The document here comprises of few instant tips & methods to be used as guideline to be followed while transferring a Joomla 1.5.
In case you want to shift an old existing site from old hosting server to a new server, then making a new fresh installation is not always a wisest & feasible thing. Because then again you will have to spend considerable amount of time installing & configuring all the components and modules. Moreover the content data will again have to filled up. So precisely this process may take much more time & would lead to a messy situation.Although this process is not as difficult as it may seem to you all, however if you have less experience dealing with server related stuff, then this process has to be done very carefully. And still you have confusion or doubts with the process so it is highly recommended to escalate this task to a professional.
Illustration:
To try & make understand you the process in details we will consider & scenario of shifting a domain called 'mytestjoomla.com' to it's new hosting server.
So now presuming you are all set up for shifting your site, please find the procedure enlisted below:
Procedure 1: Data Backup:
First & foremost thing is to take backup of the data of your website of your local hard drive. Backup can be taken using shell command if you have root access of the server or by simply using any FTP client application.
Illustration:
Connect to your old site server using FTP client, and then download all the Joomla based files & folders to your local hard drive. Suppose all the Joomla files of your site are in 'myJoomla' folder of your site then download the data from 'myJoomla' folder of server to a back up folder (say myDownloadedFiles) on your local machine.
After downloading the data, I would suggest you to take backup of 'myDownloadedFiles' folder as well.
Procedure 2: Export your database:
Now the second important step is to export the database files. If PHPMyAdmin is installed in your server, then this process would be an easy step. If not then you ma ask your hosting provider to either install PHPMyAdmin or any other relevant application preferred by you. Anyways considering that PHPMyAdmin is installed in your server, then using Export database functionality of PHPMyAdmin , you will have to execute a backup process for your database file in a SQL file format. Make sure that all the data is exported properly, don't try & export tables one by one.
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Save your database files in a folder say 'myOldDatabase' data folder of your local machine.
Procedure 3: Update configuration.php:
After completing the above task carefully, now go to the folder where the data had been downloaded. There you will find a file named 'configuration.php'. This file would be in main folder (first level folder) of the site. After finding this file, open it in your preferred editor & change the following parameters:
1) Change ABSOLUTE path.
2) Change CACHE path.
3) Change HOST.
4) Change DATABASE NAME.
5) Change DATABASE USERNAME.
6) Change DATABASE PASSWORD.
Procedure 4: Upload all of your files to your new server:
Now, Using an ftp application, upload all of your files from your local hard drive to new server location where you want to install Joomla!
Procedure 5: Import your database to your new MySQL server:
Using PHPMyAdmin and the SQL file you generated in step 2, import your old database into your new database.
And then import the previously exported SQL file (generated in Procedure 2) to your new database of new server. Again this can be done using PHPMyAdmin or through shell commands.
Procedure 6: Test your new installation:
Finally after adding up database files, our task is almost done. Now your domain provider can point your domain to your new server. And your site, will show up on the new server. However please check the entire site & it's functionality first. I
f everything shows up well, then CONGRATULATIONS, you would be successful in this task.
