best way to clone my site to work on this 7.1

can someone please post clear instructions to clone my site to work on 7.1 while 7.0.9 is live.

do I ftp to my computer the entire /public_html/ and database and then create mysite.com/mysite2?

to most of you this is simple but to some of use it takes alot of thinking lol

Thanks

what happens to new members after the clone has been done?

because while im working on 7.1 clone, 7.0.9 is still live getting new members..

a lil confusing for us jr.

Hopefully some others will post better instructions as I am a noob to Dolphin.  It depends on the tools you have at your disposal, such as shell access to the server or only ftp access.  Yes, one way would be to ftp down the current installation to move it to a new folder.  You would also want to create a subdomain to point to the clone site.  I am guessing that the .htaccess file might have to be updated.  You would need to create a new database; Dolphin does not allow one to use prefixes; at least no easy way to add them at installation time.  If you have phpMyAdmin you can export the current database using the export feature, choose all tables, and save as file and give it a name.  I have had trouble using phpMyAdmin to import a large database.  If you do have problems, there is a nice little php script that you can use to import the tables into the new database.  Of course you have to point the clone dolphin config files to use the new database.  It may be a bit of work but if you are thinking of upgrading a production site, it is better to do this than risk trashing a production site and have it go down.

Not the best instructions so hopefully you will get some better ones.

The idea is that you can test to see if your installation, along with modifications and custom modules, will upgrade smoothly or take you to upgrade hell.

geek_girl thanks that was great helpful info, im saving a copy via ftp and yes I have phpmyadmin for the database... I will reply back with progress..

ok so created the subdomain uploaded a copy of the database and transfered all the files via ftp.

I edited the clone inc/header.inc... to reflect the change... I gave it a go and all i get is warnings down the screen

Warning: fopen(/home/*******/public_html/clone/cache/sys_options_1d578188317c6df336c02641cbc389df.php) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/*******/public_html/clone/inc/classes/BxDolCacheFile.php on line 66

cache/db_sys_prevalues_keys_1d578188317c6df336c02641cbc389df.php)

cache/db_sys_page_compose.inc_1d578188317c6df336c02641cbc389df.php)

and so on.....

what changes are need to be done in clone/.htaccess?

thanks

please get sure that the file permissions are correct (user/group and rwx) and delete all files in the cache, cache_public folder. just leave the .htaccess files in there.

thanks misterpropper but I really dont know what you mean by  (user/group and rwx), where are these files and what would be the proper permision? I would asume it would be the same since the files were copied from a live site.

Permission denied

Do you know how to chown (change file ownership) in SSH?

If not you may explain to your host that you need the file permissions changed in the folder.

i.e. 

• http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2012/06/chown-examples/
• http://linuxers.org/howto/how-change-ownership-file-linux

 search for "Install Script - Step 1 - Permissions" in this page: http://www.boonex.com/trac/dolphin/wiki/DetailedInstall

yes I have cleared cache, Newton I dont have ssh :/ I guess this is just too complicated.

Thank you for trining to help everyone

you can change the permissions per FTP also ... please read the link i have posted above ...

Ok, I ended up deleting /inc/ from my clone and added the install folder from 7.0.9

so basicy it took me to the install proccess doing all the permisions..

everything worked perfectly kept the same color, and layout as the live one.

the only problem is that the photos are not showing up. the avatar or photo icons just show black.

everything works fine just no images... the photo files are there but somehow they are not linking?

Yes, but that is not really cloning your site if you went back through an install process.

As far as I know, your FTP client will let you change file permissions; I have not seen one yet that wouldn't let you do such an important aspect of file management.

As for the errors, if this was not a true clone of the site, then we really can not say it was the upgrade process and not the "install" process you did.  I would try cloning the site again without doing any "install" process.

ohh i see, ok back to square one lol Thanks

Let's see if we can help you to clone your site.  Maybe those a bit more knowledge about Dolphin can help.  I have only started with Dolphin a short time back.

Ok so I I started over to try and clone 7.0.9 so that I can safely play with 7.1 and not mess with the live site.

coppied all the files and folders via FTP then uploaded them to the new clone, made sure all the permisions where done and created a new database. I then went to phpmyadmin and exported the live site database and then imported to the new empty database.

changed the info on clone/inc/header.inc.... and the new database info

I then went to my subdomain clone and it worked, no errors or warning HOWEVER photos/ icons are not showing just a blank box.

all the files are in its folders but the seem not to be linking?

what could be the couse?

---as always thanks everyone for the help

Did you clear the cache folders again?

If you did all this, and the 7.0.9 site is cloned with same database you should have no problem.

