vB4 to XenForo move

[Charlie G]

Hi folks,

Its time I looked at moving my 21 year old 5 million+ post vB4 site over to XenForo and I initially have a couple of questions, there may be more.

Once the XenForo licence and software is purchased, can I initially set up a sand box test site to do a trial run with a backup of my site? This will be used to fine tune the colours settings etc before doing a 'live site' upgrade.

Are there any major things/issues to look out for when doing a vB4.2.5 to XF upgrade?

 

[M@rc]

Once the XenForo licence and software is purchased, can I initially set up a sand box test site to do a trial run with a backup of my site? This will be used to fine tune the colours settings etc before doing a 'live site' upgrade.

Yes. You can also set up a demo to play around with the colors, but for the migration itself, you'll need a license.

Are there any major things/issues to look out for when doing a vB4.2.5 to XF upgrade?

Double-check permissions and make sure you set up 301 redirects.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Double-check permissions

Triple check them, it is a very different system

User groups | Manual | XenForo

End-user documentation for XenForo

xenforo.com

Implementing permissions across multiple user groups

Having logged in to quite a few installations to resolve permission issues, it's clear that a lot of people haven't quite grasped the concept. So here are a few pointers: 1. All members should have the Registered user group as their primary...

xenforo.com

and make sure you set up 301 redirects.

There is a good addon for that:

XenForo Redirects for vBulletin

XF301VB is a XenForo 2 add-on, which extends the XenForo router with the ability to accept URLs pointing to vBulletin content and seamlessly, permanently redirect them to their equivalent content in XenForo after the content has been imported...

xenforo.com

And I would test those on your sandbox

 

[Charlie G]

Yes. You can also set up a demo to play around with the colors, but for the migration itself, you'll need a license.

Double-check permissions and make sure you set up 301 redirects.

Thanks, I already have a demo that XF provide here.
I mean once I buy the licence and software to do a complete install can I use that for testing on a backup database before I upgrade the main site?
With vBulletin you used to be able to do this.

 

[Charlie G]

Triple check them, it is a very different system

Implementing permissions across multiple user groups

Having logged in to quite a few installations to resolve permission issues, it's clear that a lot of people haven't quite grasped the concept. So here are a few pointers: 1. All members should have the Registered user group as their primary...

xenforo.com

Thanks for the info Mr L, I'm getting a "You do not have permission to view the full content of this resource." when trying to view that link.

I only registered here last week so maybe I have to wait a while.

 

[M@rc]

Thanks, I already have a demo that XF provide here.
I mean once I buy the licence and software to do a complete install can I use that for testing on a backup database before I upgrade the main site?
With vBulletin you used to be able to do this.

Yes.

The VB site isn't touched during a migration. XF just connects to a VB database and transfers the content over.

 

[Charlie G]

Yes.

The VB site isn't touched during a migration. XF just connects to a VB database and transfers the content over.

Thanks again M@rc. I guess my question should have been... are XF happy with this as I don't want to get off to a bad start and contravene their licensing agreements by doing this.

 

[DarkGizmo]

Thanks again M@rc. I guess my question should have been... are XF happy with this as I don't want to get off to a bad start and contravene their licensing agreements by doing this.

yes. you're able to have 1 live install (in this case your completed upgrade/transfer at site.com) and a test install for testing the upgrade and tweaks before going live (something like site.com/testbed will do)

 

[Paul B]

The license terms allow for test and development instances.

You may create additional test installations for the purpose of testing the Software. Any test installation of this kind must be password protected, installed at a URL that makes the testing purpose clear, not used for production purposes and access to it must be limited to You and Your website staff.

License agreement

Terms and conditions for self-hosted XenForo

xenforo.com

 

[Mr Lucky]

I only registered here last week so maybe I have to wait a while.

No, I think it is once you've associated your licence here. Until then you don't get resources or support forums.

 

[Charlie G]

Thanks folks.

Its quite some time since I did a simple vB upgrade. A total conversion is a bit scarier so I need to wake the ageing grey matter up, pluck up the courage and get on with it.

 

[Paul B]

The importer has been used thousands of times and is fairly straightforward.

This thread may be of use though:

Importing guidelines

Importing, although relatively straightforward, sometimes requires a few test runs to become familiar with the process and iron out any issues. This simple guide aims to outline the basic steps and explain how to do multiple imports in the same installation, without ending up with duplicate...

xenforo.com

 

[Charlie G]

The importer has been used thousands of times and is fairly straightforward.

This thread may be of use though:

Importing guidelines

Importing, although relatively straightforward, sometimes requires a few test runs to become familiar with the process and iron out any issues. This simple guide aims to outline the basic steps and explain how to do multiple imports in the same installation, without ending up with duplicate...

xenforo.com

Thank you Brogan.

 

[gerryvz]

Fear of upgrading from vBulletin 3.8 to XenForo

I have a discussion forum with about 1.5M posts using vBulletin 3.8. I've been running it for nearly 20 years now and have thought about the possibility of upgrading the software. My fears are this: Could it hammer my rankings?

xenforo.com

XF 2.1 - Trying to import a vBulletin 4 forum to Xenforo 2

Hello everyone. I have a 10 year old vBulletin 4.2 forum and visitors have dropped considerably since it’s not mobile friendly and google won't rank it as high as it used to. I’ve seen a friendly forum suffering after upgrading to vB 5 so that was not an option. I thought I’d try Xenforo and...

xenforo.com

 

[Charlie G]

Fear of upgrading from vBulletin 3.8 to XenForo

I have a discussion forum with about 1.5M posts using vBulletin 3.8. I've been running it for nearly 20 years now and have thought about the possibility of upgrading the software. My fears are this: Could it hammer my rankings?

xenforo.com

XF 2.1 - Trying to import a vBulletin 4 forum to Xenforo 2

Hello everyone. I have a 10 year old vBulletin 4.2 forum and visitors have dropped considerably since it’s not mobile friendly and google won't rank it as high as it used to. I’ve seen a friendly forum suffering after upgrading to vB 5 so that was not an option. I thought I’d try Xenforo and...

xenforo.com

Thanks Gerry.
I see Dimitreos never said how he resolved his issue.

 

[Paul B]

It was an issue with an old version of the importer and the VB database having non-utf8 encoded characters.

It is no longer an issue and even if you do encounter issues, there is a dedicated support forum and the ticket system.

 

[Charlie G]

It was an issue with an old version of the importer and the VB database having non-utf8 encoded characters.

It is no longer an issue and even if you do encounter issues, there is a dedicated support forum and the ticket system.

Thank you Brogan.
We will certainly be moving forward with this very soon.

 

[Charlie G]

Will be buying the software and license today, will add the Enhanced Search & Resource Manager at point of purchase.
If I want to add the media gallery at a later date can that be done or does if need to be installed during initial installation?

 

[whynot]

You can add it any time.

 

[Charlie G]

Will be buying the software and license today, will add the Enhanced Search & Resource Manager at point of purchase.
If I want to add the media gallery at a later date can that be done or does if need to be installed during initial installation?

Today turned into tomorrow, which was this morning.
Currently doing a trial conversion which will be used as a test bed and steep learning curve before going live.