Proper way to change Hosting ?

xasharma

Hey guys, I want to change my hosting. Please tell me what things should i take care of ?

How can switch the hosting completely?

On Capnel I took a Full Backup of the site.

Cpanel image links :

Image 1 for backup -

Image 2 for Backup -

In image 2 there is a partial backup option. Which one should I choose and how can I do it securely?

luceos

Copy files and database. Import these on the new hosting. Then on the new hosting also run composer update --prefer-dist --no-dev -a and update the config.php should the database credentials be different.

xasharma

luceos

Which backup should I use .... Full or partial of the Home directory and SQL data base ?

xasharma

luceos I tried cpanel backup wizard and it made a backup of HOME directory, SQL database and Email forwards

when i tried to restore it in the new hosting it is showing

"Error: SyntaxError: Unexpected token '<', "<!DOCTYPE "... is not valid JSON"

luceos

xasharma i think the API is throwing an error. Did you follow the troubleshooting guide from the docs.

xasharma

luceos Yes

xasharma

luceos I tried troubleshooting again but nothing happened

Same error - "Error: SyntaxError: Unexpected token '<', "<!DOCTYPE "... is not valid JSON"

luceos

xasharma what is the output of php flarum info? Any errors throw there? Otherwise try hitting either <forumUrl>/api or <forumUrl>/api/discussions and see if either throws an error. We'll need the actual error.

xasharma

luceos

Flarum core: 1.7.2
PHP version: 8.1.17
MySQL version: 10.3.38-MariaDB-cll-lve
Loaded extensions: Core, date, libxml, openssl, pcre, zlib, filter, hash, json, pcntl, readline, Reflection, SPL, session, standard, bcmath, calendar, ctype, curl, dom, mbstring, fileinfo, ftp, gd, iconv, imap, exif, mysqlnd, PDO, Phar, posix, SimpleXML, sockets, sqlite3, tokenizer, xml, xmlwriter, xsl, mysqli, pdo_mysql, pdo_sqlite, xmlreader, i360
+------------------------------------------+---------+--------+
| Flarum Extensions                        |         |        |
+------------------------------------------+---------+--------+
| ID                                       | Version | Commit |
+------------------------------------------+---------+--------+
| flarum-flags                             | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-suspend                           | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-tags                              | v1.7.1  |        |
| askvortsov-auto-moderator                | v0.1.2  |        |
| flarum-sticky                            | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-likes                             | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-lock                              | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-approval                          | v1.7.0  |        |
| fof-spamblock                            | 1.1.0   |        |
| fof-oauth                                | 1.3.0   |        |
| fof-follow-tags                          | 1.1.7   |        |
| michaelbelgium-discussion-views          | v7.2.1  |        |
| flarum-markdown                          | v1.7.0  |        |
| afrux-forum-widgets-core                 | v0.1.7  |        |
| zerosonesfun-featured-card               | 1.0.3   |        |
| v17development-user-badges               | v1.1.0  |        |
| v17development-seo                       | v1.8.0  |        |
| the-turk-stickiest                       | 3.0.1   |        |
| the-turk-diff                            | 1.1.2   |        |
| sycho-profile-cover                      | v1.3.3  |        |
| ramesh-dada-increase-title               | 1.0.0   |        |
| ramesh-dada-bbcode-alerts                | 6.21    |        |
| nearata-related-discussions              | 1.3.0   |        |
| nearata-no-self-likes                    | v1.2.1  |        |
| nearata-copy-code-to-clipboard           | v2.1.0  |        |
| migratetoflarum-canonical                | 1.0.0   |        |
| kilowhat-audit-free                      | 1.6.0   |        |
| justoverclock-guestengagement            | 1.0.3   |        |
| justoverclock-contactme                  | 0.2.3   |        |
| ianm-no-meta-title                       | 1.1.0   |        |
| ianm-html-head                           | 1.1.0   |        |
| glowingblue-password-strength            | 3.1.0   |        |
| fof-username-request                     | 1.1.2   |        |
| fof-user-bio                             | 1.1.1   |        |
| fof-upload                               | 1.2.3   |        |
| fof-terms                                | 1.2.1   |        |
| fof-subscribed                           | 1.1.3   |        |
| fof-stopforumspam                        | 1.2.3   |        |
| fof-sitemap                              | 2.1.0   |        |
| fof-share-social                         | 1.1.2   |        |
| fof-recaptcha                            | 1.1.1   |        |
| fof-polls                                | 1.3.0   |        |
| fof-nightmode                            | 1.5.1   |        |
| fof-links                                | 1.1.3   |        |
| fof-impersonate                          | 1.1.1   |        |
| fof-geoip                                | 1.1.0   |        |
| fof-formatting                           | 1.0.3   |        |
| fof-default-user-preferences             | 1.2.0   |        |
| fof-default-group                        | 1.1.1   |        |
| fof-byobu                                | 1.2.0   |        |
| fof-best-answer                          | 1.2.5   |        |
| fof-bbcode-details                       | 1.1.1   |        |
| fof-analytics                            | 1.1.0   |        |
| flarumtr-mobile-search                   | v1.2    |        |
| flarum-statistics                        | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-pusher                            | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-mentions                          | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-lang-english                      | v1.7.0  |        |
| flarum-bbcode                            | v1.7.0  |        |
| extiverse-mercury                        | 0.2.0   |        |
| davwheat-custom-sidenav-links            | 1.0.1   |        |
| davwheat-ads                             | 1.2.0   |        |
| datlechin-traditional-rank-icons         | v0.1.1  |        |
| datlechin-silent-edit                    | v0.1.0  |        |
| darkle-fancybox                          | 1.1.2   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-post-permissions         | 1.0.0   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-popular-discussion-badge | 1.1.0   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-mass-actions             | 1.1.2   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-emojionearea             | 1.0.0   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-discussion-bookmarks     | 2.0.0   |        |
| clarkwinkelmann-author-change            | 1.0.3   |        |
| askvortsov-rich-text                     | v2.1.7  |        |
| askvortsov-moderator-warnings            | v0.6.1  |        |
| askvortsov-markdown-tables               | v1.2.1  |        |
| afrux-news-widget                        | v0.1.1  |        |
| acpl-lscache                             | v1.0.0  |        |
+------------------------------------------+---------+--------+
Base URL: https://____.com
Installation path: /home5/hacksnat/public_html
Queue driver: sync
Session driver: file
Scheduler status: Never run
Mail driver: mail
Debug mode: off

