XF 1.3 Correct, most efficient way to do my final vB import?

[Ludachris]

I've read Jake's import guide thread. Here's my situation - I have a fairly large site with 4 million posts and 150k members. I've finally got the test site (which I imported from vB) all set up and running close to the way I want it, with roughly 30 plugins installed and data imported using a few different scripts (I have a pretty heavily customized vB site). I have some select usergroups helping beta test at the moment.

It took quite a while to get all of the plugins installed and configured, as well as permissions settings, theme customizations, language edits, etc. Is it really most efficient to start with a clean import on a stock XF installation in a new directory and reinstall all of the plugins and reconfigure everything? Seems to me I could save time by leaving all the files in place in the file system where I've installed the test XF site (but delete the attachments and avatars) and just use a clean db. Would that be okay, even though Jake recommends starting with a clean file system and reinstall everything? I know I can export the Style and the Language and reimport after a fresh install. Wish I could export the permissions too.

I'm not looking forward to this final migration after all the time I've spent getting things ready. This is going to be a ton of work. I'm just trying to make it as efficient as I can. If I can cut out some FTP transfer time, that would be awesome.

 

[Paul B]

This thread may be of some help: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/importing-guidelines.25325/

 

[Ludachris]

I've read that thread before too... if I'm reading it right it suggests it's ok to leave the file system intact for a reimport, so long as you remove the attachments and avatars. Am I right? Sorry, just want to clarify before I book an entire weekend to the final migration.

 

[Paul B]

Yes, you can leave all of the files (other than avatars and attachments) in place if the version of the imported database hasn't changed.

 

[Ludachris]

Another quick question - I just did a mysqldump of the developed XF db (a full test import). When I went in to cpanel and looked at all the databases, I noticed the size of the new XF db was up around 6 gigs. Yet, the mysqldump file is just shy of 4 gigs. And the vB live db is around 3 gigs, and the mysqldump file for that db is right about the same size of the actual db. Why would there be such a big difference in size of the XF db and the backup sql file? I did a couple backups and saw the same result.

 

[Jake Bunce]

Reported db sizes can be deceiving. An active database has indexes that can take up more space than the backed up copy. And ignoring the indexes, XF takes more space than vB because XF duplicates the post records for the purpose of the search index, so posts in XF take up twice the space.

 

[Ludachris]

Thanks for the info Jake.

 

[Ludachris]

Another question - if I have my laptop with me and I'm running an import, let's say I click to import threads/posts, but have to leave where I'm at while it's importing. What happens when I get the laptop connected again? Do I refresh the page? I guess it would be the same if the connection just dropped. I just don't want to do something that will result in duplicate content.

 

[Ludachris]

Nevermind, I see how it works. No issues.

 

[Ludachris]

Sorry @Brogan - another question. I know the import guide says to not add any content for the base (clean) db backup, which can be used as the clean copy to do more test imports. But would adding Resource Categories and Resource Managers (Waindigo plugin) be considered adding content? Just trying to get everything I can added to the clean db copy to limit what needs to be done after importing (while the site is turned off).

 

[Paul B]

Resource categories shouldn't be an issue as nothing related to that is imported.

I can't help with the add-on; I don't know what it does.

 

[Ludachris]

I doubt the resource managers have anything to do with the import either... it basically allows the admin to create different instances of the resource manager:
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/resource-managers-by-waindigo.2744/

Seems the RM stuff is mostly separate, unless you actually add content to the RM.

 

[Ludachris]

I had an idea and was hoping someone could tell me if it would work - I have a test import site up and running, with all of the usergroups set and permissions configured, along with the user upgrades (paid subscriptions). I know that all of that would have to be reconfigured again after re-importing. Would it be possible to dump individual tables (looks like it would be the xf_user_upgrade table, the xf_user_group table, and the xf_permission tables) from the fully configured test db and restore those same tables in the new db after a re-import to prevent having to re-do all the set up from scratch?

 

[Paul B]

There are many tables which are inter-related.

I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Ludachris]

I figured that might be the case, but thought I'd ask anyway. Thanks again for being so responsive Brogan. All the technical help I've received so far has made be very happy with the decision to migrate.