Related thread that I posted yesterday:
phpBB forum upgrade::: cPanel, tar file and MySQL questions.
The devil is in the details. Today for the first time, I experience that
www.phpBB.com forum is down.
Sometimes it is good to be paranoid. First of all, it is extremely easy to install phpBB:
- Download the last stable version, unpack and upload it to the folder where you want it installed: phpBB • Downloads
- Quick install should be enough:
phpBB • Support
change security settings:
phpBB • Support
- Then log in and configure your forum in the Administration panel.
- Advertisement: http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article/adve...nts-in-phpbb3/
- JobCoin: phpBB.com Job Board also see the phpBB sub forum if that is relevant phpBB.com Job Board
Upgrading was as expected much more difficult. I read the following in the guidelines. Before you upgrade, you shall disable the old forum to avoid conflicts. I interpreted that as I should delete the files in my old forum. I did not have the files on my cdisk as I have for my other sites. I only have the files on my web server. Read the thread in the first link above, and the posts in the link to the phpBB forum (if it is not broken) how much trouble this created. But I followed the guidelines and took a backup of the complete site and a separate backup of the MySQL database that I downloaded to my computer.
Then I proceeded like this:
- Unzipped the full site backup, file type - tar.gz - with 7-Zip
- The problem was that this did not unpack the root folder. The homedir file got a new .tar file that I could not unzip any further, but I was able to unzip it with Advanced TAR Repair - Repair corrupt TAR files. Fix TAR files. Recover corrupted TAR files. TAR recovery tool. if I bought the tool. I was though able to look at the file structure and noted that all the add on domains was included. I had the information I needed.
- I looged into my cPanel and restored the full tar.gz file. During that restore I was asked if I wanted to overwrite files that was already on my site. I did not. The add on domains was ok, not overwritten as expected. But the home directory was not on my site.
- I did the same restore with the homedir.tar file. And that did it, but not perfectly. My forum was restored as when I took the backup with all posts intact. I did not need to use my MySQL backup, the hard way I thought I have to use.
- The reason it did not function perfectly was that it did not as the full restore ask if I wanted to overwrite existing files. And now, for a reason I don't know, the files on the add on domains were overwritten.
- But fortunately, the add on domains are backed up in my dreamweaver folder, so I did only have to upload the files that had been changed since I took the full backup. Fortunately not many.
- It can pay to be paranoid and know the different steps in tar file unzipping if you have the same cPanel backup tools as I have. It is, as explained above, a two step procedure if you need to look at the files. If you know how the cPanel restore functions, that is unnecessary and many of the above steps are unnecessary.
- Conclusion: Be careful when upgrading the forum software and don't mix disable with delete.
- By the way do you see the old forum ForumNorway.com :: Index and my new yourdomain.com • Index page? For those interested all the programming related sub forums on ForumNorway will, when I have time, be moved to sub forums on OopSchool.