XF 2.1 1.5 -> 2.1 Upgrade Path Advice

[digitalplumber]

Hi all! I have a scenario I'd like feedback on. I'm hoping someone has gone through this and can advise if my planned upgrade path is sound.

Here's an overview:

• 10+ year old forum (running XenForo for many years, lots of custom PHP scripts, WordPress install etc.)
• 100k messages/10k discussions/2k users
• Running XenForo 1.5

Over time I have decoupled most of the custom scripts and content from the XF install, but there's still a lot of cruft I'd like to get rid of. There are also lots of redirects, XF Add-ons and native functionality configured that I'd like to clean up.

I would like to run 2.1. I was thinking that rather than upgrade, I can perform a fresh full install on a fresh server, and then import the content (from XF to XF). My question is, is this a good idea? And if so, are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?

I don't mind doing a bit of extra work for a cleaner end result.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[MySiteGuy]

You probably already know XF 2 does not import from XF 1.5, it only upgrades and can import XF 2.x., but in case you don't know, I'm including the full process below:

Copy the XF 1.5 to another location, along with a copy of it's database. Set up the config.php to use this database, and change any paths in admin option settings to the new path.

Uninstall the XF 1.5 addons, except any such as the Resource Manager, Media Gallery or any which have XF 2.x equivalents and importers.

Copy the XF 2.1 installation into the same location the site has the duplicate XF 1.5 in, overwriting any file it prompts you about.

Go to:
www.yoursite.com/pathtoduplicatexenforo15/install

It will prompt you to upgrade the XF 1.5 install, and will go through the steps.

If everything works, you're ready for the next step:

Backup the "live" XF 1.5 installation. Then move it's files to another location (or delete them if you're 100% confident your backup is perfect).

Create a new empty database for XF 2.1. Copy the XF 2.1 files to where the live XF 1.5 forum used to be. Load it's install directory in your browser and it will go through the install process.

Once you're done with that, install the import addon.

Next, import the recently upgraded XF 1.5->2.1 site using the XF to XF importer.

Install a theme, check settings, etc. and you're done.

I suggest doing theme setup, and customization on a temporary copy of XF 2.1 in advance of all this. Then export and save the them, so you can quickly import it into the new live 2.1 site when you are ready for the process I outlined.

 

[digitalplumber]

Awesome info, much appreciated. Thanks heaps @MySiteGuy