" and click the submit button. This process may take some time - do not interrupt it!

17) Select Maintenance -> Rebuild Search Index. Click the submit button on the page that appears. This process may take some time - do not interrupt it!

18) Select Maintenance -> Rebuild Member Files. Click the submit button on the page that appears. This process may take some time - do not interrupt it!

19) Select Maintenance -> Update Member Post History. Click the submit button on the page that appears. This process may take some time - do not interrupt it!

20) Your UBB should now be functioning properly.