Thread

From 2003 on I am a user of pm/EE. I am very pleased with what the software offers but I did not use it very extensively and did not bother to upgrade. So I am still working with a very old version/build: 1.6.8.
Now I want to move my site to another server. And get into some problems. I follow the instructions on moving that I found among the frequently asked questions. After moving the database and the files and after changing some settings step 8 tells me to login (tot the control panel) but I cannot. (‘username nog found in database’). Beside that I see there is something wrong with the theme (there is no CSS active, so it seems).

The note from the frequent questions tells me to upgrade after moving, but I wonder if this advice applies to my situation too. A lot has changed by now (my templates still use ‘weblog’ instead of ‘channel’ for example). I am aware of the fact that I have been kind of penny-pinching and probably I really should upgrade by now but. Hence my question: is it wise to upgrade after moving when you are still using a really old version? (it does everything I want it do do, with very minor setbacks).

[Mod Edit: Moved to the ExpressionEngine 1 Technical Support forum]

FransG,

Thanks for sticking with ExpressionEngine! Before you update (stay with EE 1, currently 1.7.1) or upgrade (EE 2, currently 2.2.2) we need to get you into the Control Panel first. What directions did you follow for moving your site? Are you certain you are using a correct username and password?

Cheers,

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the swift response.

I am sure about the username/password. I tried to follow the instructions summed up 1 to 9 in the frequent questions on moving to another server the best I could.
In restoring my database to the new location I had to change the sql-scipt a little bit because the host prescribed the name of the database. Because the articles and comments on the site frequently included links to other articles in the script I also changed http://www.oldsitename.nl to www.newsitename.nl everywhere.
I noticed that in the general configuration some settings would have to be changed (later??) where the path is given as www/htdocs/... I understand that this can cause the CSS to be missing but I did not expect this to effect the username/password registration.

At the new location I changed the permissions for files and directories. Here I met another possible cause of problems: on the old and new server there is no such file as ‘database.php’ so I could not change the permissions of that file. Is this a file I had to remove after the initial installation on the old server?

FransG

You mentioned changing some of the SQL before importing to your new location What did you use to make those changes? Manipulating path values directly on the database can cause issues because those values are stored in a serialized PHP array. The best practice is to import the SQL and then make the path changes in the Control Panel. Let us know how we assist further.

Cheers,

I tried a more ‘conservative’ approach, so: no changes in the SQL script except for the absolutely necessary change of the name of the database, but that makes no difference.
I still can not login. 
The button for forgotten password does work: I did receive a new password.
It is a bit funny that the mail seems to come from the OLD site: apparently it uses data from the database to compose the message and in that database nothing has changed!

When I use the new password the inlogscreen simply reappears: without an error message.
When I try another password there IS an error message telling me the password is wrong.
Does that give a useful hint?
Thanks for suggestions.

FransG,

I would suggest an even more conservative approach. It has been awhile since I have moved an EE 1.x site but I have moved probably a hundred in my time and I have never had to make changes in the SQL prior to moving.

So try this.

Move all files to new location.
Import SQL (untouched) file to new database
Open system/config.php and make any database hostname, username and password changes here
Go to system/index.php and try and login.
Download Deeploy Helper and install
Navigate to Deeploy Helper and change all paths to match the new server
Go back to the edit page and make sure to search through the articles and change any links that may need updating.

That should help.

Thank you Marcus.
Taking the risk that you might think I am just stubborn or pigheaded but The SQL-script that is being generated by the ‘export’ with MySQLAdmin for every table now starts with:
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `exp_actions`;
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `exp_actions` (
so in effect structure and contents of all tables are exactly like the ones on the old location.
I did not delete the complete database however.
The reason is that the name of the new database is not my own choice but a prescription of my hosting company.
So with the first attempt I created a database with another name and changed the config.php accordingly.

The home page of the site itself looks perfectly okay on the new location!

FransG,

Making changes to the SQL file is most certainly the issue. There is serialized information in some of the tables that you cannot read. If you manually make changes to it then you mess with the relationships between the various tables and I’m pretty certain this is why your site is broken. If possible please just try it my way once and see what happens. You might be pleasantly surprised. If not then you have only lost 20-30 minutes in trying and eliminating something from the list of possible causes.

Thank you very much for the swift response, I will follow your advice.

It will take me a lot more then 20-30 minutes however: I will have to press my host to create a database for me with the name it had on the old site.
That is for later. Now it is past 02.00 here in the Netherlands.

Why does the database have to have the same name? Just change the database name in config.php. No?

In august I tried to move my site to another server and url.
I stopped my attempts.
Marcus Neto advised me to start all over again with absolutely no changes to the sql-export, BU-21-12.sql, (with mySQLadmin from the old place ‘islamofobie.nl’) before sql-import (with mySQLadmin to the new location ‘keizersenkleren.nl’).
On the new location I can see that a lot has gone well: the frontpage looks perfectly the same.

I can even ‘login’ on the now site, however, as a result of that I am taken to the old site on the old location. The same result when clicking ‘expand’ blogentry etc. That is no surprise: I will have to make changes to paths.

I cannot login into the control panel, however.

The message says ‘chosen password does not exist’.

I can use the forgot password-option. This seems to work okay: a new password is e-mailed and I can confirm it.
When I use this new password, the error message does NOT appear, but I get no entrance either.

In the config.php I changed username, password, dbname and cpurl.

I checked the file permissions.

I can NOT change the permissions for the file “system/expressionengine/config/database.php, simply because there is no such file !
The config.php should be in the same map, but I found it directly under ‘system’ (changed to another name for security-reasons).
On that location is no ‘database.php’.
Do I have to make changes to db.mysql.php (in system/db)? To dbtest.php (in utilities) ?

I am beginning to lose hope.

This is not going to work without extensive study. I give up, so don’t bother to answer the questions in my last post.
(Its amazing how well the old build works on the old site/url. I will stick to that old site and accept the fact that the name of the url by now is a little bit confusing).

Hi Frans,

If you are moving an ExpressionEngine 1.x installation, things are a little different that moving a 2.x installation. We would really like to help you get through this move.

With ExpressionEngine 1.x, all the settings for database connectivity are contained in /system/config.php There are some instructions on moving a 1.x installation in the Wiki.

Please let us know if you want to push forward.