Since I have a really shitty, crappy hostingprovider, I am thinking of moving my domain and thus my blog(s) to a new provider and an entirely different server.

Now, before I do that....how difficult will it be to move? Will I have to install my entire MT installation all over again (I guess so..maybe this is a dumb question really)....or is it just a matter of copying everything I have on the one server to the other?

Are there any things I should absolutely take care of? Is importing entries and archives and all stuff difficult?

Thanks!

Heh heh ... you need an N of at least two before you can judge shitty, crappy for sure ...  

Anyway, it should be easy enough. If you are using mySQL, you can do a dump ftp the file over to your new server, and load it there Then copy your MT installation files (roughly the same file placement, depending upon where you can run cgi scripts from) - adjust file paths as needed in the configuration page, and rebuild - all your entries are there!

What I did was, mySQL dump , ftp that from one server to the other (bypassing my home computer), then I tar'd the whole rest of the site into a single file, ftp'd it over, untar'd, and distributed the files where they belong (but not MT archives or pages that are just going to be rebuilt from the database anyway).

Theoretically, it should take about half an hour, tops ...

Realistically, it takes all freakin' day, and you can expect to tear your hair out with SLT's ... like file permissions ...

But, if you get a good host, and lots of control over key server features, it is WELL worth it, and any of us here would be happy to walk you through it when the time comes ...

well....one of the problems I have with my hosting provider is that they don't give me a telnet access whatever to the mySQL database. Now, I recently found a tool which allowed me to tinker around with the database anyway...so I guess I'll take a look and see if I can somehow do a dump through that tool.

But, thanks a bunch for the idea, I hadn't thought of that yet!

Will try, and I will let you know whether it worked *G*

No telnet!?!?! Lose them immediately!  :D

But, yes, you can make it happen with mySQLAdmin and other tools ...

Just as long as you don't let them shut down your access to the old server until you have the new one where you want it, then you can't go too far wrong ... just experiment ...

Then, when all is running smoothly, you tell them to flip the IP address, and that's it ...

Well, actually, not in the real world ... usually both hosts will try charging you for a couple of months and many emails and phone calls, etc, but that's another story ...  ;)

When I moved, I was able to get a .tar.gz file with all of my data on it.  If you can get that, it might work to just unzip it onto the server (my incoming host did this for me) and then see if that works.  I *think* that it should include your database files.

Kristine

eh ok...I dumped my entire database so now I have a huuuuuge .txt file with gibberish heh.

When I have access to the new server...where should I upload that? And then what?

Sorry, SQL newbie I am afraid.

Did you back up from phpMyAdmin or another GUI tool, or from the command line using "dump" or "hotcopy"?

I used mySQLman and used the 'dump' command. It dumped a huuuge script to my screen with inserts and create tables etc...so I saved it as a text-file.

From what I could see, it is basically an sql script which, when run, creates my database with all the tables and the data somewhere else. So what I gather, is that I have to rename it to an sql. But then what?

I'm not sure of mySQLman's data format, but the safest thing to do is to be sure it is installed on your new server. If not, you can go to Gossame Threads' website, download it and install it yourself. Then you can use it to create a database with the same name (easiest) as your original on your new server, and then import your big text file. No need to change the file in any way.

ooh cool, just what I hoped for. I installed this version of MySQLMan myself so that won't be a prob on the new server.

Thanks so much for your help...I'll let you know whether it worked