Migrating BD from one site to another
With a lot of WP data, you might think that a backup plugin or even using the export/import feature of BD might be the best way to transfer data from one site (e.g. a staging site) to another (e.g. a production site). In some cases, this works fine, but not all of them. Even CSV export won’t move the settings within BD from one site to another…
We created the BD Migration Plugin to help with this situation. The Migration Plugin is free and available here (If you have BD 5.0, use version 5 or if you are running BD 4.1.x, use version 4.1) for download to use.
NOTE: In order for a successful migration to happen, you must install the same Migration plugin on BOTH sites (source and target) and the sites must have the exact same version of BD AND the migration plugin running. If you don’t follow that rule, the migration may fail with weird errors.
The migration plugin allows you to completely move the data, settings, categories and premium module information from one site to another. This module supports BD 3.6.4 and higher.
How to Migrate the Data:
First, install the plugin on BOTH sites (the source site and the target site)
- After you enable the Migration plugin, the module adds two items to the “Directory Admin” menu. One for the export process and one for the import process. Nothing prevents you from running both processes on the same site (or use the export just as a means to back up the directory), but obviously the original idea is to run the export in one place and the import in another.
- When exporting, you can select the items to export.
After clicking “Export!” the process begins until it finally produces a ZIP file that can be downloaded.
- For the import, you can either: upload the export file (called “migration pack”) directly via a form or via FTP (for large files, we recommend using FTP or SCP for the upload, as large files can cause the form to time out or show “blank page” errors–if you see that behavior, try FTP instead). The directory that “receives” these uploaded files is indicated on the import screen.
After the migration pack is uploaded, it can be selected as the import source. Some info is displayed below the filename: the date the set of data was exported and the BD version used to do that.
Once a migration pack is selected and “Begin Import” clicked, the import process begins. WARNING: The import process clears everything. That means all listings, fees, etc. are removed and replaced with those from the import, so please be aware of this during a migration.
This plugin is meant to be used for migrations (and possibly as a backup method, if you want). They aren’t just a way to export/import things in the directory itself for updating data, that’s better handled using the standard CSV Export/CSV Import instead.
