I have been working for days to get my first Drupal site transferred from the localhost to the webhost server. In the creation of the site I used the Acquia Drupal stack and have the site ready to go live, but cannot seem to getting to work. I am using HostGator as my server to host the site, I created an empty database to transfer everything into but nothing.

I've scanned the internet and even search YouTube for a solution, and the best one I found was from lynda.org (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh6Vunp7M8U). In the video is suggests using FileZilla for the FTP. With the exception of changing the site file name as it says in the video I followed everything step by step (I did not see "web accessible url' anywhere on the hosting server). There are many issues that have come up though on the install:

1. When transferring the files using FileZilla I copied the main folder like the video says to the public_html folder. Out of the thousands of files contained within it only 20 transferred, and I have no idea why. Under the "Failed Transfers" tab it merely states next to each file "Could not start transfer". I even tried added individual folders within the main after the queue finished and they still came up as "Could not start transfer".

2. When dealing with moving the database I clicked on the "Manage my database" button on the Acquia Dev Desktop Control Panel, which opened the phpMyAdmin. Then I went to export the database to transfer to the new, empty database that I created on the server where the website will be hosted. There is a "Quick - display only the minimal options" or a "Custom - display all possible options" and I chose the custom, and made sure to do SQL for the format (on the video the file is a .sql.gz while mine is just a .sql). First I tried it exporting only "pracentil" database of the site then tried it with both the "pracentil" and "information_schema" together.

When importing just the pracentil database to the new database I receive this error:
"SQL query:
--
-- Database: `pracentil`
--
CREATE DATABASE `pracentil` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;
MySQL said: Documentation
#1044 - Access denied for user 'pracent1'@'localhost' to database 'pracentil' "

When importing both the pracentil and information_schema databases to the new database I receive this error:
"SQL query:
--
-- Database: `information_schema`
--
CREATE DATABASE `information_schema` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;
MySQL said: Documentation
#1044 - Access denied for user 'pracent1'@'localhost' to database 'information_schema' "

So either way there seems to be an issue with user access. Not sure why just the "DEFAULT CHARACTER SET" and "COLLATE" are different on the two.

Are there any other suggestions on how or what to use for the file transfer to ensure that all of the files will actually transfer? Also, are there any ideas as to getting the database to import as well.

Again this is my first time using Drupal so the more instruction on where to go and what to do the better

Thanks.

Comments

VM’s picture

you don't export the information_schema database - it has nothing to do with your drupal site

when you exported the drupal database it seems you set it to generate a database and its trying to do so using your localhost information. I'd take another export and make sure that it is only exporting the table in the database and not set to create a new database.

your FTP failing to transfer files is a host issue or a software issue and not drupal related.

youronetouch’s picture

Thank you for you help. I figured out how I need to export the database info without it creating a new database, and figured out my FTP issues as well.

My problem now is that even after getting all of these items fixed the site still is not working. When I go to the site all that comes up is the index from the server, then if I click on pracentil it basically wants me to install Drupal again for the site. If I try to go to any of the other pages (using the clean URL aliases) I receive an "ERROR 404 - PAGE NOT FOUND" message.

As far as I can tell I have everything else in the proper spots and all the appropriate changes with database, etc.

TMDHosting’s picture

Hello,

I would suggest that you initiate the transfer of your website one more time. To do that, you need to:

1. Remove all of the files within the public_html/ directory of your host.
2. Upload all of the files of your Drupal website via FTP to the public_html/ directory.
3. Make sure that you have also uploaded the .htaccess file of your Drupal website to the public_html/ directory and adjust it.
4. Create a new database, user and a password for it. As you said you are with HostGator, you can use your cPanel account > Databases > MySQL Database Wizard. Make sure that you set the user with ALL PRIVILEGES to your new database.
5. Access the phpMyAdmin service, select the new database and click on the Import button at the top menu.
6. Import the database dump file from your personal computer.
7. Edit the configuration file of Drupal, which is public_html/sites/default/settings.php and enter the details for your new database. Make sure that you set ‘localhost’ for the host option.

This should completely configure your website on the new server and allow you to access it without any issues.

Best of luck!

youronetouch’s picture

What exactly am I supposed to adjust on the .htaccess file and which .htaccess file exactly am I supposed to be changing? Is it the one in sites>pracentil>files>.htaccess or is it just the main one that is in my main folder with my Drupal files? On my FTP client there is also one in the public_html folder, but it is blank file.

For the settings.php file my biggest question is what the port should be. I have switched the database, username, and password to that of my server; 'host' is still set on '127.0.0.1' as it was; then 'port' was automatically set to '33066' but I cannot find anywhere on my HostGator cPanel, etc that has any sort of a port number to know what this should be set at. Is there a standard port that is used for the mysql?

TMDHosting’s picture

Hello,

There is a standard .htaccess file that comes up with the Drupal package and you need to make sure that it is uploaded to the folder of your Drupal installation. This is the ROOT folder of your installation, where you also see folders such as:

> includes/
> sites/
> themes/

and so on. As for the configuration of your settings.php file, I would suggest that you set the following values for the specified:

'host' => 'localhost',
'port' => '',

which should work normally on a cPanel server if your database is located on the same cPanel account as your Drupal installation.

Best Regards,

youronetouch’s picture

Just to clarify am I changing the public_html/sites/default/settings.php file or the public_html/sites/pracentil/settings.php? Everything I have found talks about my site specific settings.php file not the default one.

Also I noticed that you have it with the 'sites' folder directly in the 'public_htm'l folder. Is that what's supposed to be placed there or is the main folder which the sites folder is in with all the Drupal content supposed to be placed directly in the 'public_html' folder?

I'm just wanting to make sure it's not a small error like that on my end causing things to not show.

TMDHosting’s picture

Hello,

Basically, the location of your website depends on the actual way you would like to configure it on your cPanel account. If your domain name is:

> www.domain.com

and you would like to access your Drupal installation via the link above, this means that you need to place all of the files and folders of your Drupal installation directly into the public_html/ directory of your account. However, if you would like to access your website via a subfolder, for example like that:

> www.domain.com/drupal/

this indicates that you need to create a "drupal" folder and place it within the public_html/ directory of your account. Then you need to upload all of the files and folders of your Drupal installation within public_html/drupal/

As for the configuration of your website, the actual file that you need to edit is:

> sites/default/settings.php

This is the main configuration file of your Drupal installation and it is the one to edit when configuring your website.

Best of luck.

youronetouch’s picture

For some reason none of this is working.

I've tried it in every combination I can think of with all the different information that you've suggested along with what I've found other places but nothing seems to work.

This is the site that I am working on (pracentillinois.org). You'll notice that it only has the "Index of /" and files, but when I placed the sites folder and .htaccess file directly into the public_html/ it came up with a 403 Forbidden error if I remember correctly.

I changed the settings.php in public_html/sites/default to the database, database user and database password; switched the host to localhost and nothing for the port.

I am wanting to access the site directly from pracentillinois.org

I really have no idea what else to do.

VM’s picture

before proceeding you should consider trying to install drupal on the host to see if there aren't other issues at hand.

sourabh0990’s picture

Thanks a lot for sharing such a great information. It is really useful.
Thanks
pmdin