How to Migrate Dragonfly CMS to JOOMLA 1.5, step by step
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 6:39 am
I hung with the Dragonfly CMS about a year longer than I truly wanted too. The main reason was my Kustom Kulture portal WorldWideRetro.com. With over 5500 members and nearly 20,000 posts I felt locked in. There was no way, I thought, to transfer all of those member's profiles and thousands of forum posts to a new CMS. I searched and searched for a Dragonfly to Joomla migration script, to no avail. But then I stumbled across an old NUKE to PHPBB2 script. It then dawned on me that I could possibly modify this to convert my Dragonfly Forum (based on phpBB) and all its members and posts over to phpBB2. If I could do that I could then use the "Convert" function built into the install script of phpBB3 and upgrade the phpBB2 to phpBB3. Then finally, use the jFusion bridge to integrate phpBB3 into Joomla 1.5, use the sync function and VIOLA! All my Dragonfly CMS members are now my JOOMLA! members and phpBB3 with my thousands of posts is fully integrated!
I know for a fact that there are MANY webmasters out there in the same predicament so I am going to lay out my step by step to save you the headache.
You will need the following, JOOMLA! 1.5, the JFusion Component for JOOMLA!, phpBB2, phpBB3, and finally the conv_drag_to_phpbb2.php script.
Please note, I started with a Dragonfly 9.0.6.1 installation with the standard forum built in. If you have ForumsPro installed, uninstall it before you start. I am not sure how much the forum structure changed on later versions of Dragonfly so be prepared to do some modification or retro-convert your Dragonfly back to 9.0.6.1 all together.
1. Install and setup JOOMLA! 1.5 on your server.
2. Install phpBB2 on your server and do not modify. You can put it in a different folder from the Dragonfly CMS. In my case, the CMS was in the root of the server, so I just simply put the forum in a folder called phpbb2. Take note of database names, passwords and prefixes.
3. Install phpBB3 but DO NOT DELETE the install file yet. You can put it in a different folder from the Dragonfly CMS. In my case, the CMS was in the root of the server, so I just simply put the forum in a folder called phpbb3. Take note of database names, passwords and prefixes.
4. Once you have the phpBB2 forum installed and working, you then need the content from Dragonfly converted over (or ported) into your fresh phpBB2 install. Upload the conv_drag_to_phpbb2.php file into the root of your phpBB2 folder and run it from your browser.
5. Fill in all the details and double check everything before you start the conversion. The prefix for the old Dragonfly stuff should be cms_
6. If the conversion is successful it will tell you when its finished. Go check your phpBB2 forum and make sure everything is all there.
7. Assuming you have successfully now converted your Dragonfly CMS members and Forum to phpBB2, open your phpBB3 install in your browser..
8. Click the CONVERT tab in the top left then click the phpBB2 to phpBB3 conversion link. Follow the setup instructions and watch the conversion process. If you have a large forum you may get a General Error after a bit. Your server probably just timed out. Just hit the back button on your browser and click the "Continue Conversion" button and it will pick up where it left off. Once this is done you should now have your Dragonfly member base and forum converted to phpBB3.
9. You will now need to rebuild your Search database in phpBB3. Go to your phpBB3 Administrative Control Panel>General>Server Configuration>Search Settings and rebuild your search database.
10. Install the JFusion component in your JOOMLA! CMS through your admin panel. Follow the JFusion instructions for integrating phpBB3 into your JOOMLA! 1.5 CMS. This is a little tricky but JFusion has a great support forum and video tutorials that will walk you through it step by step.
11. In your JOOMLA! 1.5 Admin go to Control Panel>Component>JFusion>New Usersync and synchronize your phpBB3 member database with your JOOMLA! member database.
VIOLA! you have now converted your Dragonfly CMS members and forum to JOOMLA!
I know for a fact that there are MANY webmasters out there in the same predicament so I am going to lay out my step by step to save you the headache.
You will need the following, JOOMLA! 1.5, the JFusion Component for JOOMLA!, phpBB2, phpBB3, and finally the conv_drag_to_phpbb2.php script.
Please note, I started with a Dragonfly 9.0.6.1 installation with the standard forum built in. If you have ForumsPro installed, uninstall it before you start. I am not sure how much the forum structure changed on later versions of Dragonfly so be prepared to do some modification or retro-convert your Dragonfly back to 9.0.6.1 all together.
1. Install and setup JOOMLA! 1.5 on your server.
2. Install phpBB2 on your server and do not modify. You can put it in a different folder from the Dragonfly CMS. In my case, the CMS was in the root of the server, so I just simply put the forum in a folder called phpbb2. Take note of database names, passwords and prefixes.
3. Install phpBB3 but DO NOT DELETE the install file yet. You can put it in a different folder from the Dragonfly CMS. In my case, the CMS was in the root of the server, so I just simply put the forum in a folder called phpbb3. Take note of database names, passwords and prefixes.
4. Once you have the phpBB2 forum installed and working, you then need the content from Dragonfly converted over (or ported) into your fresh phpBB2 install. Upload the conv_drag_to_phpbb2.php file into the root of your phpBB2 folder and run it from your browser.
Code: Select all
http://your-site.com/path/to/phpBB2/conv_drag_to_phpbb2.php
6. If the conversion is successful it will tell you when its finished. Go check your phpBB2 forum and make sure everything is all there.
7. Assuming you have successfully now converted your Dragonfly CMS members and Forum to phpBB2, open your phpBB3 install in your browser.
Code: Select all
http://your-site.com/path/to/phpBB3/install
8. Click the CONVERT tab in the top left then click the phpBB2 to phpBB3 conversion link. Follow the setup instructions and watch the conversion process. If you have a large forum you may get a General Error after a bit. Your server probably just timed out. Just hit the back button on your browser and click the "Continue Conversion" button and it will pick up where it left off. Once this is done you should now have your Dragonfly member base and forum converted to phpBB3.
9. You will now need to rebuild your Search database in phpBB3. Go to your phpBB3 Administrative Control Panel>General>Server Configuration>Search Settings and rebuild your search database.
10. Install the JFusion component in your JOOMLA! CMS through your admin panel. Follow the JFusion instructions for integrating phpBB3 into your JOOMLA! 1.5 CMS. This is a little tricky but JFusion has a great support forum and video tutorials that will walk you through it step by step.
11. In your JOOMLA! 1.5 Admin go to Control Panel>Component>JFusion>New Usersync and synchronize your phpBB3 member database with your JOOMLA! member database.
VIOLA! you have now converted your Dragonfly CMS members and forum to JOOMLA!