Hi
I am in the process of moving to a new host thats on Apache servers rather than zeuss so I can have the sheer luxury of clean url's ;-)
My problem is I'm lost in working out how to adjust my settings to point to the correct place on the new set up. Its a bit more complicated than any guidance I can find on drupal.org
On my old host all my drupal files (including the sites folder) were at the top directory level. On this site I am told to place everything one level down into my public_html level folder. The support person says they don't know drupal but its not working because there are no php files inside the public_html folder
Status at present is;
1. My current site is still running www.davislangdon.net.au
2. I have a temporary url for my new site until I have everything working and then I can point my domain to the new host
3. I have copied and uploaded via ftp all files to new host
4. I have exported / imported the database via phpmyadmin to the new host
5. I have adjusted settings.php to point to the new database with correct new username, password domain and location (as advised by host support person)
6. The temp url http://119.82.148.7/~davislan/ isn't showing my drupal site just the placeholder text from the host
I'm not sure how and what to adjust to sort this all out. I would really appreciate some bullet points on what files to change/move.
Comments
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well, public_html is where Drupal should go. That is the default folder for all the things accessible from the internet, well with http://, and every other folder is probably not accessible from the web (at least not per default - you could create other folders besides public_html and then in your control panel can point subdomains or other domains there).
so the question is, did you upload Drupal into public_html or not (make sure you didn't accidentally upload it into private_html, that's afaik the default for https://)? If yes, then the problem should be at your host's end and not with Drupal.
I suspect that your files are
I suspect that your files are not in the right place yet. On your current server, find the base directory of your Drupal installation. That is the directory with (amongst others) index.php, cron.php and robots.txt in it. Copy the contents of this directory, including all subdirectories, to the public_html directory on your new server. Make sure that you also copy .htaccess files; they can initially be hidden on certain servers and in FTP clients.
Confounding your errors. If I
Confounding your errors. If I were you I would first do a clean install of Drupal over at the new host in public_html directory. That should work just fine and you'll see the normal welcoe to Drupal message. When it does then use that installation to convert your old system by copying any files especially the old sites folder, change settings.php and copying your database to the database created for fresh install. Run update.php should put you in business.
Clean reinstall
Thanks guys I really appreciate you all taking the time to answer. I think I am going to take the clean reinstall advice (which I had been thinking about anyway) I was worried I would open a whole new round of config issues but it would be good to start afresh now that I have 12 months of "drupaling" behind me and get everything as clean and efficient as possible.
If I learn anything worth posting I'll share.
Thanks again !!!
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there's no need for a fresh install in that sense. you just put the Drupal files of the corresponding version you're currently running (in case you're not yet up-to-date and on 6.19) in the public_html folder (you didn't yet say whether that's where you put your files, basically you need to have public_html/index.php, public_html/modules, etc...), run the install script and after that you upload your sites/all folder and replace the created database with your existing database.
Migrating a site - tips for newbies
Ok I have now moved the site but fell into several traps that I think will help others who are around my skill level (i.e. pretty low) to know about.
1. I decided to move my site because netregistry.com.au use Zeuss servers which are are IMO no good for a Drupal site, you can't achieve clean urls without a lot of grief eg you can't use the global redirect module. Basically if SEO is important to you then don't go with a zeuss host. I found this post is spot on http://www.michaelphipps.com/post/170207973/drupal-htacces-to-zeus-rewrite
2. drupal.org has 100's of pages with fixes for memory problems and plenty of posts telling you to check out the memory limits of any host you are considering. Well I assumed this wouldn't be an issue at ausweb.com.au because they have what they describe as "generous" memory limits on their hosting packages. Turns out that is 32M. That "might" be generous on a non-drupal site but as the post below indicates you don't need a complex drupal site to run out of memory. I recommend reading it before you choose a host http://drupal.org/node/411212
3. I ran into memory problems because my site whilst not complex did have a lot of modules installed. As I learnt drupal and played with my site they just grew. When I migrated my database and files across to ausweb.com.au all I got was memory issues. Changing settings.php didn't work, I don't have access to the servers php.ini file and the host wouldn't up the limit. Basically they said pay for dedicated or VPS hosting or bad luck. Lesson is do your research before choosing a host.
4. A really dumb and embarrassing thing I had a problem with was moving my drupal files and folders. For some reason (probably my mac upbringing) the gui of filezilla does my head in. I moved all the folders within my main directory across but missed all the individual files at the top level. Obviously nothing works if you don't have .htaccess, index.php etc !!! Like I say embarrassing but I'm probably not the first or last person to have that particular brain explosion so thats why I mention it. Thanks to the folks above who jumped in and helped, it was after the 100th reread that the penny dropped ;-)
5. I had no choice but to do a clean reinstall of a fresh system on the new host. I assumed the hosts fantastico app would set the install up exactly how it should be. Nope, as others have said I found its pretty much useless too. I just went back and did exactly what drupal.org says ... http://drupal.org/node/628292
6. I have lost a lot of content from my old site (or more accurately as yet been unable to export it into the new site) but I am taking positives out of it in that I now have a bare bones set up that runs as fast as lightning, is easy to keep up to date and clean and I am designing a fresh new layout from scratch. All of this is work I wasn't planning but its all part of the fun I guess........