XF 2.1 Importing from SMF

[FDudeH]

I'm attempting to import from a Simple Machine forum, but having issues. The forum is located on a different server. I have run mysql dump and have backed up the SMF to a dump file. The Importer guidelines say to move the backup file to the same server, but don't say where to put it, or how to access it with the import function. The importer page asks for Mysql port, user, and password, but no where do I see where I can point the importer to a backup file. Can someone help me understand how I can import from a backup file?

 

[Abraham54]

Make a subdomain for all SMF forumfiles and make a new database in wich you import the original database of the SMF-forum.
You may use the same database names and password.

After that you can start importing.

 

[FDudeH]

Is there no way to do a direct import from a file?

 

[Abraham54]

No - you need al the forumfiles and the database.
Everything needs to be on the same server.

 

[FDudeH]

If I go into mysql on the new server and restore my backup into a new database, can I then just point the importer to that new database without having to create a new subdomain?

 

[Abraham54]

Yes, but you need al the forum files to!

On the SMF server, is everything installed under public_html?

 

[FDudeH]

I'll have to see if I can locate where the files are stored. Right now I just want to see if I can import the basic forum data successfully. Will the importer blow up if it can't find a file that is associated with a post or thread?

 

[Abraham54]

I have no experience with SMF, but indeed I went first for testversions when importing a phpBB forum en also a large vBulletin 4 forum.

But the importer will only work correctly, if all SMF-files and -database are on the same server as the XenForo installation.

 

[FDudeH]

If I reset the mysql root password, will that have an impact on Xenforo?

 

[TickTackk]

If you have set the database user as root in config.php then yes.

 

[Paul B]

Yes, but you need al the forum files to!

The actual files aren't required, other than any content specific data such as attachments, avatars, etc.

 

[FDudeH]

I have successfully imported 615 thousand posts from Simple Machines into our new Xenforo forum and it went mostly ok. I still have a few remaining questions though:

1. I have some sub forums where the titles are showing & in them. At the bottom of the import for SMF it asks for character set. I left it at utf-8, should I have used something else? Alternatively, I can also change the character set on my Mysql dump command if I need to. Any suggestions on what to set it at?

2. I set the mysql user as root for the import, I assume this is ok, right?

3. I'm also going to need to scrub the entire Xenforo forum once I'm ready to do the final import and go live. This first one was just a trial. Is there an easy way to scrub the whole database so I can start over fresh?

 

[Paul B]

In most cases you should be able to ignore the character set fields.
What is the character set for the SMF forum?

I set the mysql user as root for the import, I assume this is ok, right?

You use the mysql details in the SMF config file, or however you set the database up on the server if you imported it.

There is no easy way to reset the forum.
This guide explains how to do multiple test imports: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/importing-guidelines.25325/

 

[FDudeH]

So what is the hard way to reset the forum? It's too late now for me since I didn't make a clean backup. Can I drop and recreate all the tables? Truncate the tables? Should I do all tables, or just certain ones?

 

[Paul B]

To clarify - there is no way of doing it, nor would we recommend or be able to support manually deleting content from the database and resetting the tables.

 

[FDudeH]

So do I have to reinstall Xenforo from scratch?