Are you using a standard skin for your blog, or was it completely customized ?
Was the customization a variation of a standard skin ?

What version of b2evo are you running at this moment ?

Have you figured out what provider you want ?

I'm on version 0.9.0.12. I do have a custom skin, but it's just a minor modification of the Guadaloupe skin (I changed the picture and font, and some of the spacing of margins.) The other two hacks I applied were to rename the .htsrv folder and to turn off comments for non-registered users. (I suppost those hacks would just go by the wayside with the new version.)

Regarding the skin - if what I have would not go over to the upgrade, I'd be fine with just using a standard skin for a while and doing my own customization.

I haven't decided on a new webhost yet - I'm leaning towards IX Webhosting (Linux version.) From what I can tell they offer all the functionality that B2E would need.

Aside from not knowing how to export and then reimport the messages in the SQL database, the only other concern I have is that the blog may not be in a standard location - it's housed in a folder that is just called 'b2evolution' and is a subfolder of the general http folder. So a direct access to the blog would be through www.domain.com/b2evolution/

I do have a lot of images in the b2evolution/media folder that are linked to in posts, but all of those are accessed via the domain name (e.g. www.domain.com/b2evolution/media/image.jpg) and not by linking locally within the site.

The same is true of the other internal links to pages on the static site - they are all through the domain name.

So I figured that if the site was moved, as long as the same folder structure was in place (starting at the domain name) the links would work. I hope that makes sense (maybe it's obvious why I need help on this!)

My current site, based on traffic logs and a site uptime tracking service, seems to be down 4 to 6 hours a week - that''s only capturing outages in excess of 1 hour. There have been lots of time when I go to do something and its down, maybe just for 10 or 15 minutes. Maybe I'm over reacting but it seems like the service should be more reliable.

Thanks!

If you're (pretty much) using the basic Guadaloupe skin, then converting your blog should be pretty painless.

All you need to do is take a backup of your database (through cpanel, or whatever your host provides), take a note of your db host/user/pwd from conf/config.php and then upload the new files to the same directory as now.

From there it should be as easy as hitting http://domain/b2evolution/install/index.php, filling in your db details and hitting upgrade (on the next screen).

4-6 hours downtime a week? I'd cancel my payments 'til they sorted their shit out :|

¥

Does your current host give you cpanel to use? If so you probably have a feature called "backup". Use it to backup your b2evolution database. Don't know your database? Download (via an FTP program or whatever FTP utility your host gives you) your b2evolution/conf/_config.php file and in that you will see the name of your database.

Now use phpmyadmin (another feature available through cpanel - and many other hosting tools) to visit your database and select the "export" option. Click on "select all" then check the box for "save as file" and then "go" (or something like that.

You now have two different backup versions of your database, so you should be okay.

Next download everything in your b2evolution folder. EVERYTHING! If you are on a dialup connection then do it one folder at a time until you have everything from your current host on your local PC.

Congratulations. You've got your database twice and all your files. Nothing else is needed to get your blog back online with your next host.

Now talk to your next host BEFORE you sign up. Tell them what you want to do and tell them what you've got backed up. If they won't help you perhaps that's a signal to look for another host before you pay good money?

When you finally get moved in to your new host/home you will absolutely want to upgrade to at least version 0.9.2 as it is much nicer in many regards than 0.9.12. Dot Twelve is way old!

Stay in touch here and people will help you.

Thank god one of us is sober enough to read the question :D

¥

Does your current host give you cpanel to use? If so you probably have a feature called "backup".

Thanks, Ed - maybe I _can_ handle this afterall. :)

My webhost does have a cpanel and I found the database controls. I can't find a backup command but did find an export function, and I went ahead and downloaded the SQL database. I can FTP the entire b2evolution folder to my PC without a problem (I actually do that every few weeks just to have a backup on hand), so it looks like I should be good to go once I find the right host.

Good point about asking the new host about this before siging up - yeah, I was gonna do that, but have jumped in without looking in the past.

A bit off the orignal subject - is there anything specific I should ask a new host about what it takes to be compatable with B2E? One of the problems I have with my current host is that in a few situations (only 3 or 4) b2e stops working. It can be anything from the whole app just doesn't work, to images not displaying, to being unable to enter new posts.

Each time its happened they've told me that it was because of a PHP security update and either they have fixed it or, in the case of the images not loading, I had to upload with FTP everything in the /media directory that had been uploaded via the built in file-upload tool. Apparently that was needed to get the file attibutes right.

So - if you know of anything specific I should ask a web host to assure compatability, let me know.

- MCC

If you're (pretty much) using the basic Guadaloupe skin, then converting your blog should be pretty painless.

All you need to do is take a backup of your database (through cpanel, or whatever your host provides), take a note of your db host/user/pwd from conf/config.php and then upload the new files to the same directory as now.

From there it should be as easy as hitting http://domain/b2evolution/install/index.php, filling in your db details and hitting upgrade (on the next screen).

Thanks - it looks like it should be fairly straightforward - but what's included in "filling in your db details"? Is that pretty self explanatory at the time?

4-6 hours downtime a week? I'd cancel my payments 'til they sorted their shit out

Prepaid for a year :( But the contract ends in a couple of months so it's time to move.

- MCC

Before you get into the database controls you should have a thing called 'backup'. It's not part of phpmyadmin - it's a different button from cpanel. It'll create a different type of backup than 'export' does, and it creates one that is most easy to re-install.

Don't ask any specific question: just tell them what you got and what you want to do. You used 'export' and downloaded all your files and want to re-install your blog: if that's not enough for them to figure out what you need they suck.

It dawns on me your database details won't matter yet since you're not upgrading (yet). Your files already have your database connection info (entered in your conf/_config.php file) so all you have to do is upload everything and you'll be up and running again. This assumes your domain name is staying the same, and that your new host gives you a database and database username and database password that match what you have, so when you talk to them you should include that info. Again you find that in your conf/_config.php file.

Upgrading is when you either edit your new conf/_config.php OR enter the info when you run your installer for your upgrade. I've never done it the second way so I can't say for sure, but I think that means your conf/_config.php file is chmod'd correctly so you can edit it from your browser.

But anyway that's stuff you should be talking to your host about. "I got these backups and files and it says stuff about a database name and all I want is a host who doesn't suck and can help me get all this stuff working again".

Again: you'll want to upgrade immediately upon getting your dot twelve installation running again. Your new server will love you long time for going to the 0.9.2 release.