You say you copied/cloned the database. Obviously you changed the name of the database and edited the header.inc.php (in the clone site inc) to reflect the "new" database name. All data should be the same, then start the upgrade/patch.

 ohhh forgot to mention that new photos / photo icons do show-up but not old ones

Yes I have manually cleared cache and cahce_public along with tmp... and still

I would check to see where the blank photos are trying to link to.  You can either look at the page source or use an inspector plugin; such as firebug for firefox.  See if they are linking wrongly; as would seem to be the case, or the image is missing.  Evidently the code is working if you can see new ones but not old ones.

BTW: once you see that you can upgrade your site without a lot of problems, then you can upgrade the production site.  You will want to take the site off-line so users can not be making changes to the site.  There is a mod available to put the site in maintenance mode, or you could redirect the domain to a static page stating the site is in maintenance and will be back on line shortly.  Once you take your site off-line, backup the database to get all new updates from members; backup the site files once more to make sure you get all the new data by users; and then perform your upgrade.  If it goes horribly wrong, you can just put everything back in place again.

 Ok I went to a photo and clicked "view imgae info" and it gave me this

MYSITE.com/m/photos/get_image/file/f55fa4c428c0efeb3f6528845d17d99b.jpg enter that in the adress bar and the photo comes up

then i tried the same CLONE.MYSITE.com/m/photos/get_image/file/f55fa4c428c0efeb3f6528845d17d99b.jpg

I get "the image (CLONE.MYSITE.com/m/photos/get_image/file/f55fa4c428c0efeb3f6528845d17d99b.jpg) connot be displayed because it contains errors.

I really cant see where the clone is trying to pull the images from because they are blank and i cant get image info out of it

PM me the address of both the original site and the clone site and let me take a look-see; no need for an account or anything if I can see your homepage with the broken images.

I am wondering if the images did indeed get corrupted.  I can copy the URL of a public photo from the production site and view the image in the browser; trying to do the same on the clone site resulted in corrupted file message.

When you ftp your site down, be sure your FTP client is set to transfer in binary mode.  If it is set to auto; you might want to force binary mode by manually selecting it.  You could just download the photo data without downloading the whole site and see if the data is corrupted.  Similarly, you could inspect the photos you downloaded by opening them in a browser; not a photo viewing programme since some of them can ignore errors.

As for the avatars, I can view one independently from the production site but getting a "page not found" error on the clone site trying to view the same avatar.

are Core FTP Le and Filezilla FTP client limited as to the amount of files they can see and download?

I have about 6000 files in a folder and when i try to view them via the FTP clients it shows only the first 2000 or less?

same as when i try to download them, it only downloads what it sees?

BTW: once you see that you can upgrade your site without a lot of problems, then you can upgrade the production site. 

By the way, this is still "BETA" software, I highly stress you should wait until they take us out of Beta testing and release the "Production Ready" upgrade/patch

Going ahead and converting your production sites to this again "Beta" release is just asking for more problems down the road.

But users will do as they please. I'm tired of answering the same questions because this is NOT meant for productions sites.

[edit] unless your apt at using TRAC and SVN to make the changes to your core files as they are changing daily sometimes..

Hello Newton, yes I am aware, this is why im trying to get a clone going just so that I could play with 7.1

That's cool, I was actually speaking to GeekGirl..

Final update:

my problem was that I have about 4000 files in photos/files and ftp was only able to see the first 2000. yes they are limited as to how many files per folder. I was able to see them all on phpmyadmin.

I ended up getting  touch with my host provider and had them clone my side.

linked the inc.header.inc with my already cloned database and got the clone working 100%

thanks everyone for the help...

now time to play with 7.1 :)

I use FileZilla and have not noticed the problem you saw.  I am not completely happy using FileZilla and may switch another FTP client.  One problem I have had with FileZilla is that it will create the "instance" of a file it is transferring and then report that the file exist with size zero and ask me if it should overwrite the file.  Not a serious bug but an annoyance.

Best to do something like @Geek_Girl; helps to avoid confusion.

I have used beta software for production sites for years.  It does mean that you need to know what you are doing.  Even so called "Production Ready" software can contain bugs.  For example, if Dolphin 7.0.9 is "Production Ready" it contains a lot of bugs that are documented going back a couple of years; many have not been fixed.  Bottom line is that if the person knows it is a beta version and they feel comfortable dealing with the issues that comes with it and applying patches as they are released; then there is nothing wrong with that person deciding to use the release for a production site.

 True,

but members are coming here crying because their production sites are broke now, hmm.

Just funny how things are expected to work when it clearly states Beta.

I have converted only one site that has been online for eight years. I updated this "production" site because it only uses one module for the site, Articles. So the site runs perfect, no members, forums, or other useless modules.

And when you say "instructions;" what's your reference?