Moving to Xenforo from miniBB

[Vishal Rao]

I'm in the process of moving my forum from miniBB to Xenforo. I have two options to go about:

1. Make the miniBB forum a read-only. Move it to a sub-directory, say "archive" (it's presently in the root). Redirect visitors to miniBB urls to archive using 301. Install Xenforo in the root and start over fresh.

2. Import miniBB content to Xenforo using third party converters like gconverter.com. The problem with this is that they don't provide url redirection service. I'll have to take care of that myself. When I asked them whether topic-ids of my old forum and Xenforo will match, they said no, but they'll provide with a table with oldTopicID <=> newTopicID relationship.

My miniBB urls are in the format:
http://www.domainname.com/formname-forumID/topic-name-topicID.html

Can anyone help me with creating redirects?

Thanks!

 

[Jake Bunce]

but they'll provide with a table with oldTopicID <=> newTopicID relationship.

That's enough to work with. I can setup the redirects for you using that ID map once the conversion is done. I would need FTP access to your server.

 

[Vishal Rao]

Great Jake! I'll let you know once the conversion is complete.

Thanks

 

[Vishal Rao]

BTW, once, Xenforo is installed, I can remove the old forum files/database right? Or do I need to move it to some other location?

 

[Jake Bunce]

BTW, once, Xenforo is installed, I can remove the old forum files/database right? Or do I need to move it to some other location?

Yes you can remove the old forum as long as the table with ID maps is in the XF database. Of course you should make a backup for your archives.

 

[Vishal Rao]

That's enough to work with. I can setup the redirects for you using that ID map once the conversion is done. I would need FTP access to your server.

I just finished the conversion Jake! Can you please send me your email address so I can send you my site details?

BTW, is there a one-click solution to prevent users from posting new messages in the forums? Or make all forums read-only temporarily?

 

[Jake Bunce]

BTW, is there a one-click solution to prevent users from posting new messages in the forums? Or make all forums read-only temporarily?

Admin CP -> Users -> List User Groups -> Registered



Everyone is a member of Registered by default so this will affect everyone... assuming your imported users also belong to that group.

 

[Vishal Rao]

Super!