vbulletin to XF conversion questions...

[Apokalupsis]

1) Will the conversion recreate the current vb forum structure? Or do I need to have those forums in place prior to the conversion?

2) Will both forums be up and running at the same time (using different directories of course) until I remove vBulletin from the site? I ask because I'd like to completely flesh out the new XF version of the site before having it go live and deleting vbulletin and the old version of the forum.

 

[M@rc]

1) Will the conversion recreate the current vb forum structure? Or do I need to have those forums in place prior to the conversion?

It'll re-create the forum layout (categories, forums and sub forums).

2) Will both forums be up and running at the same time (using different directories of course) until I remove vBulletin from the site? I ask because I'd like to completely flesh out the new XF version of the site before having it go live and deleting vbulletin and the old version of the forum.

Yes.

 

[sheel]

However, note that once you imported the data, continuing VB will lead to divergence: Things that are posted in VB after the import won't be present in XF, and vice-versa

Ideally,

1. Install XF somewhere
2. Set options, install plugins, install styles, etc.
3. Make a backup
4. Do a test import. If you note something is missing or not working, replay the (non-imported) backup and go back to step 2. Also note what you need to do after the import (eg. checking goup permissions and moderators)

And if everything is satisfying...

1. Replay the non-imported backup to your test install
2. Lock VB so that no new posts can be made
3. Do the final data import
4. Do the noted things that are needed after the import
5. Change domain settings etc. so that XF becomes your main forum

And, as always these days, note that XF2 is not available for download yet. And styles, plugins etc. from XF1 won't work directly on XF2.

 

[Joeychgo]

1) Will the conversion recreate the current vb forum structure? Or do I need to have those forums in place prior to the conversion?

2) Will both forums be up and running at the same time (using different directories of course) until I remove vBulletin from the site? I ask because I'd like to completely flesh out the new XF version of the site before having it go live and deleting vbulletin and the old version of the forum.

Yes

 

[Apokalupsis]

Thanks for the replies guys...one last question...

Should the XF forum be in a separate directory from the original vb forum? Does it matter? The benefit of having them in the same directory seems to be SEO, but I don't know how much of an issue that is.

 

[M@rc]

Should the XF forum be in a separate directory from the original vb forum? Does it matter? The benefit of having them in the same directory seems to be SEO, but I don't know how much of an issue that is.

You can run the import on a different directory and just move it over to the location of your vB (move your vB install to another directory first).

 

[TPerry]

If you are going to run them side by side, then yes, it has to be in a separate directory (if hosting cPanel that should already be done if hosting it on it's own domain/sub-domain).

 

[Paul B]

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/importing-guidelines.25325/

 

[Apokalupsis]

If you are going to run them side by side, then yes, it has to be in a separate directory (if hosting cPanel that should already be done if hosting it on it's own domain/sub-domain).

I won't have them side by side in the sense that both will exist as active forums. I will stop using vb once the XF import is finished. I will remove all vb files, directories, and its db once XF has imported all that data. I was just wondering if there would be any challenges to keeping the site directory structure (eg keep the XF forum in the /forum directory, which is where currently, the vb forum resides).

 

[Paul B]

XF will need to be installed in a separate directory.

Only one index page can be loaded at a time.