6 replies to this topic

[Pjohnson]

I have a board running on IPB 2.1.7. What is the upgrade path to IPB 3 like? My ideal scenario is that all user accounts and posts get maintained across the upgrade. I would also like existing boards settings to be preserved (such as verification for new users). Is it a matter of just installing IPB 3 and pointing it at the old database? Or will I be migrating the old database to a new one using some scripts? What other options for the upgrade do I need to consider?

[.Ian]

Hello,

There is a built in upgrade script.

However we also offer a free upgrade service as part of your support agreement. So if yours has expired, once you renew to download the latest version, just submit a ticket to support and we will take care of the update to 3.3

[Pjohnson]

Hello,

There is a built in upgrade script.

However we also offer a free upgrade service as part of your support agreement. So if yours has expired, once you renew to download the latest version, just submit a ticket to support and we will take care of the update to 3.3

I'm quite sure the original support agreement has expired. Actually someone else handled the original install several years ago, but I have volunteered to handle the upgrade.
So how does the upgrade service work? Do I need to give you access to my web server?
Another thing I would like to consider is to install 3.3 on a new host, and just grab all of the old info from the database. That way I can bring up the new host and test out the boards before I make it live. Is that feasible?

[AndyF]

Regarding the "move" , I would advise either move then upgrade OR upgrade then move. Attempting to move then upgrading, although it does work fine in most cases, if you did have any issues it would take more time to determine if they were related to the upgrade (unlikely) or something amiss with the move itself.

If your existing server will support 3.x (as 2.x has a lot lower requirements regarding php version, memory limits etc) then I'd say upgrade where you are, then move later when you're ready to. If in doubt, there's a free requirements check file available here , right hand side of that page.

[Pjohnson]

Perhaps I should have mentioned it up front, but the main issue is that the site got hit by a wordpress exploit:
http://blog.sucuri.n...from-rr-nu.html
We have an old instance of wordpress on the same host that IPB is on, and it succumbed to this exploit. Our hosting provider restored our site from a backup prior to the infection, so everything is back to normal for now. My first action was to remove the wordpress install completely, since we don't have a need for the blog anymore. However, after I did that I noticed that the "Goto last unread" icons on IPB were slightly broken. When I read a thread that use unread posts, then click the back button, the "last unread" icon does not disappear unless I refresh. The normal behavior with the wordpress directory in place is that there is some sort of cookie that tracks which threads have unread posts. I'm not quite sure why the presence of wordpress would affect this behavior, but somehow it does.
I realize that this whole wordpress business is seemingly unrelated to the task of upgrading, but when I move the site over to the new host, I want to leave behind all remnants of the vulnerable wordpress install. The above behavior seems to indicate that there is some sort of integration between the two that I don't quite understand. This was all configured by someone else that I am not in contact with. Yesterday was the first time I've ever even logged into the host.

So, in summary, what I would like to do is move the IPB 2.1.7 install to a new host, sans wordpress. Then, we can do the upgrade to 3.3, and hopefully things like "unread posts" will work after the upgrade. Ideally, there would be a way to confirm that no remnants for wordpress integration remain.

[Andrej]

You should also make sure that any themes, plugins and such would be updated for the latest version, as if you don't update them, they will simply stop working.

[bfarber]

Unless you have a perpetual license (which allows for unlimited downloads, but an expiring support agreement), you would need to have an active current license to download the latest release anyways, which would give you full access to technical support (and upgrades performed by us).