Transfering Drupal install from shared hosting to VPS

[rebaths]

Hi, I have a small site running on Drupal CMS, and residing on a GoDaddy shared hosting account.

I have a new Jaguar VPS Linux account and am having a heck of a time transferring everything.

Has anyone done this before?

I thought I had gotten it accomplished when I uploaded all the files to my new account, and exported and imported the database, but when I point my browser to my new IP address (have not switched the DNS servers) it will not resolve.

Keep in mind I am new to this, know nothing about Linux or PHP or SQL, etc. A step by step guide would be nice. Failing that, someone who could do it for me for a price would be great.

Thanks!

[AncientLady]

Questions:
1. When did you start this process?
2. Did you update your GoDaddy account to change the nameservers for your domain? If so, when? (It can take up to 2 or 3 days for DNS propagation)
3. Did you make sure to create the db user with appropriate password?
4. Can you access the database via phpMyAdmin?
5. What database are you using (hopefully it is MySQL)?

This will help us understand a bit more.

[rebaths]

1. I started the process yesterday (Sunday)

2. I did not update my GoDaddy account to change the nameservers, I assumed that until I was SURE my new install at Jaguar VPS was installed properly, I could use my Jaguar VPS IP address to load the 'production' site directly, and if you type the domain name of my site, it would still go to the existing install at GoDaddy. I didn't want to be dead in the water if I screwed something up (which I must have).

3. I created a database user, and also edited Drupal's 'settings.php' to reflect the new database user and password.

4. Yes I can access the database via phpMyAdmin. (this was a hangup point for me at first, as I apparently had to create a blank database and import my existing database from GoDaddy)

5. Yes, it is MySQL.

Thanks!

And don't be afraid to dumb it down for me!

[AncientLady]

When you say that it "doesn't resolve", what exactly happens when you put in the IP address?

If you provide the IP address, we can see for ourselves ('we' assumes others are reading this thread). The IP address will eventually be public knowledge once you make the DNS change, so it is not necessarily a security issue to give it out (just don't give away any user or password information).

You might also need to change the database name itself in the settings.php file. Make sure it is the same as the database you created in phpMyAdmin.

Also, check for any absolute paths in any settings files. GoDaddy paths on shared accounts are vastly different from the paths you'll have on the VPS.

(I have not actually used Drupal, I'm just looking for things that would be a general issue accessing anything on a new site.)

[jason]

1. Are you using a control panel on the VPS? If so, which one? (This will help us provide relevant info).

2. When you set up the account for the new Drupal site (assuming you are using a control panel), did you specifically assign it a unique IP address? If you didn't, the IP will most likely be shared and will be pointing at the root of the server, not at your specific account.

It is good that you haven't changed the nameservers yet, for the exact reasons you state. You can, however, set your individaul computer to resolve your domain name to the new IP for testing, which may help you get closer to a solution. To do this (assuming you are on Windows), open the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file in Notepad. (If you're using Vista, you'll need to be an admin follow these directions). Add a line to the bottom of that file as follows:

123.45.67.89 www.yourdrupalsite.com

Obviously substitute your new IP and your real domain name as appropriate and save the file. When an entry for a give name is present in the hosts file, Windows skip the DNS lookup and will resolve it to the given IP. Now you should be able to test more accurately. When done, just remove the line from hosts and save it again.

If you aren't on Windows, most other OSes support the hosts file. Try searching for "hosts file" and your OS and I'm about 99.9% positive you'll get a hit.

3. Most control panels issue database names in the form accountUsername_userRequestedDatabaseNam e, so if you created an account with the username "drupal" in your control panel and you created a database named "mysite" in that account, the actual database name you'll need to use in the Drupal config is "drupal_mysite." This will probably be different from the name you are currently using on Go Daddy, so you'll need to change it in the sites/default/settings.php. Find the line that starts $db_url, the database name will follow the last slash.

