Import errors :: Post yours here

[Rob]

I am importing a vb 3.8 and everything has gone fine... PM's VM's but it has bombed out at threads and posts and will not continue

All I get is the text 'A server error occurred. Please try again later.' shown within the forum skin.

Is there way to output more detailed error information?

 

[yoghurtfarmer]

I suggest doing the import on a local XAMPP install, then just export the database.

Much less hassle, even I ran into timing out issues and my board is small.

 

[wwwicked]

I appear to have fallen at the first hurdle.

After reading here that "we have a fully-armed and operational vBulletin 3.x importer ready", I bought XenForo today.

However, upon trying to import my forum, I noticed that the importer says 3.7/3.8. My forum is 3.6.8; I gave it a go anyway, but on the first step (Import User Groups), I get the result "A server error occurred. Please try again later." There's nothing in xf_error_log. Should the importer work with 3.6?

Edit: meh, OK I turned on debug mode, and the error is actually:

Server Error
Undefined index: visitormessagepermissions

I assume that's something that got added after 3.6.

 

[Elizabeth]

I appear to have fallen at the first hurdle.

After reading here that "we have a fully-armed and operational vBulletin 3.x importer ready", I bought XenForo today.

However, upon trying to import my forum, I noticed that the importer says 3.7/3.8. My forum is 3.6.8; I gave it a go anyway, but on the first step (Import User Groups), I get the result "A server error occurred. Please try again later." There's nothing in xf_error_log. Should the importer work with 3.6?

Can you upgrade your vb forum before importing?

 

[wwwicked]

Can you upgrade your vb forum before importing?

I guess that's the only way forward, if I have access to newer versions of the 3.* series. I'm not sure I do, as my licence expired a couple of years ago. Or I might just try adding the index if I can find out what it's on.

Edit: Oh, I guess it's just a column/array index. Can probably hack around that.

 

[Rjs37]

Server Error
Mysqli statement execute error : Incorrect string value: '\xF4\x80\x82\x8A\x0D\x0A...' for column 'message' at row 1
Zend_Db_Statement_Mysqli->_execute() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\Zend\Db\Statement.php at line 300
Zend_Db_Statement->execute() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\Zend\Db\Adapter\Abstract.php at line 468
Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->query() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\Zend\Db\Adapter\Abstract.php at line 546
Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->insert() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\DataWriter.php at line 1484
XenForo_DataWriter->_insert() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\DataWriter.php at line 1473
XenForo_DataWriter->_save() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\DataWriter.php at line 1287
XenForo_DataWriter->save() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\Model\Import.php at line 253
XenForo_Model_Import->_importData() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\Model\Import.php at line 770
XenForo_Model_Import->importPost() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\Importer\vBulletin4.php at line 1816
XenForo_Importer_vBulletin4->stepThreads() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\Importer\Abstract.php at line 77
XenForo_Importer_Abstract->runStep() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\ControllerAdmin\Import.php at line 152
XenForo_ControllerAdmin_Import->_runStep() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\ControllerAdmin\Import.php at line 101
XenForo_ControllerAdmin_Import->actionImport() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\FrontController.php at line 303
XenForo_FrontController->dispatch() in I:\PHP\xenforo\library\XenForo\FrontController.php at line 132
XenForo_FrontController->run() in I:\PHP\xenforo\admin.php at line 13

This is the error I'm getting. Spent some time trying to get rid of any risky characters but ended up exactly where I started lol. This was like 95% through the thread import too. If I went back to the main import screen and clicked import threads would it carry on from where it was up to? Or will I need to keep this screen open to be able to continue (once the issue is fixed)?

 

[CTXMedia]

Observation from test import: I tried an import from vB3.8.4 and got as far as importing threads. It got stuck and cycled at a specific number, so I restarted the import from scratch.

After this every time I got to importing the forums, it threw up a 500 server error (nothing in my server error log file, nothing reported on-screen).

Nothing I did seemed to make any difference (emptied the forums table, changed settings in Apache/PHP). So, as it's a test import I removed the xF database, created a new one, ran the install again - and after this was able to import the forums again no problem.

May or may not be of any use/significance but thought I'd add it here anyway.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[twollert]

The importer failed on all the umlauts/special characters (äöüß), e.g. the word "hörer" is converted to "hörer" after the import. Also no umlauts/special characters show up in the url, e.g. the word "großes" is "gro%C3%83%C5%B8es" in the url of the thread. Please fix that.

 

[Mike]

I've been quiet in this thread, but I hope that the vast majority of these issues will be fixed by changes to the importer in beta 2. Some of the issues I believe to be fixed are character set issues, failures during user importing, failures related to 4-byte Unicode characters, attachment file sizes, and probably more. I also found a speed issue, and it does speed up the import process a bit; I'm still looking for more improvements.

I know some people are having issues importing forums. This approach will need to be fundamentally changed I believe. I have not made that change yet. Regardless, beta 2 changes may still speed up that import a bit.

 

[steven s]

Waiting patiently. In the meantime I'm having fun with styles. Who knew it could be this easy?

