Importing Multiple vBulletin 3.8 Forums to One XenForo Installation

[DeltaHF]

I have two vBulletin 3.8 forums. I'd like to convert and merge both of them into one XenForo installation. Presumably, I would simply import one and then import the other, merge duplicate accounts (of which there would be many), and be on my way.

From my understanding of the import documentation, this is supported, but after searching I haven't been able to find much discussion about it.

Has anyone tried it in a production environment, and did you have any success?

 

[tyteen4a03]

Oh no! What if I merge both log tables? One was created for each forum!

The import log is only useful for redirects. I don't see any real harm if you're not going to do redirects (I don't even save the logs)

 

[Jeremy]

Merge tables? Should have over written. Did you keep IDs for the first import?

 

[Mike Fara]

Merge tables? Should have over written. Did you keep IDs for the first import?

Yes. Unfortunately I did not fully comprehend how the system worked. Because of this I thought 2 tables would be utilized by 301config.php and the associated scripts. I did keep the IDs for the first log file (thus the first forum), but not for the 2nd.

 

[Jeremy]

The import you have should be for the second one, which is what you'll need for the second import. However, you will be able to write direct redirects for the first import.

 

[Mike Fara]

I don't get it. What 2nd import is taking place? I cannot rewrite everything again or I'll lose all of the progress on the XF site that has been made.

The thing is the first log had the first forum, which is much larger, and yes, it redirects everything properly from that forum. If I try to bring the 2nd log table into the first, eventually there is a conflict. Maybe if I create a new column thats a unique ID to combine both?

 

[Mike Fara]

The import you have should be for the second one, which is what you'll need for the second import. However, you will be able to write direct redirects for the first import.

Sorry... I figured it out!

Here's what I did.

For .htaccess for site 1. If you have 2 import logs, but kept the IDs from import1, replace the first import log/site with VBSEO Hierarchy 001 and vBulletin 4.*:

RewriteRule [^/]+/([\d]+)-.+-([\d]+).html http://hostname/showthread.php?t=$1&page=$2 [NC,L]
RewriteRule [^/]+/([\d]+)-.+.html http://hostname/showthread.php?t=$1 [NC,L]

with:

RewriteRule [^/]+/([\d]+)-.+-([\d]+).html http://hostname/threads/$1/page-$2 [NC,L]
RewriteRule [^/]+/([\d]+)-.+.html http://hostname/threads/$1 [NC,L]

This directly redirects VBSEO threads without going through 301config.php.

301config.php should list the 2nd log and the 2nd site should have the first set of rules (going to showthread.php).

I hope this is useful if anyone makes the same mistake I have.