Is it possible to do a seamless move of servers?

I have my new server almost set up as I want it, and the old server is still the one using the domain name.

Is there a trick to doing a relatively seamless changeover of the domain from one server to the other?

I installed VBSEO on my new server, and then installed my saved settings from the old server, and I noticed that all the links pointed back to the old server where the domain name still is.

Could I, in theory, use VBSEO to do the seamless (ish) changeover?

Does this make sense?

Thanks.

Dave.

having moved servers several times, i beleive this is the best way.

1) set up the new server so it's ready to go (no sites yet.. but php, etc all ready)
2) add to sql access hosts on the new box, the old box ip
3) close forum, make final DB backup and file back up
4) perform the move of sites with cpanel, or whatever you are using
5) login to OLD box (use IP, not .com to make sure you are in the right place), set DB in config to point to IP of the new server instead of localhost
6) turn on OLD forum
7) turn on new forum
8) change DNS/name servers for your domains
9) two days later, after dns has surely propigated everywhere, bulk copy attachments/gallery pics/etc with changed dates newer than your move date/time to the new box so in case someone did an upload via old dns, its on the new box too. you might want to do this a couple times if time permits. shouldn't be but a handful of files, unless your site is attachment heavy.

This way, BOTH file systems will hit one (the new) database. you won't lose any database posts etc during the transfer regardless of which server the user happens to hit.. and with the manual attachment move, your new server will be 100% with only 30 min or so of close time due to backups/moving.

vbseo is seem less in the process, unless you are changing .com's as well

Originally Posted by briansol

1) set up the new server so it's ready to go (no sites yet.. but php, etc all ready)
2) add to sql access hosts on the new box, the old box ip
3) close forum, make final DB backup and file back up
4) perform the move of sites with cpanel, or whatever you are using
5) login to OLD box (use IP, not .com to make sure you are in the right place), set DB in config to point to IP of the new server instead of localhost
6) turn on OLD forum
7) turn on new forum
8) change DNS/name servers for your domains
9) two days later, after dns has surely propigated everywhere, bulk copy attachments/gallery pics/etc with changed dates newer than your move date/time to the new box so in case someone did an upload via old dns, its on the new box too. you might want to do this a couple times if time permits. shouldn't be but a handful of files, unless your site is attachment heavy.

This way, BOTH file systems will hit one (the new) database. you won't lose any database posts etc during the transfer regardless of which server the user happens to hit.. and with the manual attachment move, your new server will be 100% with only 30 min or so of close time due to backups/moving.

vbseo is seem less in the process, unless you are changing .com's as well

Hi Brian,

Great post, thanks for that

I have a couple of problems though.

I have no ssh on the old server (shared hosting), but do on the new server, so I used mysqldumper to load up the old database (3.6.8) into the new install of VB 3.7.0.

Obviously, a lot of things were out of date, so I have spent the last few days fixing it all, redoing my custom templates, re-adding the add-ons/template edits and so on.

I was under the impression that I could simply back up the last few days posts on the old server and then merge them with the new database. It all goes wrong at this point, database errors etc.

I have restored the new database with abackup i did this morning, so it is back to how it was, but I would love to know how to add those posts/threads/new members that ive missed in these 3 days or so.

Anyway, thanks again for the info

Dave

a server move is a server move.
a software update is a software update.

don't combine them

I'm going to delete it all and do it as you say.

If I'm honest, the reason I did them both at the same time was that I was worried in case the upgrade went wrong.

Anyway, I have managed to get a mirror of the old server up and running on the new server.

I'm not exactly sure how to point them both to the same database, is it just a case of changing the config.php to something like this?

For the old server:

Code:

//    ****** DATABASE TYPE ******
    //    This is the type of the database server on which your vBulletin database will be located.
    //    Valid options are mysql and mysqli, for slave support add _slave.  Try to use mysqli if you are using PHP 5 and MySQL 4.1+
    // for slave options just append _slave to your preferred database type.
$config['Database']['dbtype'] = 'mysql';

    //    ****** DATABASE NAME ******
    //    This is the name of the database where your vBulletin will be located.
    //    This must be created by your webhost.
$config['Database']['dbname'] = 'databasename of new server';

    //    ****** TABLE PREFIX ******
    //    Prefix that your vBulletin tables have in the database.
$config['Database']['tableprefix'] = '';

    //    ****** TECHNICAL EMAIL ADDRESS ******
    //    If any database errors occur, they will be emailed to the address specified here.
    //    Leave this blank to not send any emails when there is a database error.
$config['Database']['technicalemail'] = 'errors@here.com';

    //    ****** FORCE EMPTY SQL MODE ******
    // New versions of MySQL (4.1+) have introduced some behaviors that are
    // incompatible with vBulletin. Setting this value to "true" disables those
    // behaviors. You only need to modify this value if vBulletin recommends it.
$config['Database']['force_sql_mode'] = false;



    //    ****** MASTER DATABASE SERVER NAME AND PORT ******
    //    This is the hostname or IP address and port of the database server.
    //    If you are unsure of what to put here, leave the default values.
$config['MasterServer']['servername'] = 'IP address of new server';
$config['MasterServer']['port'] = 3306;

    //    ****** MASTER DATABASE USERNAME & PASSWORD ******
    //    This is the username and password you use to access MySQL.
    //    These must be obtained through your webhost.
$config['MasterServer']['username'] = 'username of new server database';
$config['MasterServer']['password'] = 'password of new server database';

Is that right?

Thanks for the help.

Edit: The above didn't work, I got a database error on the old server.

you need to add an access host on the new box to the old IP.

you can do this in cpanel from your.com:2082/frontend/rvlightblue/sql/managehost.html

Thanks Brian,

I don't have c-panel, I am using 1&1. (don't laugh )

its in cpanel... or whatever you use

I havent got that.

:shrug:
1&1 sucks... lol

put a ticket in... see if they can guide you

lol They do indeed, but I didn't have much choice.

Looks like a call to India is in order then

Just spoke to them, they don't allow it, only localhost.

I think I'll try my original idea, it might be a revelation in bodging

Thanks

OK after a failed attempt last night (not my fault) I'm moving onto my new box in a few hours.

Originally Posted by briansol

5) login to OLD box (use IP, not .com to make sure you are in the right place), set DB in config to point to IP of the new server instead of localhost

Question:
Is it the servers IP or the dedicated IP I've assigned the forum?

Not that I can't work it out by trying but worth asking.

it would be the old forum's public IP.

Well I'm on the new box... but it didn't work :( Just kept timing out. Turned off the firewall etc and no dice :(

Meh, was worth a shot