 

[wiz]

Hope this will be fixed in next beta (and it goes out soon). Can't wait to show the stuff to people.

 

[Mark.B]

I still get "a server error has occurred" as soon as I try to import PMs. This is in beta 2, but was the same in beta 1.

 

[Mike]

Do you know the specific error? Try turning on debug mode if it's not in the server error log.

As noted in the announcement, we're not trying to trap (silence) errors yet, as we're still trying to determine whether they are issues in the importer, issues with configuration, or issues in the source data. In the PM case, I suspect it may be the second or third.

 

[Philipp]

Still getting the out of memory error after importing the user accounts

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 44 bytes) in /var/www/virtual/forums/htdocs/xen_test/library/Zend/Db/Statement/Mysqli.php on line 304

 

[Mark.B]

Do you know the specific error? Try turning on debug mode if it's not in the server error log.

As noted in the announcement, we're not trying to trap (silence) errors yet, as we're still trying to determine whether they are issues in the importer, issues with configuration, or issues in the source data. In the PM case, I suspect it may be the second or third.

Thanks Mike. Nothing in the error logs. Am I safe to alter config.php in-between two import steps, or should I not try that?

I have a funny feeling I might have some "orphan" PMs in the vB database with default timestamps (1970) and no user details, though I can't locate them looking directly in the database. I've seen them in the past while investigating people's accounts, usually when the vb XML PM download facility errors out. So I wonder if it's those that are causing the problem, but at present I'm struggling to locate them!

 

[Mike]

Still getting the out of memory error after importing the user accounts

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 44 bytes) in /var/www/virtual/forums/htdocs/xen_test/library/Zend/Db/Statement/Mysqli.php on line 304

Disable debug mode if you're using it. Otherwise, I would need access to debug this.

Thanks Mike. Nothing in the error logs. Am I safe to alter config.php in-between two import steps, or should I not try that?!

You can change it without any problem. It should give a more specific message. I wouldn't mind trying to debug why nothing is being written to the error log as well (as that's not something I've reproduced).

 

[Mark.B]

You can change it without any problem. It should give a more specific message. I wouldn't mind trying to debug why nothing is being written to the error log as well (as that's not something I've reproduced).

Cool, assuming the post import completes this time (it stopped half way through on beta 1) I'll enable debug mode again and have a second go at the PM import.

If it's any use, the PM import stopped immediately...there was no partial import or delay...as soon as you press the button, the error comes up, like it hasn't even tried!

 

[Mark.B]

Hmm post import completed this time.

Polls import also fails with the same immediate "server error" as the PMs.

Will go back and try them in debug mode shortly, just doing avatars now.

 

[Walter]

This time user import was fine but post import stopped:
Mysqli statement execute error : Incorrect string value: '\xF4\x80\x82\xBE G...' for column 'message' at row 1

 

[ManagerJosh]

Mysqli statement execute error : Incorrect string value: '\xF1\x86\x80\xA3**' for column 'username' at row 1

1. [*]Zend_Db_Statement_Mysqli->_execute()inZend/Db/Statement.phpat line292
   [*]Zend_Db_Statement->execute()inZend/Db/Adapter/Abstract.phpat line468
   [*]Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->query()inZend/Db/Adapter/Abstract.phpat line546
   [*]Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->insert()inXenForo/DataWriter.phpat line1490
   [*]XenForo_DataWriter->_insert()inXenForo/DataWriter.phpat line1479
   [*]XenForo_DataWriter->_save()inXenForo/DataWriter.phpat line1287
   [*]XenForo_DataWriter->save()inXenForo/Model/Import.phpat line391
   [*]XenForo_Model_Import->importUser()inXenForo/Importer/vBulletin4.phpat line852
   [*]XenForo_Importer_vBulletin4->_importUser()inXenForo/Importer/vBulletin4.phpat line670
   [*]XenForo_Importer_vBulletin4->_importOrMergeUser()inXenForo/Importer/vBulletin4.phpat line468
   [*]XenForo_Importer_vBulletin4->stepUsers()inXenForo/Importer/Abstract.phpat line77
   [*]XenForo_Importer_Abstract->runStep()inXenForo/ControllerAdmin/Import.phpat line161
   [*]XenForo_ControllerAdmin_Import->_runStep()inXenForo/ControllerAdmin/Import.phpat line105
   [*]XenForo_ControllerAdmin_Import->actionImport()inXenForo/FrontController.phpat line303
   [*]XenForo_FrontController->dispatch()inXenForo/FrontController.phpat line132
   [*]XenForo_FrontController->run()in/chroot/home/worldsi0/uoem.com/html/forums/admin.phpat line13

Thoughts?

 

[Mark.B]

I also ended up with two lots of posts, the previous half-finished attempt and the new one. I thought I saw a warning somewhere about previous data being lost...I think this is a problem because if your import crashes you've no way to easily remove what's already there.

The same thing happened with the forum list, though that's easier to fix.

I don't know what the fix is to this though, if there is one, since after import all the ID numbers change so the next attempt at import is not going to be able to match them up with what's being imported.

I suppose the solution is to simply restore backup before starting again.