[support] Moving hosting, site no longer works

[Roger]

On 03/28/2013 12:07 PM, support-request at drupal.org wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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>     1. Re: Moving hosting, site no longer works (John Tate)
>     2. Re: Moving hosting, site no longer works (Jamie Holly)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> I'm thinking the easiest way to solve this will be to just start a fresh
> drupal site. Nobody is having this problem moving sites, it seems somehow
> my original site got corrupted, probably by Dreamhost for leaving or
> something. I started transferring the site after the domain so that is
> plausible. I can't see if the original site even works for that reason. It
> should still have all my blogs in the database, can I migrate just the blog
> posts to a new install?
>
>
>
I have found so many problems in trying to move a Drupal site.
My technique for what it's worth is:
---- Take a copy of the /sites/default/settings.php lines 203-216, I 
think which is the database username and password information.

--Take a tar.gz of the /sites folder -ONLY-. Not the whole Drupal thingy.
--Get a sql of the database, you could use a tar.gs of the sql but I 
have seen problems with compressing and extracting so I do not do this.
Create the new database.
--- All this presupposes that you have a backup of the database 
--before-- you changed ISP and can use that.
--- On a shared server...If using mysql and you have cPanel, create the 
new database with the same name, username and password.
copy the sql file to a safe place on the server using cPanel or ssh. 
Preferably not in public_html.
--- Ask the new ISP to put the data from the old database into the newly 
created one. ON a shared server they won't let me play in mysql so they 
do it for me. They do it very well and fast.

Once the database is in place.......
--Do a fresh extract -but not install- of the Drupal system on your new 
server.
-- Rename the /sites folder to something like /xxxsites so it falls to 
the bottom of the drupal directory, easily found and deleted when 
everythingl works.
Copy the tar.gz of your original /sites folder to the new file system.
--unpack/extract the /sites.tar.gz to create an exact copy of the 
orignal sites folder in the new system.

Set permissions on /sites/default/settings.php to chmod 777

-- in the copied over /sites/default/ settings.php, delete the database 
information and save -- lines 203 - 217, anyway it's highlighted and 
easy to find.
--- Start installing Drupal:
When it asks for the user name and password, simply copy and paste from 
the previous settings.php.
Continue the installation and your new site should appear fully in tact.

I do this frequently and have not experienced any difficulties to date.
After it all works simply chmod 644 the /settings.php file so Drupal 
doesn't complain.
Hope this helps
Roger