Full process for restoring database only backup?

  • Resolved Eric Hepperle

    (@codeslayer2010)


    7 years, 9 months ago

    Hi @corylamleorg,

    Love Duplicator plugin and have been using it since 2016. Running into problems restoring after a database only backup. The installer and zip were created and downloaded fine. I copied those files to a blank subdirectory. I ran the installer in a browser. The 4-step process completed and appeared successful, but when I tried to login I got an error 404.

    So, I then thought “ok, maybe it’s not working because they are assuming that you need to have a vanilla WordPress install first”. So I downloaded and installed WordPress 4.9.8. That seemed successful. Then I re-ran the Duplicator installer to overwrite the database, but it was not successful. When I go to the index.php page it instead takes me to the “wp-admin/install.php”. I don’t like deleting cache and history all the time, so I tested the url on another computer and it still just goes to the WordPress install page. I even tried renaming the install.php file to “install.php.bkp”, to no avail.

    I’m hoping you can explain these instructions to me from this “Two-Part Install” article.

    https://snapcreek.com/duplicator/docs/quick-start#quick-060-q

    Here are the step I believe these instructions are indicating:

    1. Download (either through CPanel or FTP) your “wp-content” folder to your hard drive
    2. Create a database-only backup (https://snapcreek.com/duplicator/docs/quick-start#quick-050-q)
    3. Copy the installer.php and .zip archive file from the backup into a blank folder (either root or a subfolder)
    4. Create a new database on your host
    4. Run the Duplicator installer
    5. After step 4 completes, don’t click login yet
    6. Now copy your wp-content folder from your hard drive into the root folder or subfolder that you just restored your database-only backup to
    7. Only after your wp-content folder finishes transferring, then login to your website

    Is this correct?

    • This topic was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by Eric Hepperle.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Cory Lamle

    (@corylamleorg)

    7 years, 9 months ago

    Hey @codeslayer2010,

    The database only option should be used with the site files where it was created. So you should do the following:

    1. On Site A FTP all (everything not just the wp-content) the files to Site B.
    2. On Site A create a database only package.
    3. On Site B setup the Database if not already setup
    4. On Site B run the installer from the same location where you put all the files in step 1 above.

    I think the main step your missing is copying the entire site to the other location. The database only package does not work with a vanilla WP install because all the DB options are configured to work with the site where it was built.

    Hope this helps~

    Thread Starter Eric Hepperle

    (@codeslayer2010)

    7 years, 9 months ago

    @corylamleorg,

    Thanks for that clarification! After some hiccups I did get my site migration to work using your 4-step process. The migrated site is here: http://ehepperle.com/in-progress/ehw/20180823/

    For anyone viewing this and considering doing the Two-Part Install using the Database Only Backup method, here are a few gotchas to keep in mind:

    1) It took over two hours to download my website (mostly because of the “uploads” folder, the entire site was about 900MB) via FTP and reupload via FTP. According to this blog post (https://neliosoftware.com/blog/wordpress-migration-problems-and-how-to-fix-them/) it takes less time to download or upload one large file, than many thousands of tiny files, which I was not aware of.

    2) I migrated my site to a subfolder on a different domain which did not have an SSL certificate installed. Although the migration said it was a success and I was able to login and display the dashboard just fine, I could not load the index.html (home) page. After some troubleshooting (disabling plugins), I realized that Really Simple SSL was the culprit. After disabling that plugin and changing “https” in the address bar of the browser to “http, I was finally able to load the homepage.

    3) Near the end, I also reset the permalinks by changing from “Post name” to “Plain” the back to “Post name” (saving after each change, of course). This may have helped or it may have had no overall effect at all.

    Keep this in mind when running the Duplicator Two-Part Install.

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by Eric Hepperle.
    Cory Lamle

    (@corylamleorg)

    7 years, 9 months ago

    Thanks for the update! Also, keep in mind on cpanel systems you can use their zip feature which is pretty fast. Just log in to the cpanel file manager zip of the contents of your site.

    Then FTP the large zip file (which is faster than separate files). Then on the new site login to the cPanel and extract the zip file as such:

    Hope that helps~

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Full process for restoring database only backup?’ is closed to new replies.

Tags