Test Site Clarification

[konakid]

Technically not a pre-sales question since I just this minute purchased a license.

However, I have a vB installation at domain www. sitenameX.com that I will be converting. But what I would like to do is install XF on another brand new domain I just registered www.sitenameY.com and do the conversion and experiment with the software, etc. to assure I understand how everything works

Then when satisfied, I would like to either re-install and re-convert everything onto to the original existing URL (sitenameX) get rid of the vB installation, and then delete everything on the other domain (sitenameY).

Is this acceptable??? And if desired, can I just password protect the sitenameY domain and keep it as my test install?

Am I making sense???

 

[Steve F]

Yes that is fine and once you convert back to your sitenameX domain you can just password protect sitenameY and use for testing.

 

[konakid]

Sorry - another dumb newbie question.

I am converting a vB 4 installation into my newly created XF site (BTW - very easy and flawless install, what a difference). I get the following message before proceeding.
"Please close the forum and backup your database before importing data!"

Does this mean I am to close and backup my present vB site? In other words, is there anything that the importer could do that would corrupt the working vB database? Or is the message referring to an already up and running XF site/database.

 

[Steve F]

I would backup the site yes. But really if you are just in a testing phase I would recreate your live site in another test install and import from that. Then you can be sure if there are any hiccups while importing.

Others with more importing experience than myself might be able to give a more definitive answer.

 

[Paul B]

"Please close the forum and backup your database before importing data!"

You should never import from a live site to a live site.
Both sites should be closed.

The reason for this is the import takes time, so from the start of the process to the end, the data in both databases could be different due to members registering, posting, etc.
Which will then cause problems due to discrepancies in the data, missing content, etc.

Or, as Steve has suggested, if it's just a test import, use a backup of your live DB.

 

[konakid]

Thanks Brogan - understood.