Import forum data - fudforum/FUDforum GitHub Wiki

The Import forum data admin control panel can be used to restore the forum from a datadump.

Importing forum data would result in the loss of all current data inside the forum. It will delete and then restore all files in your forum's directory. It will also drop and recreate all tables (with the forum's table prefix) in your database.

Note that you cannot restore a backup from an older version if you are already running on a newer version. For example, if you are running FUDforum 3.0.2, you cannot restore a FUDforum 3.0.1 or earlier backup. You need to first re-install the old version and then restore the backup (just copy the setting values from your GLOBALS.php into the installer, it only takes a minute or two). This is a common trap, so let's say it again: YOU CAN ONLY RESTORE IF THE BACKUP AND CURRENT FORUM VERSIONS ARE EXACTLY THE SAME!!!.

Responsible forum administrators will not only backup their forums regularly, but also perform test restores after making changes or upgrading to newer versions of the forum.

Table of Contents Importing form the ACP Import Data Path Skip Search Index Command line import Common problems I cannot log in, what now? SQL errors while importing a 3.0.1 backup Also see

The Admin Control Panel (ACP) will ask for the following information:

After making your selection, click the Import Data button and monitor the import process until completion.

Enter the full path to your backup file on disk (*.fud or *.fud.gz). This location is displayed on-screen after doing a forum datadump.

To skip database tables containing search related data, select the Skip Search Index check box. However, if you do you will have to rebuild your search index later. This will make importing the data much quicker, especially on large forums.

If the import is failing due to a web server time-out, you can try to import the dump from command line.

Run the script like this:

 $ php -q admimport.php /path/to/dump_file

Where /path/to/dump_file is the full path to the backup that needs to be imported.

If you cannot log in to the forum (for example, if the previous import failed resulting in the loss of old SQL data), open admimport.php with a text editor and uncomment/complete the lines below to import data without authentication.

 define('recovery_mode', 1);
 $_POST['path'] = '/path/to/your/forum/dump';

This is only applicable if you run admimport.php from a browser (irrelevant if you run from command line).

Comment out the following lines from adm/admimport.php before importing a FUDforum 3.0.1 backup (starting from line 194):

 if (__dbtype__ == 'mysql') {
         $line = str_replace("''", "\'", $line);
 } else {
         $line = str_replace("\\'", "''", $line);
 }

• Make forum datadump, admin control panel for taking backups.