Transfering users & stories to new installation

Are you upgrading, or transferring? I'm going to assume transferring.

_FATALERROR _NOTCONNECTED usually means that the information for your mysql database is not correct.

Double check and make sure that you have the correct connection information of your database, in the correct place (usually config.php in the main efiction folder).

Also, make sure that you have the correct mysql database selected to connect to, and that it contains all the eFiction tables of your old site. The files are just half of an archive. The database information is the really important part, it lists all your authors, and connects the chapters to the stories, ect. Without it, you might as well start over.

There's another related thread here: https://efiction.org/forums/index.php?topic=4924.0

The other subject isn't really related to what I'm going through and this is where my near beginnership with this script is starting to show.  If I have the correct passwords, mysql info on the config page, shouldn't it be as easy as transfering everything over to the new server so that everything shows up again?  Forgot to add.  I copy/pasted all information the config asked for straight from my control panel, then I noticed that my hosting company required a couple of different lines, so I put those in there as well without deleting yours.  Now I'm getting Unable to connect to MySQL as the message.  Thanks 🙂

Did you upload your old database to your new mysql server?

I downloaded the whole thing from the previous web space and uploaded it to the new website, changing the config information to reflect what the new server has as being my sql log in etc.  I've worked on the upgrade on my HD but don't want to do anything because nothing is coming up yet on the server, so wanted to get that figured out first 🙂

I understand that you downloaded and upload the files, but did you actually download your mysql database?

For example, this is a mysql database: http://pma.cihar.com/STABLE/

Log in as

Username: root
Password:

(no password.)

Click on the left side a link, like tutorial1 (3).

On the right side, main section click on export. Compression: .zip.

Go.

That is how you download/save a mysql database. Did you do that for your old site?

I saved it, yes, in a zip file.  Am I supposed to put that in a specific place so that things show up with the last efiction library stories/users?

Once you saved the database, you actually have to import it again in your phpMyAdmin because a zipped database will not work at all. It's a great backup but nothing else.

Log into your CPanel and click on the MySQL Databases link (to manage your databases)

If no database is there, or at least not the one for your fanfics archives, go to the section that says Create New Database and add the name of your MySQL db on your hacked installation. Please, don't make the mistake of using the part before the _ in the name. So if yours read legacy_fanfics before, you should just call it fanfics this time around. The server will append your cpanel username to the database by itself. so let's say your new CPanel log on name is theleg, your database will take on the name of theleg_fanfics.

Now that you created the database, you need to assign it a root user. If none has been created, simply scroll to the section that says MySQL Users - Add New User. Enter the info you had in your config, once again bypassing the part before the underscore. Same thing as with the database will happen. Once that's done, you need to make sure you add the member to the database by selecting your user AND the database (in Add User to Database) and clicking submit.

Because of those possible changes in usernames, it's important to make sure your config.php for efiction will still have the real information for your database. If you kept the same username, then that's easy as there will be no change at all.

When that's all done, go into phpMyAdmin and select your fanfics database in the menu on the left. It should be empty and that's where your backup will come into play. Download it to your computer if you no longer have it there as you cannot open the database from your server space.

Once that's done, click on the import tab in phpMyAdmin. Browse to the file on your computer and leave the rest as is (should say utf8 on the line right under the browsing location thingie). Then simply press the Go button and it should import your database smoothly.

What should I put in the "Fields" part when creating a new database?

Fields would be a new table.  Once you've got the database created you should be able to import your .zip backup back into the database.