Test Site

I've had my mysite.com for about a week now.  Everything is going well, so far.  I just made a copy of all my files because I wanted to create a test site.  I know you're supposed to create one in the beginning, but how do I aim my test site to the correct domain?

So far, I've copied all of mysite.com folders/subfolders, created a new DB for my test site.....now I just need to get these copied files and new database pointed to the correct subdomain (ex. demo.mysite.com)

Please help.

Thanks,

CH

To much hassle . . .

Delete it all and just do a fresh install to demo.mysite.com.

I personally can't say the same for all host control panels out there but cpanel this can be done fairly easy and fairly fast. I have done this on a number of ocassions in 10-15 mins tops. I am very familiar with the script and cpanel though. With less familiarity it may take considerably longer or be confusing.

If you do use cpanel pretty much exclusively like myself it is pretty simple try to follow me a little, I'm not sure what your knowledge is of dolphin, database, or cpanel/hosting.

If your test site is demo.mysite.com this being a subdomain or mysite.com/demo this being a subfolder/subdirectory you should have a folder in public_html/demo within cpanel. Again this is based on cpanel. If you have another control panel possibly some of this will help.

So login to cpanel and use cpanel's file manager. Be sure the check box for show hidden .files is selected so you can see your .htaccess files too.

Now I am assuming you want to move every thing in yoursite.com/demo to your main directory yoursite.com or if somewhere else you should be able to figure out where I am going.

You simply navigate to the folder yoursite.com/demo and click on each folder inside demo such as public_html/demo/admin and choose the option copy to. Then you click on public_html. This will copy admin folder in your demo directory to your main public_html directory. Not each individual file inside the admin folder. This will take forever. Copy the entire /admin folder to public_html. This will move all the contents of /admin folder in one pop!!

You repeat this for all folders and the main files. By choosing copy to, instead of move to it will still leave the files in the /demo directory as well incase you mess up you can try again. Eventually you can delete /demo once you verify all is well and working for a few days. No rush or hurry. If you choose move to and you mess up then you don't have the original to fall back on. So be sure to use copy to not move to.

So copy them all to your desired location one by one. This really don't take to long. When you copy a folder such as /admin it also moves all files and folders inside it. So it's really pretty fast.

By using the cpanel file manger to move directories/folders instead of a ftp client all files and folders permissions remain. So this means no checking, re-adjusting any file permissions. Which is a real time saver in the long run.

After you do that you need to update a few files with the new path locations:
/inc/header.inc.php
Find:
$site['url']               = "http://www.yoursite.com/demo/";
or
$site['url']               = "http://demo.yoursite.com/";

Change to:
$site['url']               = "http://www.yoursite.com/";

Find:
$dir['root']               = "/home/youraccount/public_html/demo/";

Change to:
$dir['root']               = "/home/youraccount/public_html/";


Open these:
/periodic/cmd.php
/periodic/cupid.php
/periodic/notifies.php
/periodic/periodic.file

Find:
require_once( '/home/youraccount/public_html/demo/inc/header.inc.php' );

To:
require_once( '/home/youraccount/public_html/inc/header.inc.php' );

Same with /periodic/periodic.file same as above for each.



Open:
/ray/modules/global/inc/header.inc.php

Find:
include("/home/youraccount/public_html/demo/inc/header.inc.php");

To:
include("/home/youraccount/public_html/inc/header.inc.php");

Adjust the crons in your host control panel from:

/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/youraccount/public_html/demo/periodic/cupid.php
/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/youraccount/public_html/demo/periodic/notifies.php
/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/youraccount/public_html/demo/periodic/cmd.php


To:
/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/youraccount/public_html/periodic/cupid.php
/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/youraccount/public_html/periodic/notifies.php
/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/youraccount/public_html/periodic/cmd.php



If you are going to use the same database and info. No need to make any database changes.


Take your time and go slow. The whole process is fairly simple. This may seem complicated, but it is real simple and fast.

Good Luck!! Sounds complicated but really it's simple. I've done this so many times I can't even count.

gameutopia

http://www.dialme.com

Thank you gameutopia for your detailed description.  I really appreciate it! 

I do have 1 more question.  If I am using a different DB for my test site, where would I make those changes?

Thanks,

Craig

You can find, change or edit the connection details to the database in /inc/header.inc.php

If you so choose to use a different database, db user, or db pass just edit this file. It should be pretty obvious the file is not very big and should be easy to pin point.

gameutopia

http://www.dialme.com

I have a question:

I just copied all of my files for dolphin from the dolphin folder to a new folder on my server, using the same database. but when i attempted to check to see what worked this is what happened:

new url: letsconnect.ca (but go to LETSCONNECT.CA/INDEX.PHP) (right now it goes to index.html which is a redirect to deciphagear.com/dolphin > the old dolphin folder)
old: deciphagear.com/dolphin/

The only thing that I haven't done yet set the crons in the control panel from the host, and i didnt do anything at all to the database since i figure i dont have to change it, its all under the same username on the same server,

the problem is none of the images show anymore (on the new url), did i miss something?

when i go to the new url the site is even missing the default thumbnails that come with dolphin, and when i go to the old url the generic gray thumbnails that come with dolphin instead of the primary profile photo chosen by each member show up. though all photos  in a members profile and on other pages so far appear to be working.

what did i miss? i followed the instructions perfectly, or, does setting the crons matter right now? i just wanted to test it to see if it would work before i set the crons to point to the new url.

"Same with /periodic/periodic.file same as above for each."
Someone told me to edit the periodic.file   paths to the same as the php files before it
I edited this file just like the ones before it in the periodic folder, was it necessary? It doesn't say to do that in the Boonex Trac.