4. When adding a database, most conrtol panels also require you to add a user and specify a password. You must then give permissions to that user to access the database. Once you do that, you'll need to make sure the user credentials are correct in the settings.php file as well. Like database names, user names are also generally in the form accountuser_databaseuser. In the $db_url, the username falls between the "://" and the ":", the password follows the ":" and ends at the "@".

Hopefully this helps.

--Jason

[rebaths]

1. I am using cPanel
2. Yes I assigned it an IP address (took me a while to figure this out, coming from the shared hosting world) the IP is: 69.73.xxx.xxx

3. Will have to double check
4. "" ""

[rebaths]

Ok I tried the hosts file trick and I think I actually got it to go to the 'new' site.... which is weird.

Ok here is my website: www.example.com
That should take you to the 'GoDaddy' version (Edit: which should now say it is offline due to maintenance/upgrades..)

My GoDaddy dedicted IP address is: 97.74.xxx.xxx
My new Jaguar VPS account's IP for example.com is: 69.73.xxx.xxx

When I type the new IP in my browser, I get taken to a generic Apache page "Great Success !
Apache is working on your cPanel® and WHM™ Server"

When I type in 'www.example.com' in my browser, using the new 'hosts' entry, it takes me to my website.

I know it's the 'new' Jaguar version, because I made a quick post in the forum on my website, using my cell phone, which would have gone straight to the 'old' GoDaddy version of my site....

Is this right?

To be sure I wasn't seeing things, I signed in to my website on my cell phone (which I assumed is still pointing to the first, GoDaddy version) and I shut the site down for 'maintenance'

I then entered www.example.com into my web browser on my laptop (with hosts file update) and it comes to my website, fully operational!

[JPC-NickO]

Hi,

It looks like you haven't setup DNS correctly.

I see that you added ns1.example.com but not ns2.example.com and you forgot to remove GoDaddy's name-servers.

There also seems to be a problem with the DNS service on the server.

Please open a ticket with us and include your GoDaddy name and password so I can make the required changes at the registrar.

[jtheregs]

Ok I tried the hosts file trick and I think I actually got it to go to the 'new' site.... which is weird.

Ok here is my website: www.example.com
That should take you to the 'GoDaddy' version (Edit: which should now say it is offline due to maintenance/upgrades..)

My GoDaddy dedicted IP address is: 97.74.xxx.xxx
My new Jaguar VPS account's IP for example.com is: 69.73.xxx.xxx

When I type the new IP in my browser, I get taken to a generic Apache page "Great Success !
Apache is working on your cPanel® and WHM™ Server"

When I type in 'www.example.com' in my browser, using the new 'hosts' entry, it takes me to my website.

I know it's the 'new' Jaguar version, because I made a quick post in the forum on my website, using my cell phone, which would have gone straight to the 'old' GoDaddy version of my site....

Is this right?

To be sure I wasn't seeing things, I signed in to my website on my cell phone (which I assumed is still pointing to the first, GoDaddy version) and I shut the site down for 'maintenance'

I then entered www.example.com into my web browser on my laptop (with hosts file update) and it comes to my website, fully operational!

The page you see is the park domain setting and is what you see if you type in the IP of the Server. The vps is setup on one of the 3 IPs that VPS has. Usually you have an account on the vps such as example. you can access the site directly by using http://69.73.xxx.xxx/~example/ that means the account is assigned to the same IP that the vps server is on. That isn't a problem and will fix itself when the dns is resolving to the new VPS.

NickO is from Jag and can help you with any DNS issues.

[Edit] I actually clicked my link and see your site on the VPS just fine.

[Gwaihir]

Ok I tried the hosts file trick and I think I actually got it to go to the 'new' site.... which is weird.

Neh, not weird, just how DNS and apache virtual hosts come together. It comes down to: you're done, all you have left to do is to changes your DNS settings to the new place .

[rebaths]

Thanks everyone, the site is up and running fine now.