luceos <forumUrl>/api or <forumUrl>/api/discussions and see if either throws an error. We'll need the actual error.

Nope ... none of these 2 throws an error.

xasharma

I check the docs, There is no tutorial to do the correct backup and restore of Flarum by cpanel or other things.

xasharma

Please tell me how to backup properly.

luceos

xasharma can you please share the url? Or send it to me privately on discord?

xasharma

luceos Hey is there any easy method to restore on hosting?

FBI

This is mine:

Before moving to other server, make sure you upgrade to latest version
Disable all 3rd party extension..
Backup/download old file composer.json and asset directory
If your forum size small/medium, use phpMyAdmin to backup/dump DB into .SQL file
If you have million of post like me, use mysql dump command from SSH. Download and upload from FTP.

Finally. on new server

Fresh clean install New Flarum from zero, make sure setup and run correctly.
Restore dump database, and your forum is back.
Then manually re-install One by One all 3rd pary extension (see your composer.json file ofr the list)
Restore your file asset.

Finish...

That what I did for many years since the beta flarum released until now. Migration from VPS to another many times 🙂

xasharma

FBI Thanks for the help

xasharma

FBI Hey as I am a newbie in migration so please help in this.

Let me explain step by step in an sequential order what I have to do, If there is anything wrong please correct me -

Buy a new VPS
After Buying Install a new flaum there ... ?

Do I have to first export the SQL database to the new hosting before installing the new flarum? OR do I have to export the Asset Directory first? I think I can export the Asset Directory after the new flarum installation.

My main question is SQL database before the installation or after the installation?

FBI If your forum size small/medium, use phpMyAdmin to backup/dump DB into .SQL file
If you have million of post like me, use mysql dump command from SSH. Download and upload from FTP.

I have around 100K registered users and around 10K Discussions having many posts. Which one should i choose ? ... can i just export the database and import it to new one ?