TechRawr

Intro

If you manage one or more Joomla websites, eventually you’ll have to move them elsewhere. It’s pretty much fact. Performance requirements will change, you’ll find better pricing elsewhere, your dedicated server died, etc.

There are a few options most people have to choose from:

• FTP client and phpMyAdmin method (aka the long, boring method)
• SSH/Shell method (aka the cool, quick method)
• PHP system() method (aka middle of the road and kind of fun method)
• Joomla “clone” component (your mom could do it)

Move Joomla with an FTP Client and phpMyAdmin

1. Download the entire Joomla website via FTP client (you’re using S-FTP to connect, right?)
2. Use phpMyAdmin to export a SQL dump of your database
3. Upload the entire Joomla website via FTP client
4. Use phpMyAdmin on the new server to import the SQL dump from the old website
5. Update configuration.php:
   1. Update the MySQL database credentials
   2. Update the tmp/logs path
   3. If you use FTP Layer, update the credentials
6. Update .htaccess to match any changed server requirements

Easy and straightforward. Long, slow process, but any Jr. Network Admin  could handle this for you if you don’t want to get your hands dirty.

Clone Joomla with SSH (shell) Access

1. Login to your server via SSH
2. Browse to your Joomla website root
3. Run these commands:
   [code lang="bash"]tar -czf ../backup-example-com-20090619.tar.gz .

   mv ../backup-example-com-20090619.tar.gz ./

   mysqldump -u yourUsername -p -h yourMySQLHostname yourDatabaseName > backup-example-com-20090619.sql[/code]

4. Do you need to move this to a remote server or another location on the same server?
   1. Local Path
      1. Copy both backup files to the new website root
      2. Browse to the new Joomla website root
   2. Remote Path
      1. Login to remote server via SSH
      2. Browse to the new Joomla website root
      3. Use wget to download the archive and SQL dump to this server:
         [code lang="bash"]wget http://www.example.com/backup-example-com-20090619.tar.gz
         wget http://www.example.com/backup-example-com-20090619.sql[/code]
5. Run this command:
   [code lang="bash"]tar -xzf backup-example-com-20090619.tar.gz[/code]
6. Run this command (assuming you have made a new, blank database)
   [code lang="bash"]mysql -u yourNewUsername -p -h yourNewMySQLHost yourNewDatabase  < backup-example-com-20090619.sql[/code]
7. Update configuration.php & .htaccess as shown in the first example

More complicated (obviously), but if you like doing things the hard fun way, then it's a great way to go.

Using PHP's system() or back-tick Commands to Copy Joomla Website

I wasn't made aware of this method until after I started managing a whole slew of websites in a cloud hosting platform (Scale My Site). Cloud hosting (and many shared hosting platforms) do not provide access to SSH because it's simply not feasible. Cloud hosting in particular due to your website running across hundreds of different server nodes. You can perform the same functions as the SSH procedure above using system execution commands in PHP.

1. Create a new file called copy-me.php
2. Write the following code into this file:
   [code lang="php"]echo `tar -czf ../backup-example-com-20090619.tar.gz . && mv ../backup-example-com-20090619.tar.gz ./`;
   echo `mysqldump -u yourUsername -p -h yourMySQLHostname yourDatabaseName > backup-example-com-20090619.sql`;[/code]
3. Execute the PHP file by accessing it from a browser:
   Browser> http://www.example.com/copy-me.php
4. Create a new file on the destination website called update-me.php
5. Write the following code into this file:
   [code lang="php"]echo `wget http://www.example.com/backup-example-com-20090619.tar.gz`;
   echo `wget http://www.example.com/backup-example-com-20090619.sql`;
   echo `tar -xzf backup-example-com-20090619.tar.gz`;
   echo `mysql -u yourNewUsername -p -h yourNewMySQLHost yourNewDatabase  < backup-example-com-20090619.sql`;[/code]
6. Execute the PHP file by accessing it from your browser:
   Browser> http://www.exampleDestination.com/update-me.php
7. Update the configuration.php and .htaccess files as needed

Cool, huh?

Use a Backup or Clone Component from Joomla Extension Directory

If you prefer not to do anything yourself, and want to keep it as simple as possible, then a backup component from the JED is the way to go:

http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/access-&-security/backup

I have only used one of those components before, and I found that there were a few bugs needing to be worked out, and it ended up taking more time to do the backup, move, and clone that I needed to do than when I did so manually.

Foreward

There are shortcuts you can take here depending on your environment. For instance, you never need to create archives at all, as you can pipe the mysqldump output directly to another mysql command (with the new database's credentials). However, I prefer to use archives and solid files especially when using PHP-based method, because you could end up accidentaly accessing the cloner file and wiping an existing MySQL database (if you aren't careful). So, on top of all this, I'd recommend removing the update-me and copy-me files after using them.

One often has to make a choice when it comes to website hosting. You weigh the variables and decide on the best solution for your hosting needs. Cloud hosting makes this decision a WHOLE lot easier. Let’s break it down.

Price. You want to get the best deal possible. Shared hosting probably comes to mind first. In the classic sense, shared hosting means a company has a server, and they load as many websites onto this server in order to make the most profit from one server. Sometimes, this can mean hundreds of websites on one box. One box… susceptible to the same physical hardware limitations as any other server. Sure, they might even include RAID, redundant power supplies, and a lot of disk space.

However, what happens when your website actually starts getting traffic? I had an experience where my company put their trust in a shared hosting company (*cough* Dreamhost *cough*). When it came down to it, one of our websites had a lot of visitors one evening, and after battling to keep things running smoothly, the host ultimately disabled our website via renaming the index file to index.php_disabled_by_host. Seriously? So much for saving money and “unlimited” space and bandwidth… which brings me to my next point.

Scalability. If you have a website that has outgrown shared hosting, what is your next move? Many people consider purchasing dedicated equipment for their website. A dedicated server is usually the first move. Not enough? Scaling out from this point then usually requires the purchase of another dedicated server and a load balancer, then it just gets pricier from there with a dedicated database server, file servers, caching servers, and more to handle growing traffic and load. We’re talking a significant amount of expenses just to get the ability to scale.

Scale My Site is the answer. The concept of a cloud host is that it takes the best of the scalable, dedicated world and lets you just pay for what you use. You put your website in the cloud and instantly your application is scaled across multiple webservers. Your files are stored on a redundant SAN mirrored across many physical drives. Database queries are performed on powerful, multi-node database clusters. You don’t have to think about “how am I going to handle all of that traffic?” because it just happens automatically. You no longer have to think about “do I need a Windows or Linux based account?”. It doesn’t matter. You can run ASP.NET applications side-by-side PHP web sites. It’s the cloud that doesn’t mind – it’s cool with whatever you want to do. I highly recommend checking out Ninja Systems, the cloud hosting company, if you are serious about scaling your website, and if you don’t want to waste your time recreating another scalable infrastructure that you need to manage yourself.