01 June 2011, 9:23

We currently host and run Mahara version 1.2.4. but will be having it externally hosted from September (hopefully version 1.4) due to limited technical resources in house. At present we do not have many users who actively use the software as we have been running it as a pilot. We are starting to think about migrating the data and understand the one option will be to backup the data and supply this to the external hosting company.

The other option is to use the export (LEAP2A) function and then import it via the add user option in the new version. I was hoping to test the latter but have a message "Your system does not have the zip command. Please install zip to enable this feature." I am the institution administrator and do not have a technical background and only have access to the front end of the software. Can someone please advise what needs to be done to install the zip feature so I can go ahead with the export testing.

If you have had any previous experiece with migrating data and have any advice for us on the best method to use it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks
Elaine

01 June 2011, 10:05

Elaine,

we had a similar issue and the fix is better described here: http://mahara.org/interaction/forum/topic.php?id=3676

02 June 2011, 3:52

Hi Dirk

Thanks for your reply. I see the bug you are refering to relates to a later version.  We are still running version 1.2.4 and unfortunately it has never worked.

But from the other email responses I have had the advice seems to be to migrate the data (which will include the groups) rather than use the LEAP2A export and import functionality. 

Many thanks

Elaine

01 June 2011, 18:27

Hi Elaine,

I would personally just give a database dump and a copy of your sitedata to the hosting provider. They should be able to bring your site back up with that.

This will ensure that nothing gets lost during the migration.

Cheers,

Francois

02 June 2011, 3:28

Many thanks for your advice.

Regards

Elaine

02 June 2011, 3:10

Hello Elaine,

As Francois, I would suggest you have your entire site migrated from 1.2 to 1.4. As you do not just want to export and import one or 5 portfolios, but portfolios of many students, the process of exporting and importing is tedious as you have to handle one portfolio at a time. There is no possibility to do a bulk export and import.

Furthermore, your groups will also be migrated. You cannot export those and their content.

Cheers

Kristina

02 June 2011, 3:45

Hi Kristina

Many thanks for your advice. A very good point about the groups, I had not thought about them.

You suggest we migrage the entire site from 1.2. to 1.4.  I had originally thought we would only need to supply a backup copy of the database and dataroot directory to the external hosting company as we have not made any changes to the coding/ programs but there may be other considerations you are taking into account that I am not aware of.  Sorry I am not really up on these things at all.   

Regards

Elaine

03 June 2011, 22:46

Hello Elaine,

If you supply a backup copy of the database and the dataroot, the groups are included. You should not delete your old site though before you successfully moved to your new supplier just in case.

There is a guide available to upgrading Mahara.

Cheers

Kristina

06 June 2011, 5:09

Hi Kristina

Many thanks for your reply and the link.

Regards

Elaine