A few pre-sale questions

[clubpromos]

I am on the market for a new forum software after years of using VB.
A friend who's in the same boat I am just told me tonight about Xenforo so I have answers to many things already plus I have read posts that contain answers to many of my questions - but not all of them.
My questions are:

• Any known issues with PHP 5.2.17 and MySQL 5.1.66-cll? Or with any of the PHP 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 that I should be aware of.
• Can I add (or is there an addon) custom input fields to the editor?
• I am coming from VB 3 with 4 millions messages, about 20k attachments and over 70k members. I am worried about downtime. On a good dedicated server (8 cores, 8 Gb RAM) with a good hosting would my migration take more than 2 hours? Less?
  I know that this one is really difficult to answer as many factors may impact the migration but I just would love some guestimate or user feedback if possible.
• I've read posts about migration from VB but is there a clear guide, a video would be so perfect that explains things?
• Does Xenforo sell migration services or is there a list of recommended partners whom I could hire?
• Now that IPB 4 is live (and it does look good, it's slick) are you guys on your way to releasing Xenforo 2.0?
  I want to make sure that I am not ending up in a dead end and that development is extremely active.
  The lawsuit with VB is settle, right? (sorry, I had to ask).
• Does Xenforo make it easy to create plugin/customize things?
• In VB there are little icons in the last message column. Those are selected by posters. Is there a similar feature in Xenforo or a plugin that does the same thing?
  It may seem silly but I'm sure my members will miss this.
• Any way to manage ads placement in the core software? I didn't find any in the demo.
• Is there a way to unhide subforums so users don't have to click to see them?

I think that's it for now.

 

[Amaury]

I am coming from VB 3 with 4 millions messages, about 20k attachments and over 70k members. I am worried about downtime. On a good dedicated server (8 cores, 8 Gb RAM) with a good hosting would my migration take more than 2 hours? Less?
I know that this one is really difficult to answer as many factors may impact the migration but I just would love some guestimate or user feedback if possible.

I recommend you install Elastic Search on your server.

Does Xenforo sell migration services or is there a list of recommended partners whom I could hire?

You will need a third-party.

Now that IPB 4 is live (and it does look good, it's slick) are you guys on your way to releasing Xenforo 2.0?
I want to make sure that I am not ending up in a dead end and that development is extremely active.
The lawsuit with VB is settle, right? (sorry, I had to ask).

XenForo 2.0 is in the works, but there is currently no ETA on its release.

Does Xenforo make it easy to create plugin/customize things?

Yes.

 

[clubpromos]

Thank you. I've added more questions to my post .

 

[teletubbi]

For migration you can look here for a partner.

 

[TPerry]

Any known issues with PHP 5.2.17 and MySQL 5.1.66-cll? Or with any of the PHP 5.3, 5.4, 5.5 that I should be aware of.

Best bet... install and use 5.5-5.6 if you can. No problems whatever with them. 5.2 series is not going to be supported much longer for the script.

Can I add (or is there an addon) custom input fields to the editor?

The editor can be somewhat extended...what type of "custom input fields" are you inquiring about? BBCode?

I am coming from VB 3 with 4 millions messages, about 20k attachments and over 70k members. I am worried about downtime. On a good dedicated server (8 cores, 8 Gb RAM) with a good hosting would my migration take more than 2 hours? Less? I know that this one is really difficult to answer as many factors may impact the migration but I just would love some guestimate or user feedback if possible.
I've read posts about migration from VB but is there a clear guide, a video would be so perfect that explains things?
Does Xenforo sell migration services or is there a list of recommended partners whom I could hire?

Its dependent upon multiple factors... I'm sure @Slavik or one of the ones that have done conversions frequently will chime in here shortly.
There are several people that do the conversions and a reasonable cost.

Now that IPB 4 is live (and it does look good, it's slick) are you guys on your way to releasing Xenforo 2.0? I want to make sure that I am not ending up in a dead end and that development is extremely active. The lawsuit with VB is settle, right? (sorry, I had to ask).

Development of 2.0 is under way, but very little has been released about it. The current 1.4.x line works fine, and the 2.0 will most likely be as well written.
The lawsuit is long over and settled.

Does Xenforo make it easy to create plugin/customize things?

The script is extendable fairly easily if you are familiar with the PHP language. The only real downfall is that there is no written documentation for it... it's in the script code itself.

In VB there are little icons in the last message column. Those are selected by posters. Is there a similar feature in Xenforo or a plugin that does the same thing? It may seem silly but I'm sure my members will miss this.

Is that in the base script, or is it provided by an add-on? I'm not really familiar with what you are referring to.

Any way to manage ads placement in the core software? I didn't find any in the demo.

Look in the templates for the ones with ad_ prefixed to the names. There are numerous ones available and they can use conditionals to display to user groups, certain users, etc.
As for ad positions:
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/visual-list-of-ad-locations.1383/

Is there a way to unhide subforums so users don't have to click to see them?

It is an option set in the control panel - you can have it so that the sub-forums are listed on the screen, or so that they have to click the arrow for the popup (controlled by the Show sub-forums popup option).

 

[clubpromos]

The editor can be somewhat extended...what type of "custom input fields" are you inquiring about? BBCode?

Not BBCode, additional fields like a dropdown to select from a predefined list of options and help members add necessary information into their topics.
Basically, 1 dropdown list, 1 URL input field and 1 toggle option yes/no.

