XF 2.1 Upgrade and move hosts

[etakmit]

I just recently inherited a set of forums.

Right now they're WAY behind on software (2.1.2 - OS is running centOS 6.10). cPanel and WHM on that server are also WAY behind (not to mention the host that they're on is insanely expensive for what's actually needed)

So I'm going to move them to a more reasonable host - I run unmanaged without cPanel or the like.

I'm looking for the best route for migration.

New server will have a far more up to date mariaDB and php running (along with a newer OS of course)

Should I pre-install the same version of XF before moving?

Should I install the most current version of XF before moving ?

On the original host - should I work through the upgrade process to get from 2.1.x to 2.3.x first ? before doing any of this?

As to the move itself - as I've been reading it looks like I could dump the mariadb from the old host, import it into maria in the new host and then copy basically the entire XF directory on that host into the new host as well (same web location).

Is that accurate? Will all of the plugins, etc continue to work as is (assuming they were working prior)

 

[Jeremy P]

Yes, you can transfer the existing installations to a new server by exporting/importing the database and copying the files over. You will likely want to install a similar version of PHP on the new server. Maybe MySQL too, but backwards compatibility there is better.

As always, I would do a test transfer first in case you run into trouble.

After it’s all said and done, you can see about upgrading PHP and XF to the latest stable versions, though there are additional considerations to make as far as add-on compatibility goes, particularly for upgrading from XF 2.2 to 2.3.

 

[etakmit]

Yes, you can transfer the existing installations to a new server by exporting/importing the database and copying the files over. You will likely want to install a similar version of PHP on the new server. Maybe MySQL too, but backwards compatibility there is better.

As always, I would do a test transfer first in case you run into trouble.

After it’s all said and done, you can see about upgrading PHP and XF to the latest stable versions, though there are additional considerations to make as far as add-on compatibility goes, particularly for upgrading from XF 2.2 to 2.3.

appreciate it thank you

I am familiar with the 2.2 - > 2.3 add on considerations, thanks! I do run another XF forum so I've seen it

I just haven't had to do a full host move

 

[Jeremy P]

Perfectly fine to get them upgraded to 2.3 prior to transferring too (which can help if the new server doesn’t support XF 2.1-compatible PHP versions), but then it’s a game of getting the old server to meet the minimum requirements. Just a matter of which is less friction.