Regardless where you are moving your site it is really very very easy, i have moved mine many times. This is assuming you have already set up your domain name and all that on the new server.
1. Whatever dir your oxwall install is in, make a zip file of that dir. Example if your oxwall is installed in the public_html then zip up the public_html, if your oxwall is in a sub dir then zip up that sub dir folder. (remember you will be getting everything in that dir so if you have other subs you will get them too).
Download that zip and save it.
2. Export your database. Go to phpMyAdmin and select the database for your oxwall install on the list. Then click export (at the top). A new page will load and you can just go with the default value - this will export all data and all structure of the database..
2a. Just so you have it - do another export this time choose custom option. And export just the structure. Just scroll down that page and you will see options for structure and data... choose structure.. This will export all the table names and fields without data.
2b. Now do another export and this time choose data from that option. This will export all the data that goes into each table but without the tables.
2a and 2b you will not need any further for this process but save them.
Both of these options come in handy when restoring a database but we wont go into how to do that because that is another lesson.
3. Upload your zip file - You dont even have to run install on the new server. Just upload your files into public_html (if that is where they were last time) if you dont have one, or if there is already a public_html you can either delete that (or rename it) and then unzip your file in there. If your oxwall install came from a sub then unpack it there. The point here is that you want to put your files into the same place they were on the old server.
4. Creat your new database, call it the same as your old database and give it the same login credentials with the same user as before.
5. import the first export you did - the one with the structure and data, the complete one. Just go to phpMyAdmin and click on the database name you want to import to.. Then click on import (at the top), choose the file name from your computer (make sure its the complete version - NOT the separate data and structure you made after)
6. Clear your site cache.
7. Enter the Domain into the url and BAM DONE!
hope that helps...
Now yes there are some cases where you might want to run the install, but i never have in a long time. I just move the site image from one place to the other and bam.. done..
Remember it does not matter where your site is, as long as the db info is the same and the config url, dbinfo, and salt, are the same it will run. As long as your system still meets the requirements.
Important - if you are changing the domain name then that is much more difficult because all the newsfeed items in the database are hard coded for the old domain. So none of those will load and it will bomb on you. Yes i know it was not smart for oxwall to do it that way using static url on data.
But anyway your only hope in that case is one of these:
A. Go through the database using either phpMyAdmin search and replace.
B. Exporting the database and doing a programers notepad search and replace every single occurance of the old url. Then dumping all the db tables and reimport the new edited file.
C. Creating either a php file or a manual sql in phpMyAdmin to search and replace every occurance of the old url.
One final thing folks... remember if you download database files you are in fact "keeping peoples data" so store it securely and remember that privacy is becoming more and more a critical issue so NEVER just toss those in the trash can or leave them (on disk or not) laying around. You are responsible for protecting peoples privacy...
dave :)
