Anyone here who can migrate/import Vanilla to XenForo?

Skisma

Skisma

Member
I currently have a very small community with less than 30 registered members and under 500 total posts. Within 60 seconds of trying out the free xF demo I already knew I had to switch! Literally almost everything I've either had to install a plugin or teach myself to code and make my own plugin (with help of vanilla contributors), when xF offers all of them right out of the box! Obviously there will be some things that I'll still want add-ons for, but this clearly shows that XenForo is exactly what I've been needing.

The problem is that I cannot afford to lose my current content and start over. I've searched the web and there seems to be no Vanilla > xF importer out there. I found a company that will do it for me, but I can't afford their price or really any price for that matter. Is there anyone here who is has knows how to do it and is willing to help me out? This is really the only thing that's holding me back from purchasing a licence and making the switch.

Thanks,

- Skis
 
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Skisma said:
I currently have a very small community with less than 30 registered members and under 500 total posts. Within 60 seconds of trying out the free xF demo I already knew I had to switch! Literally almost everything I've either had to install a plugin or teach myself to code and make my own plugin (with help of vanilla contributors), when xF offers all of them right out of the box! Obviously there will be some things that I'll still want add-ons for, but this clearly shows that XenForo is exactly what I've been needing.

The problem is that I cannot afford to lose my current content and start over. I've searched the web and there seems to be no Vanilla > xF importer out there. I found a company that will do it for me, but I can't afford their price or really any price for that matter. Is there anyone here who is has knows how to do it and is willing to help me out? This is really the only thing that's holding me back from purchasing a licence and making the switch.

Thanks,

- Skis
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Double import is a likely possibly, but users will likely lose their passwords, but content will be kept intact. Also, MyBB merge can import from Vanilla which can be converted to Xenforo. I imported a small site to Xenforo from MyBB and it was not bad. Users seem to not really notice it, which means I must be doing something right, and those that do, have really raved about it. Either phpBB or Mybb, but I prefer the latter the latest version (1.8) works well with Xenforo. Of course, if you do this type of conversion, I would do some test imports on a local machine or in a hidden part of your website, to ensure you are familiar with the import process.
 
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With a forum of your size, migration will be quick and easy, even with a double import. A small forum can be done in less than an hour. Mine took longer as I had some issues, but nothing to deter you from buying the software.
 
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Thank you guys for the responses!

rv65 said:
With a forum of your size, migration will be quick and easy, even with a double import. A small forum can be done in less than an hour. Mine took longer as I had some issues, but nothing to deter you from buying the software.
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Will this work even though I have the latest version of vanilla, 2.1.11? If so, would I just need to install phpbb to another url/directory and do the same with XenForo? Then just use phpMyAdmin in my cPanel to export my entire forum database from vanilla, import to phpbb, export from phpbb, import to xF? Sorry, I'm just not to familiar with this process, but I have had to export and import my vanilla forum database to essentially restore a backup.
 
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Skisma said:
Thank you guys for the responses!



Will this work even though I have the latest version of vanilla, 2.1.11? If so, would I just need to install phpbb to another url/directory and do the same with XenForo? Then just use phpMyAdmin in my cPanel to export my entire forum database from vanilla, import to phpbb, export from phpbb, import to xF? Sorry, I'm just not to familiar with this process, but I have had to export and import my vanilla forum database to essentially restore a backup.
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Yes it will work, if you something like MyBB merge, SMF or even phpBB and you should backup your Database. Yes, you should put it in another directory if using myBB or phpBB. With MyBB merge for Vanilla you can enter in the details of the database (user, passwords, localhost etc) into the importer and it will import everything to go. Of course you will need to create another database when installing the programs, but it is not hard. Then all you have to do is install xenforo and import the data. I don't have cPanel, so I don't know how that software works.
 
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Skisma said:
Thank you guys for the responses!



Will this work even though I have the latest version of vanilla, 2.1.11? If so, would I just need to install phpbb to another url/directory and do the same with XenForo? Then just use phpMyAdmin in my cPanel to export my entire forum database from vanilla, import to phpbb, export from phpbb, import to xF? Sorry, I'm just not to familiar with this process, but I have had to export and import my vanilla forum database to essentially restore a backup.
Click to expand...

You do not need to do any export/import of the db as that won''t work. When you install the forum software that you are converting to, make sure that you install it in the same db or at the very least that the db user has full access to the other db, if you are going to use another db. Then the converter will take care of trasnferring the data. But for more, have a look at the converter info for those other forums on what to do and how to do it.
 
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borbole said:
You do not need to do any export/import of the db as that won''t work. When you install the forum software that you are converting to, make sure that you install it in the same db or at the very least that the db user has full access to the other db, if you are going to use another db. Then the converter will take care of trasnferring the data. But for more, have a look at the converter info for those other forums on what to do and how to do it.
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Exactly!
 
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@rv65 @borbole Ok so I've looked through all of the different software's that XenForo has importers for and it looks like MyBB is going to be the best option. vB and IP are commercial software, so I would have to pay for it just to make a transfer. The 3 free I was looking at were phpbb, mybb and SMF. The problem with phpbb and SMF is that they don't seem to have any converter for vanilla that's up to date. myBB on the other hand has an official converter called 'merge' that supports Vanilla 2, which is exactly what I need!

I've already installed the bbforums to my server as well as the merge converter. I realize this may not be much y'all can help with, but I'm desperate. The guys over at myBB haven't really responded to my thread since I added it on Friday. If anyone has used this converter and has some insight to provide, please do! Here's the link to my issue:

http://community.mybb.com/thread-185182.html
 
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