Cloning our SMF 2.0 forum to another host

[probeman]

We're moving our forum to another host in preparation to updating it to the latest 2.1 version.

But first we copied the existing site to the new server to make sure it all works before updating it.

When we did that all the posts and (in line) gallery images look like they transferred fine but we noticed two things missing:

1. All the avatar images are not shown any longer (in the posts nor in the upper left of the page when someone logs in).
2. All the attachments are listed but when clicked on give a 404 error.

Any suggestions of what we might have done wrong?

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

So, firstly how did you transfer the actual files, and secondly did you run repair_settings.php to fix all paths?

Important Notice: Do you use Filezilla?  Avatars and Attachments lost?

How do I move my SMF forum to a different host?

What is repair_settings.php?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

2.1.4 upgrade moves uploaded avatars from /attachments to /custom_avatar, and adds .dat extension to hashed /attachments filenames.  If you ran the upgrade and that didn't happen, avatars will not be displayed and attachments will 404.  You need to get the forum running in 2.0 on new server, then upload 2.1 files and run upgrade.

did you run repair_settings.php to fix all paths?

[probeman]

Thanks, I will forward these responses to the tech.

[probeman]

Our tech responded "Thanks, I ran the repair tool they linked and that fixed some spots that had the old file path.  That seems to have fixed the image in posts.  The avatars still aren't showing up, and that seems like it's related to the link they included about FTP settings, I'll have to try re-copying those folders with the settings they suggested."

On the file attachment issue the links to the attachments do download the file if clicked, but image attachments don't display a tiny picture as in our original site (see attached).

Any suggestions on the avatars still not displaying?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Are you running 2.0 or 2.1? 

You can set the thumbnail size in Admin > Attachments and Avatars > Attachment Settings.

[probeman]

We're running 2.0 now, but hoping to update to 2.1 once we get the cloned site behaving the same as the original site.

Weird. The "display image attachments as pictures under posts" checkbox is already checked.  I tried unchecking it and re-checking it but still only shows the file names of image files under posts.

[probeman]

Maybe related is that avatar images also don't show up, but in-line images from the gallery show up fine...

[Kindred]

Does your server have the graphics modules active?

[probeman]

Dire your server have the graphics modules active?

Good question.

What graphic modules need to be activated on the server?  How is that done?

[Kindred]

GD and imageMagick are the ones I would normally expect to see active

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

I think the requirement for resizing images is GD module or ImageMagick with IMagick or MagickWand extension, I am unsure of version requirements. But if I remember correctly, thumbnail images are saved on the server along with the actual attachments, so they should have been moved over as well. So this and the avatar issue are likely the same.

Important Notice: Do you use Filezilla?  Avatars and Attachments lost?

Alternatively, it could be a permission issue - Attachments, avatars and thumbnails are server created files, and permissions can sometimes get complicated.

It should NOT be an SMF config issue, as the config should have also been brought over as part of the database, or already fixed at the step where you ran repair_settings.php.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

GD and imagick can be enabled in php extensions if your host control panel has select php version.

[shawnb61]

Note that 2.0 allowed an optional user-specified custom attachments folder.

If you were allowing custom avatars in 2.0, you may need to ensure that looks good in repair_settings.php, or, look in the admin panel under avatar settings.

Since it was optional & manually configured in 2.0, not everyone knows to look at that...

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Did you at some point run the 2.1.4 upgrade on the clone?

[probeman]

Our tech writes:

"I re-copied the attachments and avatars folders with the settings they listed, and also confirmed both gd and imagick are already enabled in PHP, and confirmed the file permissions already match what their docs say they should be.  Oddly, most avatars don't seem to load, but some do..."

Any other ideas?

Also after logging in, we see the avatar in the upper left for some logins, but not for others. The same behavior for the same users for the avatars in the posts... see images below.

Also where do we specify the logo for our forum to replace the default SMF logo?  So that our company logo shows up in the browser tabs?

[probeman]

Did you at some point run the 2.1.4 upgrade on the clone?

We are still on 2.0.17 with the cloned site until we get the site working as it originally was.

Are you suggesting that we update and see if that helps with these issues?

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Do you have a /custom_avatar directory?  Do your attachments have a .dat file extension?

Also where do we specify the logo for our forum to replace the default SMF logo?

Admin > Current Theme > Logo image URL

[probeman]

Do you have a /custom_avatar directory?  Do your attachments have a .dat file extension?

Also where do we specify the logo for our forum to replace the default SMF logo?

Admin > Current Theme > Logo image URL

OK, that field already has our logo specified and it's a live link. 

https://smf.probesoftware.com/psi2-probesoftware-small.png

But what we see in the browser tab is this (below).  I think these avatar display issues are all somehow related...

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Well, no, the icon that's displayed in browser tab is a favicon.  The logo url displays the image at top of forum.

Do you have a /custom_avatar directory?  Do your attachments have a .dat file extension?