Switching Host

[SRNF00]

I am not sure if this is the right area, but if it needs to be moved.. Feel free to move it... I have hosting with godaddy in which I only pay about 7 a month, but lately and mostly everyday my site runs smooth when I am work in the morning, but as time goes by it begins to act up by slowing down and taking time to load the forum... Keep in mind I only have TP and SMF Forum on this server along with some mixes, but nothing major... I am wanting to switch to a better hosting company, but I do not want to loose my members, threads, etc... What are the steps in doing so? I have never moved from a host and I have never installed a backup on a new host.. I am a total noob to this and wish to be directed in the right way with the best help possible.

[ccbtimewiz]

Simply make a backup of all the files in your public_html folder, and then make a backup of the database using SMF's database backup utility in the admin panel.

Though you'll need to find yourself a better host.

[ARG]

I can host you for 5 bucks a month or 50 bucks for a year ($10 savings) complete with cPanel but you would need to get someone else to transfer your database as I am not quite the database pro just yet.
You could also keep your domain hosted where it is so you wont need to pay any transfer or renewal fees. All you would need to do is maybe change your dns settings for my server.

 

[ARG]

Straight from GoDaddy.


You have two options when exporting your MySQL database. You can either export the entire database, or export selected tables of a database, to a file.
To Export the Complete Database

   1. Log in to your Account Manager.
   2. In the My Products section, select Hosting.
   3. Next to the hosting account you want to modify, click Manage Account.
   4. In the Databases section of the Hosting Control Center, click the icon for the type of database you want to manage. On this page, you can create new databases, delete databases, make changes to existing databases, or export databases.
   5. To access more advanced management functions, click Open Manager next to the database you want to export.
   6. Enter your username and password for your database.
   7. On the phpMyAdmin page, click Export under MySQL.
   8. In the Export field on the left side of the View Dump pane, select the database you would like to export.
   9. Select your options in the SQL options pane. Click the Save as file checkbox and name the file.
  10. When you are satisfied with your options, click the Go button. You are prompted to download the file.

Your database has been exported.
To Export Selected Tables Within a Database

   1. Log in to your Account Manager.
   2. In the My Products section, select Hosting.
   3. Next to the hosting account you want to modify, click Manage Account.
   4. In the Databases section of the Hosting Control Center, click the icon for the type of database you want to manage. On this page, you can create new databases, delete databases, make changes to existing databases, or export databases.
   5. To access more advanced management functions, click Open Manager next to the database you want to export.
   6. Enter your username and password for your database.
   7. Click on the Databases icon under MySQL.
   8. Click the database name you want to export tables from.
   9. Click the Export tab.
  10. In the Export field on the left side of the View Dump pane, select the tables you would like to export. Use the CTRL-key to select multiple tables.
  11. Select your options in the SQL options pane. Click the Save as file checkbox and name the file.
  12. When you are satisfied with your options, click the Go button. You are prompted

[antechinus]

Easy option: use SMF admin to back up the db (works very well if your db is under about 10 meg zipped). Make sure you get a complete backup, including table structure.

Copy all files in your public_html/httpdocs/www directory or whatever your host calls it.

Upload said files to the new location at your new host. Import DB using the standard backup/restore tools in your control panel.

Point nameservers at the new location (need to deal with wherever your domain is held for that).

Enjoy a beer.

ETA: I moved a 10,000 post site yesterday. Piece of cake. And GoDaddy sux donkey ballz. So does Enom. I wouldn't touch either of them with a barge pole.

The reason I mention SMF admin for the DB backup is because Enom had buggered both phpMyAdmin and cronjobs and I couldn't export the db in their control panel. The only way I was able to get a backup was SMF admin (hallelujah!). Fortunately the DB was small enough that SMF admin could still handle it.

[ARG]

Easy option: use SMF admin to back up the db (works very well if your db is under about 10 meg zipped).

Is it possible to make smf accept a larger zip file for backups? Maybe a setting somewhere?

 

[antechinus]

You can do a bit to help with that. There are some edits you can do to Sources/DumpDatabase.php which help stop backups timing out when your DB gets up a bit in size. I'll have to look them up again as it has been a while.

I was getting reliable backups to 20 meg zipped (which is roughly 80 meg unzipped) but once you get over that size SMF wont handle it and you really need to run a cronjob straight from mysqldump. That will automate the backup and will handle any size DB, as long as your host is not an idiot who has buggered the server config (like Enom hey).

ETA: Found the edits. This is the standard 1.1.11 code:

Code: [Select]

// You can't dump nothing!
if (!isset($_GET['struct']) && !isset($_GET['data']))
$_GET['data'] = true;

checkSession('get');

// Attempt to stop from dying...
@set_time_limit(600);
@ini_set('memory_limit', '128M');
This is what I am running:

Code: [Select]

// You can't dump nothing!
if (!isset($_GET['struct']) && !isset($_GET['data']))
$_GET['data'] = true;

checkSession('get');

// Attempt to stop from dying...
@set_time_limit(900);
@ini_set('memory_limit', '512M');
As you can see I have increased the time limit by 50% and quadrupled the memory limit.

[ccbtimewiz]

You could remove the time limit completely, actually.

@set_time_limit(0);

[antechinus]

You could, but generally it isn't a good idea to allow unlimited execution times on a live site. 900 seconds is fifteen minutes, which is a pretty long time for a script to run. Could be increased a bit more, but as I said these settings were adequate for me with an 80 meg db, and sooner or later you will need to use something apart from SMF admin.. 

[SRNF00]

Hey, thanks for the replies... Hopefully I can make a switch without any trouble