Is that in the base script, or is it provided by an add-on? I'm not really familiar with what you are referring to.

This is what I was referring to https://tmpdmp.com/d8df0d0a9478a193/688fbb4f1acfada7 .
It's in the base script.

There are several people that do the conversions and a reasonable cost.

I surely hope to find someone with experience. I also need some theme customization done.

 

[Slavik]

I am coming from VB 3 with 4 millions messages, about 20k attachments and over 70k members. I am worried about downtime. On a good dedicated server (8 cores, 8 Gb RAM) with a good hosting would my migration take more than 2 hours?

With the Big Board Importer on average it takes ~10 minutes per million posts to import.

But your mileage may vary, some servers can import a million posts in 2 minutes, other 20, others 40.

 

[TPerry]

Not BBCode, additional fields like a dropdown to select from a predefined list of options and help members add necessary information into their topics.
Basically, 1 dropdown list, 1 URL input field and 1 toggle option yes/no.

Will require an add-on to extend it. What there are under the default is prefixes (standard 1 per topic title - but there is an add-on that will allow you to have to prefixes defined).

This is what I was referring to https://tmpdmp.com/d8df0d0a9478a193/688fbb4f1acfada7 .
It's in the base script.

Those are usually referred to as topic emoticons/icons. I think there is an add-on that will do that, but XenForo does not do it by default.

I surely hope to find someone with experience. I also need some theme customization done.

There are several reputable folks doing imports. They post their offerings in https://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-service-offers.42/.

 

[clubpromos]

With the Big Board Importer on average it takes ~10 minutes per million posts to import.

That's pretty fast from start to finish. Since you were involved in coding this tool, i may be a newbie question: does it keep the VB to Xenforo threads and attachment redirects? Are IDs kept intact if I choose so?

Will require an add-on to extend it. What there are under the default is prefixes (standard 1 per topic title - but there is an add-on that will allow you to have to prefixes defined).

I will look for the addon, it will help. I guess that I'll need to code the rest but as long as possible that's good.

Those are usually referred to as topic emoticons/icons. I think there is an add-on that will do that, but XenForo does not do it by default.

I knew the name I wasn't sure how to refer to those not in the posts but I guess that I ended up being more confusing. I couldn't find the addon yet though, hope it's still maintained.

There are several reputable folks doing imports. They post their offerings in https://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-service-offers.42/.

Reading the forum right now. Looks good to me Thanks.

 

[Slavik]

That's pretty fast from start to finish. Since you were involved in coding this tool, i may be a newbie question: does it keep the VB to Xenforo threads and attachment redirects? Are IDs kept intact if I choose so?

It maintains all content ID's.

 

[Ridemonkey]

That's pretty fast from start to finish. Since you were involved in coding this tool, i may be a newbie question: does it keep the VB to Xenforo threads and attachment redirects? Are IDs kept intact if I choose so?

FYI, as someone who was very concerned with downtime and with a board of very similar size (we have double the attachments), I can't recommend the Big Board Importer enough. The speed allowed me to do repeated test imports until I had the process nailed down perfectly, and the actual downtime of the site was about one hour. It's almost certainly the most expensive add-on you'll buy but if you put any kind of price on your own time, the dozens of hours of test imports it will prevent you from sitting through will be worth it.

You can pre-import your attachments into the XenForo instance, too, and future imports will just capture the new attachments, which helps cut down the time your site is down.

 

[Claudio]

Does Xenforo sell migration services or is there a list of recommended partners whom I could hire?

We offer migration services for big boards. Check my signature for more details and customer testimonials.

Regards
Claudio

 

[clubpromos]

It maintains all content ID's.

And it doesn't affect VB to Xenforo redirects, correct? I don't want to upset the Google "god".

You can pre-import your attachments into the XenForo instance, too, and future imports will just capture the new attachments, which helps cut down the time your site is down.

Very nice feature! Thanks. I will most likely test a regular import first then I will likely do what you did, test test test and hire someone to make sure that the migration is going to be perfect.

We offer migration services for big boards. Check my signature for more details and customer testimonials.

Can you please send me a message so that I can have a rough idea of the pricing that I am going to look at?

 

[clubpromos]

Another question:
Once I purchase the license, I can install it on a test subdomain for as long as I want, correct?

 

[Paul B]

Yes.

You can have a production installation and a password protected test installation for you and your staff.

 

[clubpromos]

Good.
My users have created photo albums in their VB profiles, do I need to buy the XenForo Media Gallery ? How will this be imported otherwise?

 

[Amaury]

Good.
My users have created photo albums in their VB profiles, do I need to buy the XenForo Media Gallery ? How will this be imported otherwise?

@Chris D can answer this. I want to say there isn't a direct importer, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Chris D]

There is an importer for vBulletin's albums included in XenForo Media Gallery.

 

[clubpromos]

There is an importer for vBulletin's albums included in XenForo Media Gallery.

I almost omitted to ask for this, thanks.

Also, I think that I know how to mod_rewrite my SEF links to the original VB links with parameters except for members profiles, what would be the best resource that consolidate all info about VB SEF urls (VBSEO or DBSEO)? I've read things are and there but I thought that maybe I missed the main thread or guide?

 

[Paul B]

There are redirection scripts available, as well as a specific tool for vbseo.