Moving Joomla3 database from CentOS 6.10 to Ubuntu 18.04 Topic is solved

[adrian_vg]

Hello all!

I'm in the process of moving my current Joomla3 install on an aging CentOS 6.10 with 5.5.67-MariaDB to Ubuntu 18.04 with 5.7.29-mysql.
Main reason for doing this is that Ubuntu supports and has proven mechanisms in place for major version upgrades without having to reinstall the whole OS - something CentOS still kinda' seems to disapprove of.

I'm gettting to the point of having suspicions that restoring the 5.5-database dump from CentOS 6 to the newer 5.7-database on Ubuntu 18.04 is giving me problems.

What I've tried so far is just import the dump from CentOS to Ubuntu and then installing Joomla with the database already in place.
While this worked for a while and I was happy as a clam, I took a weeklong break from this. When I got back all I get from the Ubuntu-Joomla is an "Error". At this point I just gave up and reinstalled the test-vm from scratch, but now want to do the database-restore somewhat more controlled.

My test-migrations haven't so far obviously been stellar, so I'm wondering if there are any gotchas' I should be aware of, while continuing to research on how to proceed with this migration?

I'm grateful for any tips, tricks and hints.
Thanks in advance!

[ltheme]

Hi,
You should take a look at https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements
And for backup/restore task, I recommend you with Akeeba tool, not manually https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/akeeba-backup/

[adrian_vg]

Hi,
You should take a look at https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements

No problems there, from what I can see.

And for backup/restore task, I recommend you with Akeeba tool, not manually https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/akeeba-backup/

I've seen recommendation for this 3rd party tool before.

Are you saying a manual dump/restore of the database and zipping up the Joomla files and folders and moving them to the new server isn't going to work?

[ltheme]

Hi,
You should take a look at https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements

No problems there, from what I can see.

And for backup/restore task, I recommend you with Akeeba tool, not manually https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/akeeba-backup/

I've seen recommendation for this 3rd party tool before.

Are you saying a manual dump/restore of the database and zipping up the Joomla files and folders and moving them to the new server isn't going to work?

Manual task also work, but make sure that you follow:
1/ Zip all source code
2/ Export database
3/ Upload source code to your new hosting and unzip it.
4/ Create create database and import your dataabase
5/ Open file 'configurtion.php' and replace with required info from new hosting info.
In case you have error, so just check PHP/MySQL version, and also with config of 'configuration.php' file.

[Per Yngve Berg]

Do you have a problem with zero dates?

https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/using-date.html

[adrian_vg]

Hi,
You should take a look at https://downloads.joomla.org/technical-requirements

No problems there, from what I can see.

And for backup/restore task, I recommend you with Akeeba tool, not manually https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/akeeba-backup/

I've seen recommendation for this 3rd party tool before.

Are you saying a manual dump/restore of the database and zipping up the Joomla files and folders and moving them to the new server isn't going to work?

Manual task also work, but make sure that you follow:
1/ Zip all source code
2/ Export database
3/ Upload source code to your new hosting and unzip it.
4/ Create create database and import your dataabase
5/ Open file 'configurtion.php' and replace with required info from new hosting info.
In case you have error, so just check PHP/MySQL version, and also with config of 'configuration.php' file.

Thanks for the clarification. I realize I followed the outlined steps, but didn't check the configuration.php. Maybe that was the problem.

[adrian_vg]

Do you have a problem with zero dates?

https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/using-date.html

I don't know. Would this give me a white blank page with just the text "Error"?

[Per Yngve Berg]

No, it will get the import process to halt. Your title says database, so I assumed that what you had problem with.

A blank page is a php error. Increase the Error Report Level to 'maximum' so you can see the errors.

What version of Joomla are you moving and what version of php is the server running?

Best to use the FPA to check the setup of the new server.

[adrian_vg]

No, it will get the import process to halt. Your title says database, so I assumed that what you had problem with.

A blank page is a php error. Increase the Error Report Level to 'maximum' so you can see the errors.

What version of Joomla are you moving and what version of php is the server running?

Best to use the FPA to check the setup of the new server.

I assumed it was a database error as I've seen it before when I had a RAID-array mishap and a database-problem following that.

Good info about the php and error report level, thanks!

FPA is coming ASAP!

[adrian_vg]

I resorted to building a new virtual machine, and pasting the source code for each article from the old to the new server. There weren't that many articles anyway and took only a few hours.

Something must have been faulty in the original database. Over the years stuff may have been introduced inadvertently and effed up the dumps. In any case, the dumps were unusable.

The advantage with a new joomla-instance from scratch is that I can use the experiences I've gathered over the years and get it right this time from the start, skipping the experimental stage.

I've also documented the step on what's been done, so I can reproduce them.

All in all, all is up again and running well, except a less than handful messages on a few article pages from Disqus, that didn't like the move at all and now point everywhere but to the right article.
I'm guessing this will fix itself over time.

Thanks all for your hints!