GoDaddy's Fedora upgrade deadline nears

Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 1:38 AM
Website Design by John

I have all but one of my servers already upgraded. I've gotten to be a real pro at this stuff fast. Although I still think it sucks the way GoDaddy is handling this, I've been up to the task.

According the inbox, others are having less ease with handling this than I had. I admit, I'm getting closer every day to earning my guru stripes. And the whole task is still a bit painful even if you know how to make it turn out well.

In the spirit of saving the sanity of others, I wanted offer a few tips for handling your upgrade process...

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Get copies

First off, getting copies of everything off the server should be easy. Just FTP everything off the server, and then login to PHPMyAdmin and EXPORT the databases that you need.

Reprovision

Follow the instructions for your specific server. Don't initiate the reprovision until you are absolutely sure you have gotten copies of everything off the server.

I restore emails by using an IMAP mail server login in Thunderbird. I create two accounts. One is a POP account that I use to download all the old emails before the reprovision. Then I load a second account with IMAP. Once the reprovision is complete I copy and paste all the message from the POP account folder into the IMAP account folder. This loads all the nmessages onto the new server! Badabing! Even the old mail is backed and restored for webmail users, too.

Getting MySQL databases back up and running

1. Login to PHPMyAdmin.

2. Create a new database with the name of the old one you have saved as a .SQL file.

3. Click on the blank database.

4. In the tabs at the top there is an option named 'IMPORT'. Click it.

5. Click BROWSE, find your file and then the GO button.

In theory, that should all run fine and your database should be fully restored. After that, just FTP your main HTML, PHP, PL files. Verify that everything works and away you go.

Wait! I have a giant file and it absolutely will not upload in PHPMyAdmin

Well, I hope you have at least some basic, real Linux admin skills. Because you're gonna need them. Do the following:

1. Login to PHPMyAdmin.

2. Create a new database with the name of the old one you have saved as a .SQL file.

3. FTP your overly large .SQL file to your server.

4. Load whatever Linux shell app you prefer (I like Putty, especially when I'm using Windows). Login. Change directory to wherever you FTPed the file.

5. Run the following commands:

su - root
[type your Linux root user password when prompted]
mysql -u root -p YourDataBaseName < YourDatabaseFileName.sql
[type your MySQL root user password when prompted]

That should burn through the whole database file and plug all the data into it. You should be able to run all your PHP scripts and see everything working good as new.

If you setup a separate user with unique permissions for that specific database, you may also have to create that user again on the upgraded server.

Otherwise, you should be ready to party.

If you're not skilled enough to use a remote shell system, and you need help, I am helping folks for $30 per hour. Usually a smaller site and database doesn't take more than two hours tops. I accept PayPal, but please email me before paying, or I will reject the payment.

I know a lot of folks don't want to pay GoDaddy's ransom money for fixing their server. Hey, that's the built-in price of getting a virtual dedicated server with unlimited domain names for $30 a month! Go figure. GoDaddy doesn't provide a ton of support.

Still, if you need help, you need help. I've done this successfully on several servers without a hitch. All I need are the usernames and passwords to login to the server, download everthing I need and then send the reprovision request. A few hours later, GoDaddy sends an email, I login and do my thing.

Easy as pie.

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Welcome!

Wonder where to start with your web design business?

This blog follows along with my efforts to build and grow a website design business, Pro Content and Design.

The goal of this blog is to fill in blanks that may be empty as you get your business rolling.

This blog, particularly the source code section, is not intended for beginners. If you are not comfortable with databases, Ajax, DOM objects and other advanced methods, I strongly suggest you go take a look over at W3 Schools before even reading -- let alone tinkering with -- any of the code here.

I hope this blog has some value to web designers as they attempt to get their businesses going.

Good luck, and happy reading.

Thank you,
John Crawford
Pro Content and Design