Server Migration

Caribou is easily migrated from one web server environment to another. However, because the installation wizard cannot be run after the /install is directory, certain procedures must be executed manually during a server migration and settings need to be modified. Follow the step-by-step guide below to easily migrate your instance of Caribou from one server to another:

1. Copy the entire Caribou folder to the new server. This can be done by download and uploading the files (in BINARY mode) via FTP or by zipping up the folder into an archive and using the *nix command wget to download it to the new server where it can be extracted.
2. Export the Caribou database to a file and import this database structure and content into the new database at the new server. phpMyAdmin is good for both of these tasks.
3. If MySQL username, password, host, or database name have changed, modify /includes/config.php to reflect the new information. Note that all references to the connection information in this file must be changed.
4. If your document root location has changed (and it probably has!), run the following SQL command in phpMyAdmin or a MySQL command line interface to update it:

   UPDATE `settings` SET
   value="/your/new/absolute/path/to/your/caribou/directory/"
   WHERE name="documentroot";

5. Delete /misc/.license from the new server to prevent license conflicts.
6. Delete all sub-folders of /includes/smarty/templates_c.
7. CHMOD 777 /templates/default/js/fckeditor/fckeditor_config.js.  The new install will edit with the proper configuration.
8. Ensure that the following directories are writeable (CHMOD 0755 or 0777):
   • /includes/smarty/templates_c
   • /includes/smarty/cache
   • /misc
   • /misc/backups
   • /uploads and all sub-folders and files
   • /templates
9. Ensure that all server requirements are met by the new server (IonCube loaders, mod_rewrite, cURL, allow_url_fopen = ‘On’ in php.ini, Apache, GD2 image library, etc.).
10. Create the /updatecron.php cron job on the new server to ensure your system is up-to-date.
11. Access your Caribou folder and test.