Manual:Moving a wiki

It's possible to move or duplicate a wiki running the MediaWiki software to another server. This is often needed when moving to a new web host or domain, or both.

Versions and upgrading
The instructions on this page should apply more or less evenly to any given version of MediaWiki. Ensure, prior to moving, that any upgrading of the software and database schema is done. You should avoid moving the database from an older version of the software into a newer version; this will not work.

Overview

 * 1) Back up the database
 * 2) Back up the MediaWiki files
 * 3) Re-create the database, user and permissions
 * 4) Import the database backup
 * 5) Import the MediaWiki files
 * 6) Check the configuration file
 * 7) Test

Backup
To move or copy your wiki, you need of course to make a copy (i.e. a backup). You should copy at least the following:


 * the wiki's content, from the database. It may be a good idea to create an XML dump in addition to the SQL database dump.
 * images and other media files (the contents of the images directory).
 * configuration files, especially LocalSettings.php, AdminSettings.php (if you created it).
 * MediaWiki's program files, including all skins and extensions, especially if you modified them.

See Backing up a wiki for instructions.

Re-create the database, user and permissions
On the destination server, create a new mySQL database and a user, and grant that user permissions on the database. SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE permissions should suffice. You may need to consult the mySQL documentation, your hosting provider's control panel documentation, or the documentation of any other utilities you are using for information on how to do this.

Note: It doesn't matter if the database doesn't have the same name; indeed, in a commercial hosting environment, where database names are usually prefixed with a hosting account username, a different database name is almost guaranteed. In addition, the username can differ, as can that user's password. You will have to adjust the LocalSettings.php file on the new location accordingly.

Import the database backup
The next step is to import the database backup you made earlier. This will create the tables in the database and populate them with data. Following this point, you will have a duplicate of the database on the other server. Again, according to the means you are using to manage your MySQL databases, the process for this varies. You may need to upload the .sql script file from earlier to your server via FTP, or this may be done for you by the utilities you are using. Consult the documentation to find out how it's done.

After importing, which takes a variable amount of time, depending upon the number of pages, users, edits, etc. in your wiki, you should have circa 20-25 tables in the new database.

Possible methods
Possible methods for performing the import include:


 * mysqldump
 * phpMyAdmin or a similar tool
 * The command-line console, mysql

Import the MediaWiki files
The final "large" step in the moving process is to upload/copy the MediaWiki files to the destination server. If you followed the instructions above, and backed up the entire directory, this will include the images and extensions directories, plus custom skins, etc. and the configuration file.

If you backed up only portions of the directory, e.g. images, extensions, etc. then you will need to first upload/copy a fresh install of the MediaWiki files, then transfer the backed-up directories and files into the correct locations in the new filesystem.

Check the configuration file
The final, real task is to tweak the file. Certain entries in this will almost undoubtedly require changing, and you may need to change the database connection information as well.

Check the following configuration options:

You might also need to check the paths to diff, ImageMagick, etc.

Test
At this point, attempt to access the wiki on the new server and use it. Log in as a sysop and a regular user and check that viewing, creating and editing pages and uploading files still works. You will need to fix any problems reported either by PHP or MediaWiki itself.

Backup and restore using shell scripts

 * fullsitebackup
 * fullsiterestore